WASHLET seat or integrated toilet: what is the difference?
A WASHLET seat replaces the ordinary seat and lid of a toilet. TOTO's current European range includes the compact WASHLET RG Lite, the RG, the RW and the SW, plus the RX and SX. Each seat is listed for specific TOTO bowls: the RG Lite with side connections is presented as an easy retrofit for existing TOTO toilets, the RW is paired with TOTO's RP bowl, wall-hung or floor-standing, and the SW with the wall-hung SP bowl. At the top of the range, the NEOREST WX1 and WX2 are integrated wall-hung toilets: a rimless bowl combined with its own dedicated WASHLET. Other brands make shower toilets too, such as Geberit AquaClean, sold in the Netherlands as a douchewc in complete and seat versions, and Roca's In-Wash smart toilets in Spain. For toilets and WASHLET seats, TOTO is our first choice.
Features worth paying for: heated seat, dryer, deodoriser, automatic lid
Every WASHLET washes with warm water, but the equipment differs. For the compact RG Lite, TOTO lists a heated seat, a remote control and wand cleaning with EWATER+, which is electrolysed tap water. The RW and SW add a warm-air dryer that follows the spray (the föhn Dutch buyers look for), a deodoriser with an activated-charcoal filter and a lid that opens and closes automatically as you approach and leave. The RW remote stores settings for two people, and auto-flush versions of the RW and SW exist. The heated seat and the adjustable wash are the core; the rest is comfort. A dryer reduces the need for paper, a deodoriser is welcome in the small separate toilet room of many Dutch homes, and an automatic lid is most useful in a toilet that guests use. We help you choose by the room, not by the longest feature list.
What makes up the total cost
The price of the seat or toilet is only one line of the quote. What usually decides the total is the room around it: whether there is an earthed, RCD-protected socket within reach of the power cord, or a licensed electrician has to add one; a T-valve on the cold-water supply to the cistern; whether the seat fits your current bowl or the bowl has to be replaced; for a wall-hung toilet, opening tiles to fit or adapt a concealed frame and re-tiling afterwards; in Spain, often removing a bidet and capping its supply and drain; and making good walls and floors. In a rented home, the landlord's written consent comes before any of this. Retail prices for WASHLET seats and integrated toilets change with model, finish and shop, so we always quote the specific model together with the installation rather than a general figure.
The socket and the water connection
TOTO's European WASHLET models run on 220–240 V, 50 Hz and must be plugged into an earthed socket protected by a residual current device of no more than 30 mA, with the seat and its socket at least 0.6 m from a bathtub or the edge of a shower. Extension leads and adapters are out. The manual for TOTO's WASHLET GL gives a power cord of just 1.0 m, so the socket has to be close to the toilet. Many Dutch toilet rooms have only a ceiling light, so a new circuit from the meter cupboard is common; the work follows NEN 1010 and is carried out by our licensed electrician partner. In Spain, the bathroom zones of ITC-BT-27 decide where a socket may go, and new circuits are installed by a registered electrical company. The water side is simpler: a T-valve with its own shut-off on the cold supply, connected with the new hose supplied with the seat.
Wall-hung or floor-standing, bidets and rented homes
A wall-hung Japanese toilet sits on a concealed frame with the cistern behind the wall, so the floor stays free and easy to clean. If your toilet is already wall-hung, the frame can often stay and only the bowl and seat change; models with hidden connections need water and power prepared inside the wall, which means opening tiles. Floor-standing bowls are simpler to swap. In Spain the toilet often stands next to a bidet. Once a WASHLET does that job, the bidet can be removed and its pipes capped inside the wall or floor, which adds work but frees space. Tenants need the landlord's consent for a new socket or water branch: in the Netherlands under article 7:215 of the Civil Code, and in Spain under article 23 of the urban tenancies act (LAU), which requires written consent for works that change the configuration of the home.
Electricity use and maintenance
A WASHLET uses electricity to warm the seat and the water. As an example, the manual for TOTO's WASHLET GL gives a rated power consumption of 270–320 W and a standard consumption of about 190 kWh a year with the energy-saver functions on, or 261 kWh without them. Its timer-based energy saver switches the seat and water heaters off for 3, 6 or 9 hours at the same time every day, and closing the lid also reduces heat loss. Maintenance is simple but matters. TOTO advises cleaning plastic parts with a diluted, pH-neutral detergent, not with toilet cleaner, household cleaner or scouring powder, and describes periodic cleaning of the deodoriser filter, the wand and the water-supply filter. On models such as the RW the wand can be removed for descaling, which is useful where the water is hard.
Our price and how to get a fixed quote
Our indicative price for a WASHLET retrofit starts at €1,450 including VAT, with a fixed quote after a site survey. That covers a TOTO WASHLET seat, installation and the T-valve in a standard situation. A new socket, a replacement bowl, a wall-hung frame, bidet removal or an integrated NEOREST are quoted separately, because they depend on your home. Projects are planned by Japanese engineers and installed by Japanese technicians, with electrical connections made by our licensed local partners. The quickest way to a reliable figure is to send us three photos: the toilet from the side, the back of the toilet with the water supply, and the nearest socket. A Japanese engineer checks them free of charge and tells you which options fit your toilet room.
