Do you drink water from the Bathroom tap?

I thought someone snuck into my home the other day now it turns out some bloke is going round installing tanks in lofts and that he has been doing it for 15 years why has no one caught this madman

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SOStitchley@reddit

My house was built in 1998 with a cold water tank in the loft

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chubby_windmill@reddit

Oh yeah, that’s perfect, who needs a protein shake when you’ve got protein water

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greggers1234@reddit

We call it pigeon water in our house

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AssumptionEasy8992@reddit

My parents used to call it starling water 🤣

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HugeSnackman@reddit

We had starling water in our tank too

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ZolianRose@reddit

All of you are wrong, we always called it "Jaundice Juice" when I was growing up

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Ok_Shopping_3341@reddit

I’ll see your bathroom tap water and raise you shower water. Always tastes better.

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Oh yeah that’s good, hits different. Shower water is my main and I’m having bathroom tap water for dessert! I remember drinking from the hose when I was younger, wouldn’t do it now but that was heavenly

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Ok_Shopping_3341@reddit

Next time you’re having a hot shower, take your toothbrush in with you. I swear, brushing my teeth with hot water is heavenly 😂

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Solid_Coconut_6694@reddit

I only have a few naturally teeth left and they're insanely sensitive so I genuinely can't remember last time I brushed my teeth with cold water and honestly I wonder why anyone does, especially people with sensitive teeth....why is the cold tap considered the one for brushing teeth? Especially considering you don't use cold water to clean anything else, so why teeth? 😂😂😂😂

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deleted_by_reddit@reddit

My kitchen tap doesn’t get anywhere near as cold as the bathroom. People that drink lukewarm water out of choice are sus imo

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chubby_windmill@reddit

Exactly, nothing like waking up at 4am to stick your head under the bathroom tap, really is peaceful

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_FirstOfHerName_@reddit

I used to enjoy this until I learned that my partner was pissing in the sink at night (sink and shower upstairs, toilet and sink downstairs). Ruined one of lives greatest pleasures.

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happymellon@reddit

What the actual fuck?

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_FirstOfHerName_@reddit

In his defense he is disabled and gets very little notice, and I would rather that than be cleaning up pee off the carpet. Have recently enforced a medical pee bottle rule.

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AlterCherry@reddit

I'm able-bodied and piss in the sink...for real. Saves flushing

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PlasticProblem143@reddit

I run the tap when going in the garage sink. Yknow, just to have all washed down. I count it a near blessing having the sink... Most times it's just straight out the back door. No neighbours behind so it's a full blast hose down of all spiders webs and debris

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Moglizo@reddit

Not only is the tank not-so-fresh water, but non drinking water piping was often connected with led based solder since its cheaper and you ain't meant to drink it anyway, so even if you clean the tank there's still risks of drain brammage

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chubby_windmill@reddit

Tap water is absolutely fine where I live, I’d be devastated if I had to buy water, I suppose things deemed normal can be an inconvenience too

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Moglizo@reddit

It's just the bathroom that's tank fed normally, that's the point here, a lot of folks think it's mains fresh but it can carry legionairres disease from sitting too long. OK to brush teeth and bathe with but not to drink, gotta go to kitchen for that

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chubby_windmill@reddit

Nobody will ever stop me, I don’t care about diseases, I am a disease

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SameSafety7338@reddit

On older plumbing systems they would take the cold feed to the bathroom from the tank in the loft and the kitchen tap feed straight from the mains therefore your kitchen tap was potable (category 1) water which means it’s as fresh as it gets whereas your bathroom water was first stored in the tank in the loft (making it category 3 I’m pretty sure) but its not potable water because if anything was to drop into the tank then your non the wiser and would be drinking it. But that’s all changed now and all taps are fed from the mains, unless you have a really old open feed system with a big copper (red jacket) hot water cylinder and tanks in the loft you should be good to drink from any cold water tap in the house. Source - I’m a plumbing and heating engineer

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Mission_Fee_6073@reddit

My plumber has mentioned that it's safe to drink from the bathroom taps if necessary.

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Monk1e889@reddit

Back when houses had poor water pressure and had cold water tanks in the loft, I wouldn't have drank from anything but the kitchen tap (which comes straight off the main). The cold water tank, in the loft, which fed the bathroom cold tap, was rarely cleaned out and was sometimes pretty grim. So, your wife's attitude would have been justified. However, almost all houses now have sufficient water pressure so that all cold taps come straight from the main - so its fine to drink from them.

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deleted_by_reddit@reddit

[deleted]

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nali_cow@reddit

Not correct I'm afraid. My parents' house (built 1911) still has two tanks - a hot water/immersion tank in the airing cupboard, and a cold water tank in the loft which feeds the bathroom taps and toilet. Kitchen tap (and garden tap I guess) is the only mains fed tap in the house

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Solid_Coconut_6694@reddit

1911 is an old house so of course that's how it is. Recently built houses just get water straight from the mains

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nali_cow@reddit

Not sure what point you think I was making here, but the deleted comment that I was replying to (2 years ago, my dude) basically said that no houses existed with tanks anymore, and that all old houses that once had them had now had them removed. I was literally making the same point you're trying to make to me.

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Future_Direction5174@reddit

My bathroom cold tap is from the tank in the loft, as is the sink in the en-suite shower room. Now, the cold water tank has got a lid on it, and is only 3 years old, but many cold tanks are unlidded which means that insects and other critters can fall inside. For this reason, many bathroom cold water taps are not considered safe to drink. However the cold tap in my downstairs loo is mains feed, as is the tap in the garage.

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MeldoRoxl@reddit

Genuine question. How is it okay to brush your teeth with then? This is what I don't get.

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Solid_Coconut_6694@reddit

Because you're not meant to swallow when you brush your teeth, but even if you swallowed, it's only be a small amount so far less likely to make you sick than drinking a full glass of it

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Jimathay@reddit

Yes - it's kind of one of those hangovers from way back in the day with water tanks, where the bathroom wouldn't necessarily have fresh mains water. The physical water that comes out of the bathroom tap will be the same water that comes out of the kitchen tap. My office is in the spare bedroom, so I always top up my glass of water from the bathroom next door. However, it's also worth highlighting that the cleanliness of said environments, rooms, sinks and taps will vary person to person. I clean my kitchen every night after dinner. I clean my bathroom far less than this. I also don't shit and piss in my kitchen.

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bugbigo@reddit

Not even if your bursting and all the dishes are put away ? 😕

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Fluffanutz@reddit (OP)

*laughs in dishes never being definitively put away* 9 times out of 10 there’s a washed glass on the sink ready for drying, so I just grab that

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Solid_Coconut_6694@reddit

I don't put dishes away until I've used more radishes than normal and the pile gets too big, but even then it's just like pans etc that get put away. My kitchen is atrocious for cupboard space 😭

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HertfordshirePurple@reddit

In newer houses it is the same as the kitchen. The folk wisdom not to drink from bathroom taps comes from older plumbing systems where the upstairs cold water would come from a header tank in the loft along with potential nasties that may have collected there.

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SeaLeggs@reddit

We found a dead pigeon in ours 😑

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Troyseph91@reddit

My parents showerhead was a bit weak so my dad disassembled it and found an entire bat skeleton in it, we've never told our mother...

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Solid_Coconut_6694@reddit

How thebfuck did it get in there?

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Chilton_Squid@reddit

Yes, unless it's coming from a tank it's absolutely fine.

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Fluffanutz@reddit (OP)

That makes sense, although I’ll admit I didn’t know water tanks used to be a thing (for cold water at least)

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OhMyItsThatButterfly@reddit

We used to have cold water in bathroom that came from a lead tank in the attic and yes I did wish I’d known that before drinking it. Been disconnected now fortunately!

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Swordfish1929@reddit

Did the water taste unusually sweet by any chance?

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CriticalCentimeter@reddit

my oldest memory is scraping off and eating lead paint off my bed as a kid. I miss the 70s.

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themadhatter85@reddit

I'm surprised you remember them with hobbies like that!

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CriticalCentimeter@reddit

I mean, back then it was all lead. We used to suck the ends of pencils at school. Lead. All fumes from cars were leaded petrol. Most paints were lead based. I had lead toy soldiers. Its a surprise any of us are left!

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TheJoost@reddit

There's no lead in pencils. Not even in the 70s. It's always been graphite, which as far as I know is harmless.

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