How do I choose a faucet?

Faucets are not just about a functional appointment and choosing the first one you see in the market. Let's look at all the functions of a faucet – washing vegetables in the kitchen, filling buckets of water or bathing, can everything be done with a single faucet? Therefore read on for some tips on choosing the right faucet for the kitchen and bathroom. Choosing between options available is also done with faucets. First classify the taps, by understanding the different kinds of faucets in the markets. The various features available now are push-button showers valve diverters, screen aerators, flow control aerator, pressure balancing shower valves, and swivel sprays. There are infinite options available with designer and budget-friendly options to choose from. So let's consider the options available before we choose a faucet:-

-Budget: Firstly, understand which bathroom fixture is needed and the budget. Now faucets have a wide price range depending on the quality, materials, and style. Also, decide whether you need a faucet for your sink or something that matches your tub and shower.

-Style: This plays a very important role in choosing a faucet. Bathroom faucets are available in various styles and finishes. For eg. If you like contemporary aesthetics, then faucets with clean lines and few handles are available, and for those that prefer traditional styles, the center set faucet is available.

- Quality: The best method of determining a quality faucet is to see what it’s made of. Solid brass bodies have a longer life and need less care than other materials. Also solid brass weighs heavier than other metals, and there are also die-cast zinc alloy bodies, which typically cost less and corrode gradually.  

- The finish: It’s important to decide the finish i.e. nickel and chrome, it decides the overall style of the bathroom, plus the price of the faucet.

Also, kitchen faucets must be matched with the number of mounting holes a sink has. One must not drill extra mounting holes to an existing sink.

You can also decide based on the type of spouts that make it easy to rinse and clean the sink, and lastly, the faucet size must match the size of the sink so that it doesn't look awkward. 

-Single handle vs double handle: You can choose between both, wherein a single handle is better if at least one hand is clean, while double handles allow access to water and the sink if one handle springs a leak and requires repair.

Mounting Options: Here you get to choose between sink mounts, deck mounts, and wall mounts.

Sink-mounts: Those who are replacing their sink-mounted faucets need to account for the number of faucets available. If the faucet needs four holes, but the sink has three, you must continue searching. Single handle faucets have a deck plate to cover unused holes.

Deck-mounts: If you choose to mount the faucet on the countertop, you must be sure there is enough space behind the faucet for cleaning. This configuration is best for under mount and farmhouse sinks.

Wall-mount: Placement of a wall-mounted faucet can be tricky. You must check local codes for plumbing on outside walls. Whoever does the installation needs to check for wall studs and move anything that interferes with placement. You should check the pitch of the faucet to determine the water flow in the sink. 

Style: Whether you like modern aesthetics or a traditional way of decorating, there are a variety of finishes for you to choose from. The five popular styles n the markets, which you can choose from are:-

• Contemporary
• Rustic
• Modern
• Traditional
• Transitional

Touch: You have the option of choosing sensor faucets that turn the water on and off with just one touch of the back of a hand or wrist. But adjusting the flow and temperature is a manual operation with the handle touch option. Brands today use batteries to power sensors but all touch faucets now are powered by electricity with an outlet under the kitchen sink.

Apart from the above, you can choose between various finishes available in the markets today. The finishes available are polished chrome, brushed nickel, stainless steel, matte black, and oil-rubbed bronze. Plus trendy colors like brushed gold and champagne bronze. 

How you match your faucet to the kitchen depends on your style i.e. traditional, contemporary, modern, transitional and rustic. 

Side, Pull-Down Or Pull-Out Sprayer: You can also choose between single-handle kitchen faucets with a pull-down or pull-out sprayer and a traditional side spray, 

Therefore just like other things, choosing a faucet is also a process in which various features need to be considered, and once you’ve made the right decision your kitchen will look a class apart!

Is an electric shower better than a mixer shower?

Choosing a suitable shower system for your home can be quite a challenge unless you know the type of water system in your home and how it works. Before choosing an electric or a mixer shower, it's important to decide whether you want to use your home water system or not. 

Every home functions differently, some have plenty of hot water on demand plus a good level of water pressure; while others need their hot water stored & run out quickly, esp. if there’s a high water demand. Keeping this in mind can help you make the right decision.

Electric Showers

If you don’t want to use your household hot water system then opting for an electric shower can be the right choice. Electric showers come with different electrical power ratings so it’s necessary to check your current electricity supply, cable and fuse size are compatible with the requirements of the shower before buying one. These showers are ideal for large families that want to shower one after another. Also, they heat cold water instantly so you don’t need to worry about running out of hot water or waiting to heat it. 

So how do electric showers work? The basic concept of an electric shower is that cold water enters the pipe at the left, flows past the coiled heating element (red) in the center, and leaves as hot water on the right. It works like electric toasters and hair dryers and sends electric currents through heating elements. It has moderate resistance and gets hot when electricity moves through it fast. The next feature is thermostatic control, wherein you can adjust the temperature by turning a dial, which is marked with a scale running from blue (for cold) to red (for hot).

In basic electric showers, the dial adjusts the flow for water streams to pass the heating element, making the water colder or hotter. In other showers, pressure-balancing valves, a built-in water mixing tanks, various thermostats, and flow sensors keep the temperature and water pressure safe. In wintertime, the incoming temperature might drop and in summers it gets ten degrees hotter. It's difficult for a shower to maintain a water flow rate and a constant water temperature perennially. 

Mixer Showers

Those who want to use their household hot water systems will often choose a mixer shower to meet their needs. Mixer showers are compatible with almost any water system present in your household including gravity-fed systems and other high-pressure systems. Better known for their reliability and resistance to limescale is apt for people living in hard water areas. It mixes hot and cold water to prevent tap-twiddling for the right temperature. These showers automatically adjust to maintain constant temperatures when a tap is turned on in the house. It prevents people from getting scalded by hot or cold water. They can be exposed to the pipework mounted onto the wall or concealed providing a minimalistic design. 

How do mixer showers work?

It operates on the simple mechanism of mixing hot and cold water from different pipes to churn warm water whose temperature is in between. The most basic form of mixer shower is a Y-shaped rubber pipe that you fit over the hot and water faucets (taps) on a bath-tub. You can get the desired temperature by merely adjusting the faucets and getting a single clear stream of water. But if someone switches on a cold faucet or flushes a toilet elsewhere in your home, the cold water supply is suddenly reduced. That means there's proportionally more hot water coming through your shower and, if the water's too hot, you could be scalded. The converse happens when someone switches on a hot faucet.

However, mixer showers that are plumbed into walls overcome this issue by using built-in thermostats. They constantly adjust the temperature of the mixed water to ensure you're not boiled like a lobster or frozen like a penguin by water that's alternately too hot or too cold. Most mixer showers also have safety cut-outs that prevent you from turning the water up to dangerously high levels, which is good news if they're being used by frail elderly people or young children. But there's still a basic problem with mixer showers: they typically run off hot water from a tank. Once the tank is empty, there's no more hot water and you have to wait for the tank to fill up before you can shower again.

Which tile has better durability?

Something a ton of homeowners frequently wonders while making their fantasy house is the thing that ground surface material would be better for their kitchen, washroom, and so forth. Would it be advisable for them to settle on porcelain tiles or ceramic tiles? Which one would be progressively down to earth and strong?

Porcelain tiles are viewed as the hardest ground surface choices accessible available. Utilizing relevant ASTM Tests, customary clay tile has a breaking quality of 250. Besides being strong, porcelain tiles are likewise hard, thick, and profoundly impervious to most overwhelming effect focuses on that it's ideal for business use. Fundamentally, while picking porcelain tiles, it's critical to search for one that has in any event 5 PEI rating to guarantee that it can withstand high traffic, just as substantial hardware use.

The thickness is squeezed under 6000 pounds for each square inch.

Porcelain tiles are the sort of materials that don't effortlessly consume under typical conditions and these floor tiles could limit the development of flares in the event that there has been a fire flare-up.

What are the different types of showers?

Different types of showers are:

Digital Shower

A momentous option in contrast to electric, mixer and force showers, the advanced shower is a cutting edge work of washing craftsmanship. Stuffed loaded with innovation, digital showers are both eco-accommodating and easy to understand on account of their plenitude of usefulness and settings. Settings on an advanced shower are intended to be tweaked, which implies the client can choose their liked, ideal shower understanding from weight and temperature to water yield. Digital showers commonly sport an insignificant plan tasteful and make a space-sparing, a la mode expansion to any restroom suite.

Electric Shower

Electric showers offer high temp water on request. They work by directing virus water from the mains into the unit, which is then warmed by a component inside. Just as having moment high temp water, probably the greatest bit of leeway of an electric shower is that it isn't influenced by issues with the heater, so regardless of whether the focal warming framework misbehaves, you can even now foam up under an alleviating stream of boiling water.

Most present-day electric shower units will offer thermostatic control, which means the temperature can be balanced by shower inclination. They ought to be introduced by a certified proficient and are accessible in a scope of contemporary and customary plans.

Mixer Shower

An advanced unit, a mixer shower as the name proposes combines hot and cold water. This blend happens in the shower valve where the temperature is directed and remunerations are made for the drops in weight and loss of either hot or cold water, which can once in a while be the situation if a tap is turned on in another piece of the house.

Mixer showers are a contemporary showering arrangement and with a tremendous scope of plans accessible, they can be opened effectively into most styles of bath-fitting accessories. Most are perfect with low and high weight water frameworks importance they're reasonable for use in many properties.

Force Shower

On the off chance that you've at any point been to a spa or a lavish inn and bounced in the shower to feel water beating your skin, odds are you've experienced a forced shower. Extraordinary for the course, a forced shower offers a stimulating reminder and the incredible news is they can be utilized in homes that have low weight as the shower framework incorporates a siphon to help water stream. Force showers are well known for the individuals who need to get their unwinding where they can as they regularly include knead frameworks that can empower sore muscles while soaping up. The main drawback to a forced shower is that they are not considered as earth amicable as certain other options, because of their ordinary vitality and water utilization levels.

How is radiation therapy used to treat osteosarcoma?

Radiation therapy for osteosarcoma utilizes high-vitality X-beams to wreck carcinogenic cells and keep them from increasing and spreading. As a sort of limited treatment, radiation treatment is by and large suggested for treating bone malignancy that has not spread past its site of birthplace. It can likewise be utilized as a component of a complete treatment plan for malignant growths that have metastasized to different regions. Since osteosarcomas will, in general, be impervious to radiation treatment, this type of treatment is typically best when utilized in mix with different treatments – regardless of whether the tumors have spread.

At the point when radiation treatment is prompted for a patient with osteosarcoma, the most widely recognized structure suggested is external bar radiation treatment (EBRT), which is:

• Carefully arranged so it will infiltrate the patient's skin, tissues and organs to convey radiation to an unequivocally focused on disease site, which might be found profound inside their body while dodging whatever number solid tissues as would be prudent
• Conveyed by means of an outside machine called a straight quickening agent
• Tried during a reproduction session, in which a radiation oncologist positions the straight quickening agent and makes a blemish on the patient's body to distinguish the "treatment fields" where the high-vitality pillars will be coordinated
• Regulated in everyday medicines (Monday through Friday) throughout a little while
• Regularly quick and agony-free, albeit a few patients experience impermanent skin bothering over the span of treatment of bone cancer

What are the advantages and disadvantages of proton therapy?

Advantages of proton therapy:

• Next to zero radiation therapy behind the tumor
• Lower necessary portion per treatment
• Potential to bring down the danger of reactions
• May improve personal satisfaction during and after treatment

Disadvantages of proton therapy:

• Since proton treatment requires exceptionally particular and expensive gear, it isn't accessible in every therapeutic place
• It might cost more than x-beam radiation treatment. Protection supplier rules vary about which diseases are secured and how a lot of an individual needs to pay.
• Not all malignancies can be treated with proton treatment.

Different types of head and neck cancers

Head and neck cancer is the third most common malignancy globally and is prevalent mostly in Indian males. Research states that cases of head and neck cancer in India by the year 2020 will be around 218,421. People are not aware of this cancer and it mostly gets detected in the advanced stage. 

Some of the most common head and neck cancer types are:-

a)Laryngeal cancer: Primarily found in the larynx, it’s located at the top of the windpipe and has the epiglottis, a small piece of tissue that moves to cover the larynx and prevents food from entering the windpipe. It’s mostly prevalent in smokers and drinkers, and the main symptoms are a persistent sore throat or ear pain.

b) Nasopharyngeal cancer: It starts in the upper part of the throat behind the nose and near the skull base. It's uncommon and detected at a later stage. It’s found above the roof of the mouth and the back of the nasal passage. The symptoms include trouble breathing, speaking, or hearing.

c) Nasal cavity paranasal sinus cancer:  It’s a malignant tumor that’s uncommon and forms behind the nose, where air passes on its way to the throat and develops air-filled areas surrounding the nasal cavity. It develops in the sinus, and exposure to chemicals or dust at work increases the risk of developing this form of cancer. The symptoms sinus problems and nosebleeds. 

d) Salivary gland cancer: It’s uncommon and forms in the mouth including lips, the inside lining of the lips, cheeks, teeth, and gums, front of the tongue, floor and roof of the mouth. Exposure to radiations in the head and neck leads to this form of cancer. The symptoms are experiencing trouble in swallowing. 

e) Oral Cancer: Mainly formed in the mouth includes lips, cheeks, teeth, and gums. Tobacco and alcohol are the main reasons for this form of cancer. Most patients over 60 years old are susceptible to it.  

f) Oropharyngeal cancer: Primarily formed in the oropharynx, which is part of the throat behind the mouth. It’s found in the anatomical borders of the oropharynx and the majority of oropharyngeal cancers are squamous cell carcinomas, which arise from surface cells of the throat.

g) Hypopharyngeal cancer: Here malignant cells form in the squamous cells in the thin, flat cells lining the inside of the hypopharynx. It has 3 different areas and can be found in 1 or more of them. Heavy drinking and tobacco usage are risk factors.

 Head and neck cancer symptoms

• Mouth Ulcer and lumps in neck, jaw, and mouth
• Pain in the face and neck
• Difficulty in jaw movement and swallowing
• Ear Pain and white and red patches in the mouth
• Lump in the lips
• Shaky teeth
• Nosebleeds, nasal congestion and sinus infections that don’t respond to treatment

Causes of head and neck cancers

       1)Tobacco

       2)Alcohol

Other factors that can raise risk factors are:-

• Prolonged sun exposure
• Human papillomavirus: Sexual activity with a person with HPV 
• Epstein-Barr virus (EBV): Exposure to EBV, which is more commonly known as the virus that causes mononucleosis or "mono," plays a role in the development of nasopharyngeal cancer
• Gender: The likelihood is two to three times more in men
• Age: People aged 40 and above are more susceptible 
• Poor oral and dental hygiene
• Environmental or occupational inhalants: Inhaling asbestos, wood dust, paint fumes
• Marijuana use

 Head and neck cancer treatments 

Surgeries are the most common methods of curing wherein cancerous tumors and surrounding healthy tissues are eliminated. The options are-

• Laser technology
• Excision

Reconstructive surgery

For instance, a prosthodontist can make an artificial dental or facial part to restore the ability to swallow and speak. Plus a speech pathologist treats patients can help patients relearn swallowing and communicating using new techniques and special equipment. 

Therefore head and neck cancers are highly preventable cancers and the general public needs to be informed,  especially the younger illiterate population about the adverse health consequences. Let’s strive to be a cancer-free country, a healthy country.

For the best head and neck cancer hospitals in India please visit: Apollo Proton Cancer Centre