Page 2 | To drink water out of the bathroom tap

Hihosilver123 · 2024-08-08T20:36:09+00:00

I live in London, and my house is on mains water. At night, I fill my glass with water from the bathroom tap. My friend says you shouldn’t do that and should only use the kitchen tap. Surely, on mains water, the water is the same from every tap?

Colddipinthemorning · 09/08/2024 07:11

AudiobookListener · 08/08/2024 21:41

People get confused because if they have a hot water tank, then generally they have a cold water tank in the loft to feed the hot water tank. But the cold water taps in your bathroom are fed straight from the mains, not from the tank in the loft.

Lots of houses have cold water tanks that feed the bathroom taps. People aren't confused.

Getonwitit · 09/08/2024 07:06

namechangedforthisposttt · 08/08/2024 22:11

Omg eye opener or what. How do you know if your bathroom tap comes from a tank???

Look in your loft.

Hoglet70 · 09/08/2024 06:44

I grew up in a house with a water tank so although my bathroom is now mains fed I still feel uncomfortable about drinking from the tap. DH and DS do all the time though. I wont drink water in hotels because I don't know where it's come from which my DH laughs about (and also moans about the bottles of water he has to lug to hotel rooms - I drink a lot of water!).

muddyford · 09/08/2024 06:31

If you have a cold water tank in the roof drinking water is better coming from the rising main in the kitchen. But many houses don't have the tank so it makes little difference. Tank water is unlikely to kill you though.

AGodawfulsmallaffair · 09/08/2024 06:29

Dunnoburt · 08/08/2024 21:40

I voted yabu.......and I grew up with a water tank in the loft and remember running a bath with bones and feathers in.....turned. out a fledgling starling had fallen into the tank .....different era.... you will be fine!!! Xx

Urgh

Disasterclass · 09/08/2024 06:28

We live in a block and our upstairs water is from a shared tank on the roof. Never drink from it but brush teeth, shower etc. About 10 years ago when we had a new boiler, the boiler man went up to check something on the roof and found that pigeons had got into the tank, including one which had died! Who knows how much pigeon shit we'd been bathing in

Broomknobsandbedsticks · 09/08/2024 06:13

As a child I was always told not to drink water from the bathroom tap as it came from an asbestos lined tank in the loft. I live in a fairly new house now and would drink from both bathroom and kitchen (and do) as it’s all run from the mains.

mytuppennyworth · 09/08/2024 06:02

Tulipvase · 08/08/2024 23:48

Well quite. I joked earlier about my bedroom being in my loft but I’m sure
Lots of people across the world drink far dirtier water a daily basis.

Show quote history

and a million people a year die from it. doesn't mean we should too. Particularly when there is clean drinking water down one flight of stairs

HappydaysArehere · 09/08/2024 00:46

If you have a combi boiler which has no water tank and takes water direct from the mains then that is fine. However if your bathroom water is coming from a tank in the loft which is storing water I wouldn’t drink that.

caringcarer · 09/08/2024 00:01

Mains water supply is safe to drink.

TequilaNights · 08/08/2024 23:55

I grew up with a tank on my cold and hot, so it was alien to me when we first went on mains on a combi, but I do it, after letting it run for a few seconds to clear any water sat in the pipes

(You do not want to know some of the things I've seen in water tanks that people use to clean their teeth boke)

Same as lots of people don't use hot water from combi boiler to cook or boil the kettle, just hot water on demand from the mains

Tulipvase · 08/08/2024 23:48

godmum56 · 08/08/2024 23:39

I have a loft water tank and always have had. I don't quench my thirst from it but do clean teeth or use it to swallow a tablet if I need one at night, and water gets into my mouth and eyes when I shower. The tank is covered of course. Do people with a loft tank really carry water uostairs to clean teeth? I am dubious about the spit don't swallow thing too.....I mean surely you must ingest some?

Well quite. I joked earlier about my bedroom being in my loft but I’m sure
Lots of people across the world drink far dirtier water a daily basis.

godmum56 · 08/08/2024 23:39

I have a loft water tank and always have had. I don't quench my thirst from it but do clean teeth or use it to swallow a tablet if I need one at night, and water gets into my mouth and eyes when I shower. The tank is covered of course. Do people with a loft tank really carry water uostairs to clean teeth? I am dubious about the spit don't swallow thing too.....I mean surely you must ingest some?

fishandchipsandvinegar · 08/08/2024 23:31

The only tap in my parents' house that was on the mains was the garden tap.

I grew up and still drink water from the loft water tank. Nobody has ever been sick or found anything weird about it. They've lived there for over thirty years 😆

Edited to add: it took me decades to realise the reason why the 'cold' tap was never cold in the summer...

DiscoBeat · 08/08/2024 23:28

She probably grew up in a house where the bathroom taps came from a tank in the loft. If the tap is mains fed then of course you can drink it.

Sunshineandpool · 08/08/2024 23:26

How do people with these tanks for cold water brush their teeth?

AWafferthinmint · 08/08/2024 23:22

I'm convinced bathroom tap water has a different taste?

SinnerBoy · 08/08/2024 23:22

Unescorted · Today 22:54

Brush them in the kitchen or with a glass of water taken from the kitchen or spit not swallow

Ah. But if you get the water from the bathroom tap in your mouth, even if you spit it out, the bacteria will be in your mouth and could make you ill.

CheatingMenz · 08/08/2024 23:20

Dunnoburt · 08/08/2024 21:40

I voted yabu.......and I grew up with a water tank in the loft and remember running a bath with bones and feathers in.....turned. out a fledgling starling had fallen into the tank .....different era.... you will be fine!!! Xx

We had similar when I was a child. My dad went into the loft to check the tank and there was no lid on it and several decomposed mice were in there.

Original poster

Hihosilver123 · 08/08/2024 23:17

I wasn’t expecting so many replies! Good to hear that it’s not just my friend who’s confused with this. I definitely don’t have a tank as my bedroom is in the loft so I’m drinking mains water from my bathroom tap. As I thought, it’s if you have a tank, or septic tank, that there may be a problem with upstairs water, and many people still have hang-ups about it even though they don’t have a tank!

OP posts:

BingoBangow · 08/08/2024 23:08

I was always told not to drink from upstairs tap and time this day I never do. I have a new(ish) build and I have a tank in my house inside the bathroom for hot water.

If it’s all mains these days, why do I have that? Is my water safe to drink? 🤔

MigGril · 08/08/2024 23:03

Sheelanogig · 08/08/2024 21:40

I think it stems back to having water tanks in the loft of homes - birds/mice could get in, die and rot some tanks were of dubious materials. Fears of contamination.

Now most homes don't have water tanks and water is from the same mains, so we don't need to worry.

That's totally incorrect a lot of houses still do have water tanks. While brand new homes often have a combination boiler fitted so no need for a tank all the houses we have owned/lived in have had a water tank. Yet non where older then 90's built, the tanks where lose covered so didn't get anything really manky in them but still I would want to drink the water from them.

FullDummy · 08/08/2024 23:03

I think for there to be a risk of Legionnaire's the water must have been standing for a long time. A friend's office which had been closed for months over lockdown had to stay closed even longer because they found Legionnaire's in the system

Unescorted · 08/08/2024 23:02

Mespher · 08/08/2024 22:58

Probably some conspiracy thing or a film but I'm sure I heard about a dead body being in a hotel water tank

My parents are on spring water and they get dead frogs / toads in the pipes and once a dead badger in the settling tank.... Not sure it is what you were thinking.

Mespher · 08/08/2024 22:58

Probably some conspiracy thing or a film but I'm sure I heard about a dead body being in a hotel water tank