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

So for me the idea of this village where no one has seen a mirror or stairs felt odd and made up.

I've been advised that before but Yorkshire Water said that they don't do that. I decided to pay for it instead, asked for a plumber to come around and when I mentioned water testing he didn't have a clue, other than to reassure me that the pipes would be so furred up with limescale that the water would be safe.

Our upstairs water comes from a tank in the loft and quite often we have bits of dead woodlice in it 🤢

I never drink from the bathroom tap, I don't know why, it's just installed in me to use the kichen and never the bathroom...

Yes, the water does come from the mains supply. The cold water tank DOES NOT feed the cold taps. It feeds the hot taps via another tank which has a coil heater inside it.

My cold water tank DEFINITELY feeds the family bathroom taps and toilet. House is 1934 build but tank is a plastic replacement from the 1990s. Fills from the mains but stores about two bath worth of water. Several pipes run from the tank, all with labelled valves. One is for “main bathroom” and if we turn that one off then the “main bathroom” taps and toilet cistern do not get water. I know thus for sure as I repaired the basin tap in there a few weeks ago and as the in-line stop was sticking I turned it off in the loft.

“My” bathroom is part of the loft conversion and IS mains fed because of the sanitary ware all being above the level of the bottom of the storage tank. So I can drink from those taps and there is the added advantage that the toilet cistern in there fills a lot more quickly than the family bathroom toilet below which is refilled from the storage tank.

When I’m in bed I know when someone has used the family bathroom as I hear the storage tank topping up as it is just the other side of a stud wall from my bed.

@RosieandFin

Save up for a lid.

Ask your water co to test your drinking water for lead content.

@PigletJohn

I've been advised that before but Yorkshire Water said that they don't do that. I decided to pay for it instead, asked for a plumber to come around and when I mentioned water testing he didn't have a clue, other than to reassure me that the pipes would be so furred up with limescale that the water would be safe.

I only ever drink water from the kitchen tap. My house has a water tank. I'd never drink water from a bathroom tap anywhere.

If it’s mains fed then it’s fine. Ours is so I do occasionally have a sip!

Umm squirrel water I used to work with a guy who was ill constantly and it was narrowed down to the dead squirrel(s) that had got into the loft water tank. So he had a new cover put on the tank but it took a while for all the squirrel parts to work their way through the pipes.

I wish someone would just reply explaining about water tanks, mains fed and dead pigeons. I'm surprised the thread has got to nearly 200 posts without someone mentioning this.

Also, I wish someone would reply explaining that they once drank out of a bathroom tap and survived. On the other hand, given that nobody has done this, I guess that means anyone who once drank out of a bathroom tap died?

We have a well. All water is pumped into a tank in the loft. We drink it from any tap. Any tank is the loft is hardly going to be stagnant, it's constantly got water moving through it. Even if just serving the upstairs it will be emptying and filling regularly as toilets are flushed and baths/showers are had..

Not if it's from a tank in the loft. But most people have got rid of those now, most homes have mains water upstairs & that's fine to drink. Same as from the kitchen.

Of course they haven't! Only new builds and flats round here have combi boilers.

Bathroom water is a no-no

@PigletJohn why did I never think of this?! 🤦‍♀️

It always makes me wonder when I see a sign over a washbasin saying "not drinking water", if it's not drinking water then is it suitable for washing my hands in?

Why on earth not? It's water, not acid

No you can't.
Could have lead pours in an old house as it's not drinking water.

Pipes!

Kitchen tap mains fed
Bathroom tap usually tank fed, so no not suitable for drinking

This^^

Upstairs water usually not. It comes from the tank in the loft where it can stagnate for days. Some water tanks dont even have covers meaning there is all kinds of junk and just in them. It's not unusual for the odd squirrel to have found their way in their and drowned either(found by my dad in several house renovations).
If by an unusual chance you live Inca house where the water is mains fed to the bathroom. Drink away.
Dont drink it unless you know where it comes from!

New build here, no tank (apartments) so I drink out any tap

Never drink it from the bathroom tap. Disgusting

Not if it's from a tank in the loft. But most people have got rid of those now, most homes have mains water upstairs & that's fine to drink. Same as from the kitchen

Most NEW smaller homes and flats have mains water, most other houses ie: almost all, have a tank in the loft.

Also if you have a water softener you can't drink from any tap other than the kitchen which is bypassed for mains drinking water. The water from elsewhere tastes "salty".

Never drink it from the bathroom tap. Disgusting

As has already been said several times, not necessarily. It really does depend on how the plumbing in an individual house is arranged.

We live in an old house. It has a tank in the loft that feeds the hot water taps only. All the cold taps in the house are fed direct from the mains so perfectly safe to drink.

Non-combi boilers usually have a separate header tank. It isn't shared with water that comes out of the taps.

the frightening thing about this thread is the number of people who have no clue at all about how their own home is set up. despite the usual MN whining for absolutes, I think we have established that there are different systems. Find out what you have, rather than just leaving it to your husband, eh?

If it's mains fed, I would say yes, as that's the same as a kitchen tap. Tank fed, I wouldn't. Upstairs and down in our place is all off the main.

Toilet fills in seconds, so if you have a "two flush" dump, you aren't in there too long flushing away the evidence.