Random question, Is it ok to drink water out the bathroom tap?

[Chloefairydust]

The BF has man flu so is laid up in bed lol, he asked me to fill up his glass with some water, so turn to go downstairs to the kitchen, and he says just use the bathroom water🤢… So I did but I would never drink bathroom water, and I’m not sure why… I assume it all comes from the same pipes 🤣

So is it just me? Why is bathroom water so unappetising? And is it actually the same as kitchen water? 🤔

It depends if it runs off a tank or not. If it dies, best not to drink it as there could be all sorts in there. If there's no tank then it's no different than the kitchen water.

Funny you ask. Clearly it’s the same water as in the kitchen. And yet I hate drinking the water in the bathroom!’
I do think you have let it run cold for a while as if it was on hot recently then it’s a awhile before it will be cold if you have a mixer tap.
🤦‍♀️
it’s ok to drink …. But I don’t 🤷‍♀️

In the olden days we had water tanks in the loft. A hot tank to hold the hot water which was heated in a back boiler behind the fire. And a cold tank to hold water for the upstairs taps (because the water pressure wasn’t sufficient to feed an upstairs tap). Only the downstairs kitchen tap was fed directly from the mains so that was the only one which was safe to drink. I still feel weird about drinking from any tap other than the kitchen, even though I live in a modern house now and I know 100% that it’s the same water in all the taps.

Wit modern plumbing, it's no different. Back in the dark ages, upstairs cold water came out if a tank thst never got flushed through or sanitised properly.

Does anyone know the position about hotel bathroom taps? I often stay in hotels and it's the only way to drink water unless I buy bottles. I can't imagine large hotels would have cold water tanks but can anyone confirm?

We have a huge cold water tank in the loft and our house is 1970s built so not super ancient. So I don't drink from the bathroom tap. It's a big nuisance actually.

Ooh good question OP. I always thought you weren’t supposed to but skimming through some of the replies I guess I was wrong! I might just go and fill up my water bottle now. If I wake up dead in the morning it’s on your heads Mumsnet.

DH calls it “pigeon water” because a pigeon might have fallen into the water tank and poisoned it.

I have pointed out that we have a combi boiler and therefore no hot water tank, let alone a cold water tank, and even if we had a system with water tanks, the tanks would be sealed not open to the elements for random pigeons to fall into. But he is completely irrational about it.

it is like washing getting darked on. No issue in reality, just a lot of people irrationally fearful about it.

As an aside, my recent H&S course pointed out that if you have a bathroom that is rarely used then it’s worth running taps / shower weekly to flush it through to prevent legionella.

You should drink the water from the kitchen cold tap only as it's the freshest water in the house, coming in straight from the rising main.
Other taps may be fed by a header tank in the loft and it may be uncovered, so likely to have wildlife in it.
(Ex water company employee).

I have a new awareness of just how manky a water tank in the loft can be due to a legionella survey for house rental. I would never drink the water from a bathroom tap unless I absolutely knew it was mains fed.

I was told as a child that bathroom water has spiders eggs in it. Put me off for life even though I'm pretty sure it's not accurate

My parents live rurally. I only found out this year that only the kitchen tap is connected to the mains water supply. All the others are spring-fed, so the water is untreated and shouldn’t really be drunk.

they’ve lived there for over 30 years but only told my sister and I this year that we shouldn’t have been drinking from the bathroom taps 🤷‍♀️ We are both still alive so I guess it’s ok!

We had lead pipes supplying our bathroom water growing up. But once we got them replaced, my mum said it was fine to drink from.

I give my daughter water from the bathroom as I know it's the same, but irrationally, won't drink it myself. But then again she drinks her own bath water so there ya go!

I thought you could drink water from a spring? 🤔

I have grown up believing you can’t drink water from the bathroom. I was always told the pipes were different and it came from a tank. It is possibly completely untrue, but I don’t think I will ever be able to drink from the bathroom. I am sure though in new homes and flats it is fine.

I wouldn't.
DH does.

My house was built in 2000 and has feeder tanks in the loft so newer houses also have the same system. I still drink the pigeon water and so does everyone else. Ds says he prefers the bathroom water!

This. You should know if you have one as you put salt in it.

Back in the 80s if you drank tap water from the bathroom it had disastrous effects -

Ours is mains fed so we do

Why have you copied and pasted a thread directly off Reddit?

Please try harder!

Perhaps the op wanted to post in two separate places? It’s not a crime.

Bizarre thread. Never entered my head not to drink bathroom water. How do you all clean your teeth?

I have never drunk the bathroom tap water when cleaning my teeth. 🤔