Brita water jug for Uk hotel stays?

[Mudonstairs]

I feel like this is a stupid and dull question but I can’t find the answer by googling it. We have a 5 day round trip coming up and will be driving from Scotland to wales with various overnight stops and I was just wondering if it’s safe to drink bathroom water from the hotel rooms if we bring a brita water jug. Does anyone know?

I know you can boil the water but it would be handy to have the jug as a place for the water to be stored as we will then be able to use the kettle for teas and coffee without worrying about pouring the water waiting for it to cool etc. We are travelling with a toddler so would prefer not to have to lug bottled water around as will have enough luggage as it is!

So I did this test just now. It seems like husband is right and our bathroom is mains water as it was spraying everywhere when I tried to hold it! This has made my evening so much more exciting than usual. Gosh, I should get out more 🤣

You would know if you had water tanks if you look in your loft as that's where they live. I have water tanks in the loft and a hot water cylinder in an upstairs cupboard. I still drink out the bathroom taps

I would drink the water but if you aren’t going to then don’t take a huge water filter. You can get a “water to go” bottle which is designed for travelling and will filter any water you have and ensure it is safe. It’s much smaller and easier.
Once the DC is bigger can use Kwells for traveI sickness which works well

I have stayed in an awful lot of cheap hotels for work and have almost always drunk the tap water. The only times I hadn't the water was labelled not drinking water and I think the hotel supplied bottled water free in the room if I remember correctly.

Thanks. I can’t wait until he is older so we can use Kwells. We are still a long way away from then unfortunately. Hopefully going in prepared with sealable sick bags and cleaning supplies, and just getting on with it will work out fine in the end!

Hotel tap water is unlikely to come from tank and so should be totally safe to drink. Your Brita jug would make no difference to safety in that scenario either, wrong type of filter. You could always boil and cool if you are very concerned though (throw first kettle full way though!)
Some bottled waters are too high in residue (especially sodium) for babies so buy a suitable brand if you go down that route.

You can have a hot water cylinder without the cold water tank. Our previous house had both but the cold water tank was empty as the upstairs had been changed to mains-fed. It was an 80s built house and it surprised me that cold water tanks were still being built into houses then.

I've stayed in lots of London hotels where the water tastes pleasant but they are new buildings and it all must be filtered or have a water softener somewhere. But I was listening to something on R4 about water filters and they can actually harbour bacteria in the filter and in this country are probably more unsafe than just drinking the tap water.

What does everyone think happens to all these people who are regularly poisoned by cold water tanks and / or pissy kettles?!?

Wouldn't there be a never ending procession of mystery illness outbreaks in the UK? A nation where a large proportion weren't in work at any one time due to all the germs they've ingested?!?

We have an IMMUNE SYSTEM which will deal with anything micro that remains on the kettle / in the water.

There are far far far far far far more risky things that you do without thinking on a daily basis. Honestly, absolutely no harm will come to you or your toddler if you drink hotel bathroom water.

@Blarn my house was built in 2000 and has tanks/cylinder. We kept them when we got our new boiler a few years ago.

I had no idea that peeing in kettles was a thing. Wouldn’t occur to me as surely guests would just use the toilet. Maybe it came about when young lads would share rooms and the bathroom is occupied

How kind you are🥰. I would ‘surely’ think using the toilet is the way to go as well. Even as drunk idiot uni students I can’t recall a girl who didn’t think a toilet was the most appropriate receptacle. I really don’t think it was/is a case of ‘lads sharing rooms and bathrooms occupied’. I think you will find it’s a case of young guys being absolute drunk fuckwits and egging each other on. I truly believe most have loose wiring until a certain age 🤣. I’m in no way excusing or endorsing it but believe many would bypass an empty toilet to use a kettle/pot plant/vase when together with other ‘lads’ and considerably full of alcohol. They do grow out of it though.

My goodness, it beggars belief! I do hope my little boy doesn’t engage in such unsavoury antics when he comes of age😂

On checking in to a hotel room, I sterilise the kettle with a Milton tablet, then soak the cups, glasss and cutlery in the water. Then I boil the kettle with fresh water twice. If I can, I'll buy big bottles of water near the hotel for drinks. I drink tap water at home, but that's filtered.

My family thought I was mad, until I told them to Google 'cabin crew and hotel kettles'.

"Ideally, you should only use a tap connected to the mains water supply for drinking, food preparation or teeth cleaning..." according to the Drinking Water Inspectorate ('DWI').

"... however, if your drinking water comes from a storage tank, then it will be safe to use if the tank is properly designed, correctly installed and kept in good condition."

Considering that a sizable proportion of water tanks fail to meet those criteria - I recently read of a dead pigeon in one - drinking from one is a risk.

As for the "Hotels obviously label taps if they're not for drinking from", nope. Common sense tells people to only use taps that they know are safe. Many B and B operators do not care too much about guests who refuse to use common sense.

I have usually used the signage logic in reverse. Only considered water safe if it is labelled drinking water. Unless it’s from a kitchen when I just assume it is mains.

I'm not sure where hotels would keep these massive water tanks needed for all the cold water hotel guests would get through. In a domestic setting, they're in the loft (and a quite big tank is needed to service 2/3/4 bedrooms). In a hotel setting with 50/100/200 rooms, the practicalities of this would be challenging. And even if they did have tanks, the amount of water going through them would be almost the equivalent of going off the mains anyway - water isn't going to be sitting round in them.

I used to work in hotels, and although it was a while ago now, I can't think where any of them would have had cold water tanks.

Same logic I use. The thought of just drinking from any random, non-kitchen tap is bizarre to me.

I always just drink the water from the bathroom, in UK but also in other countries. Never been sick in my life. Mad how obsessed MNetters are with hygiene.

It is dangerous to drink out of a cold water bathroom tap if there is a water softener in place though isn't it? (Stayed at a friends house who told us not to drink out of the bathroom tap due to this). Something to do with possible risk of elevated sodium levels if susceptible I think.

I've never heard of the kitchen, non kitchen thought process. What's it about? Is it something from outside UK ?All the water comes from the supply under the street. Most houses in the UK wouldn't have a cold water tank.