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DoESLiverpool / somebody-should

A place to document practices on the wiki and collect issues/suggestions/to-do items for the physical space at DoES Liverpool
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Buy new soap dispensers for the toilets #1517

Open JackiePease opened 4 years ago

JackiePease commented 4 years ago

Both toilets need new soap dispensers - one was broken by me, don't know what's happened to the other one.

We should buy dispensers that are easy to fill, preferably dark grey, and not plastic or weak ceramic.

I'll get some if nobody else has any good ideas.

johnmckerrell commented 4 years ago

Probably worth just getting something "industrial" from screw fix. not sure if they'll work with the Carex we already have but I can buy that off DoES if necessary.

https://www.screwfix.com/c/auto-cleaning/soap-dispensers/cat810154?cm_sp=managedredirect-_-cleaning-_-soapdispensers

johnmckerrell commented 4 years ago

Please note there's a lot cheaper than the £199 one at the top of that page!

magman2112 commented 3 years ago

After Jackie mentioned this to me yesterday, I had a look in a bit more detail at the Screwfix offerings, as I was going there anyway to pick up some plumbing parts.

All of the less expensive options, such as the ones from Deb, appear to not be available anywhere locally and aren’t available to order for delivery.

There was one lower cost item available to order for 48 hour collection, but Screwfix don’t sell the soap cartridges needed for this to work, so probably not a good option.

The next most expensive option is around the £50-60 region, but again these appear to not be available anywhere locally and aren’t available to order for delivery. I’m starting to feel that Screwfix may not be a good place to get these from.

Looking on Amazon though I found some reasonable options.

This one is fully automatic (runs off 8 AA batteries) and sells for £35 each (It looks similar to one of the £50 units that Screwfix can’t sell us). It is refillable, likely using the Carex soap we currently use but holds about 1L, so not likely to be a small unit.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08CGZ969B

A cheaper and smaller option is this unit, which has a capacity of 300ml, so will likely be a much smaller unit. It is manual, so will need periodic cleaning, but at £10, it is also easy to replace.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Blusea-CHUANGDIAN-Single-Head-Dispenser-Holder-Champagne/dp/B07QD4QVHD/

So a techy option and a cheap option, what are people’s preferences?

JackiePease commented 3 years ago

The 2nd option seems simplest, just wondering if the attachment method they mention would work well with our slightly crumbly walls?

magman2112 commented 3 years ago

We could always attach a backing piece to the wall with holes, plugs and screws as usual, then fix the unit to this backing piece.

A piece of acrylic cut to size would probably be best, as this can be cleaned as needed, ideally this would be 6mm (or 2 x 3mm layers glued together) to stay reasonably flat when fixed to the wall - it could also extend down below the unit, to protect the wall from splashes or dirty marks. We would need to obtain the units first though, to get the right sizes.

Something a bit more elegant is to use a 3mm white or coloured back layer, etched with a suitable logo in the area below the dispenser with a nice fill colour, with a second 3mm clear layer placed on top to both bulk up the thickness and provide a smooth cleanable surface and protection to the base layer. Making the top layer slightly smaller would also give a shadow gap for additional effect.