To think you can drink from a bathroom tap?

[cheesenpickles]

Help me settle a long-standing debate in my household.

My dh thinks that you can't drink water from the bathroom tap and only a kitchen tap.

I think he's daft as a brush and it all comes from the same source. It's totally fine to drink.

Discuss

I have heard stories of people finding dead birds and rats in their upstairs tanks

He probably grew up in a house with a water tank. Mind you, so did I and we all used to drink it. Hygiene in my house growing up was somewhat relaxed though. I could tell you some stories.

It depends on the plumbing/age of the house. The rising mains should go straight to the kitchen tap direct, so that's drinkable, but every other tap in the house used to be fed from an open tank in the loft, so not suitable for drinking. My dad once found a dead bird in the tank in the loft...

Ro Pigs?! How they get up there??

upstairs taps = pigeon water. anything you know for a fact is off the mains (including the garden tap) is fine :)

We found a dead mouse in the tank in our loft once when I was a child. My dad decided to install a combi boiler after that , even though we never drank from the bathroom taps

It is sort of a hard habit to break, so despite having lived in houses with combi boilers for 40 years, I still cringe a bit at drinking tap water from the bathroom taps, even though I know logically, it is fine in the house we are in.

@cheesenpickles

I don't like to drink from the bathroom tap, as It tastes a bit funny. I can't articulate why, but it just does. I mean, I would drink it if I HAD to, but I would rather go to the kitchen for a drink of water...

If your bathroom is directly fed from the rising main then it is fine. If it is fed from a header tank in the loft or attic then better not, although it is unlikely to actually do you any harm.

Crap can build up in some loft tanks, and water does sit in them for longer so it isn't as fresh.

Bathroom water always tastes better.

I'm in a hardwater area so I'm not drinking from any taps. I buy any water thats for drinking.

Jesus 'How they got? They flew!'

2 dead pigeons in the water tank = Fawlty Towers episode with the health inspector! (I think!)

You buy all your drinking water!??!?!

We're a hard water area but cant imagine the amount of water we'd need to buy if we didnt drink water!

Friends had dead squirrel in their tank....

No need at all to buy drinking water if you live in a hard water area. I live in a hard water area too.

Hard water has a lot of minerals in it that you need. Bottled mineral water often also comes from a tap and is a bit of a con.

Water in cold tap in bathroom sink should come from your rising main, the same source as your kitchen tap. Bath/shower cold will come from the cold tank in the attic in older house. Not sure about newer homes

My mother still has a water tank so the bathroom taps are a no no (we even brushed our teeth in the kitchen). You'd have to pay me to drink that water! not envy

I used to drink bathroom water until I was 30ish, when my DM told me not to because of the tank. I never got sick from it in all that time, but I can see it's better to be careful. I don't do it now.

If you don’t have lead pipes you’re fine. My il do so can’t drink up stairs water there.

I used to love drinking the bathroom water for a treat cos it tasted so much nicer than the kitchen water

My flat has mains water in the bathroom but I still won't drink it after being brought up in a house with a water tank & told we couldn't drink it - although the kitchen is next to the bathroom so not a huge trek for a glass of water in the middle of the night.

I'm in a hardwater area so I'm not drinking from any taps. I buy any water thats for drinking

Legit batshit. Why not buy a water filter and save some money and the environment?

Depends on your plumbing. Often the cold feed to upstairs is from a tank and you don't want to drink that. If it's direct from the mains, like downstairs, it's fine.

I thought hard water was supposed to be good for your health to drink, just bad for your skin, kettle and water pipes!

@RoLaren

'How they get up there?'

As an aside, if you won’t drink from upstairs due to the tank thing, how do you brush your teeth?

Without swallowing.