#2 101 Interesting plumbing facts
101 interesting plumbing facts
Over the years I have heard many brilliant, fun facts about water usage and plumbing! I have also come across some very useless (but interesting) information.
Whether you want to know which sex has longer showers, or which cubicle in the public toilet is used the most – you will find the answer to your questions below!
Enjoy these fun facts below:
1. It takes 140 litres of water to turn a coffee bean into your cup of coffee.
2. The average person spends approximately three years of their life on the toilet.
3. In Egypt, they used to refer to the bathroom as the house of horrors.
4. King George II of Great Britain died while falling from a toilet.
5. The first flushing toilet is believed to be that of King Minus, back in 1500bc.
6. Ozzy Osbourne was a plumbing apprentice before making his name in music.
7. For children under five, water related diseases are the highest cause of death.
8. Showers are the highest user of water in the typical Australian home, accounting for over 30% of a house holds water usage.
9. The word “plumber” comes from the Latin word “plumbum” which means lead.
10. Even though humans can’t drink salt water, sea birds such as seagulls and albatross can drink salt water. They then excrete the excess salt which helps them spend weeks at sea.
11. Albert Einstein said if he did his life again he would be a plumber.
12. 75% of household prefer for the flap of the toilet paper to be faced down.
13. The French call the bathroom “Le Chambre Sent” which translates to smelly house.
14. Richard Nixon used the code name “plumbers” for the agents he used to prevent intelligence leaks from the White House.
15. Water flows in the same direction in the northern and southern hemispheres. It can in fact flow in either direction, clockwise or anticlockwise.
16. 95% of a tomato is water.
17. A human can survive weeks without food but only days without water.
18. Agriculture accounts for approximately 80% of the worlds water use.
19. About 26,000 litres of water is needed to grow the daily water food for the average family of four.
20. Human blood is 83% water.
21. Al Moen is credited with inventing the “single lever tap” which was then used to control the flow of hot and cold water.
22. An average person drinks 75,000 litres of water in their lifetime.
23. A pineapple is 80% water.
24. The human brain is 75% water.
25. Human bones are 25% water.
26. Humans can lose approx 350ml of water per day just from breathing.
27. Mario and Luigi are the worlds most famous plumbers.
28. The Amazon river is the widest in the world. The widest point is over 7km wide during the dry season and up to 40km wide during the wet season. The Amazon river holds the most amount of water if any water system in the world.
29. The Congo river is the deepest river in the world. At its deepest, it is over 200 meters deep, that is approximately 700ft deep or put another way is equal to about 110 men stood on the top of each other.
30. Roofing (which forms a large part of the plumbing occupation) is classified as the world’s 4th deadliest occupation.
31. A leaking tap that drips once per second for a day wastes about 30 litres of water per day. Thats 10950 litres wasted per year from one leaky tap.
32. 40% of the worlds population lives within 60km of the ocean. That’s 3.2 billion people.
33. 70% of the earths surface is water, 98% of this water is made up of salt water. This leaves only 2% of the 70% is fresh water, 90% of which is frozen.
34. If 100 litres of water represented all the water on earth, 1/2 a teaspoon is representative of the fresh water.
35. Half of the worlds fresh water can be found in 6 countries.
36. Over one billion people live without safe, fresh drinking water.
37. Sewer manhole covers were purposely designed as a circle as this is the only shape where the lid can’t fall into the hole.
38. 90% of toilets are fixed using only a plunger. Regardless of this fact, a strong stomach is usually needed to unblock it!
39. Drinking the right amount of water regularly can help reduce your risk of developing cancers such as bladder and colon cancer.
40. About 15% of America’s get their drinking water from their own private wells and bores.
41. An earthworm is approx 80% water.
42. NASA had to design a toilet so that the waste didn’t float in the zero gravity. Astronauts are fastened to the toilet and a suction system is used to remove the waste. From time to time problems do occur and need to be fixed by engineers fast.
43. A healthy person can drink around 48 cups of water in a day.
44. A child under 5 dies every 15 seconds from a water related disease.
45. Plumbing is now getting more automated, you can now use and flush a toilet hands free, and then wash your hands, hands free.
46. In Japan toilets are so futuristic, they include heated seats, soothing music and even TVs to keep you entertained.
47. Steam showers are now entering the market, and use about 20% of the normal water usage of an average shower. Meaning massive water savings.
48. Four litres of petrol can contaminate approximately 2.8 million litres of water.
49. In Australia, a plumbing apprenticeship takes four years to complete a certificate III and a further two years of college before you have your certificate IIII. Then you are able to own your own plumbing business.
50. 80% of the Australian population lives near the coast.
51. Did you know that the first stall in a row of pubic toilets is used the least and is therefore the cleanest (approximately used 15-20% of the time).
52. The middle cubicles in the row of public toilets are used a massive 60% of the time.
53. The average UK shower lasts eight minutes and uses about 62 litres of hot water. In comparison, a bath uses about 80 litres of hot water.
54. Who spends more time in the shower, men or women? A UK study found that women spend an average seven minute 39 seconds in the shower through the week, compared to a mans eight minutes and five seconds. The study was pretty comprehensive with 2,609 families taking part over a 10 week period.
55. In 1981, several explosions in Louisville and Kentucky destroyed approximately 3km of roads and paths. The explosions came from the sewers and were caused by the illegal discharge of hexane vapour from a near by soybean plant.
56. Many deaths around the world occur when plumbers/servicemen enter sewers and manholes without proper gas testing and end up succumbing to the gas vapour.
57. Approx one in 300 homes is thought to have a minor leak.
58. Tudors called the bathroom “the house of privacy”.
59. The oldest known toilet which is still in one piece is over 2,000 years old and resides in China.
60. When you drink water, it only stays in your stomach for five minutes before entering your intestines.
61. The average person visits the toilet 6-7 times per day.
62. If you have an old 6/3 litre toilet and flush six times daily, you will use 3285 litres more water per person, per year than if you use the 4.5/3 litre cistern toilet. That would be a 13000+ litre saving for an average family of four.
63. In Brisbane, Australia the average plumber earns $37.94 per hour, but please expect to pay +$100 for each hour.
64. In Australia, rain water is regularly plumbed in to service washing machines, laundry taps, and outside hose taps. If you travel inland rain, water is used for everything including showering and drinking. There are many filters on the market today which will make this safe and cost effective.
65. Australia is the worlds driest continent with 70% of the land classed as arid.
66. Copper (pipes) are naturally antibacterial.
67. Copper water pipes are 100% recyclable.
68. Japan’s underground stormwater tunnels are impressive to say the least, 4 miles of huge tunnels, leading to “the temple” – a 25 meter high 177 long underground tank used to help control storm surges. It cost over 200 million yen and took over 17 years to build!
69. Australian plumbing standards state that all sanitary water (fixtures used for washing ourselves) shall be no hotter than 50 degrees celsius. In schools and aged care homes the water temperature requirements are even stricter and require thermostatic mixing valves to control the temperature.
70. A watermelon is a massive 93% water.
71. The average age of a plumber in Australia is 55 years old and 58 years in Texas. When we compare this to the average work force age of 39, you may call plumbers the “Dads army of the work force.”
72. In 2017, there were only 49 qualified female plumbers in Queensland. Considering that plumbing requires a lot of patience at times and attention to detail, I am surprised the state government does not push for more female participation in the industry, when the female gender is clearly suited to many aspects of the industry.
73. In Australia water pressure is limited to 500 KPA in a residential setting, whereas in the UK the standard water pressure at the boundary of the property is supplied at 100 KPA only. I lived in the UK for 25 years and the shower power was the first thing I noticed when I emigrated to Australia… huge difference.
74. If you wash up using a sink instead of a dishwasher, you are likely to use over 36,500 litres per year. Using the dishwasher on the other hand you will only use around 4,380 litres, a savings of over 32k litres per year.
75. A jelly fish and a cucumber are both 95% water.
76. It takes over 500 litres to produce one egg.
77. 40 billion hours are estimated per year to collect water in Africa. Developed countries are so lucky.
78. Water expands by 9% when it freezes.
79. Elephants can drink up to 220 litres of water per day which is like drinking a bath of water!
80. Since 1963, there has been enough copper plumbing pipe work installed to circumnavigate the globe over 200 times.
81. Surprisingly 12-year-old boys take the longest showers, taking a staggering 9 minute 41 second shower daily.
82. The boiling point of water sea level is 100 degrees celsius. At the peak of Everest water boils at only 71 degrees and this is due to atmospheric pressure differences.
83. In 1979 Andreas Mihazecv of Austria was accidentally left in a holding cell without water for 18 days and survived.
84. It takes twice as much water to produce coffee then tea.
85. 85% of the worlds population lives in the driest part of the planet.
86. In 1829 the Tremont Hotel in Boston became the first hotel to have indoor plumbing. There is evidence of Egyptians having indoor plumbing but not in hotels as we now know them.
87. The first waterless hot water unit was invented by Stiebel Electron in 1929, and they are still going strong today, mainly in the commercial sector.
88. The average person uses 76 litres of hot water per day. A good fact to know the next time you need to buy a hot water system!
89. A washing machine using 50 litres per cycle and 300 washes per year will use a staggering 15,000 litre of water per year.
90. In Japan, some urinals have voice activated flush systems which respond to “fire”.
91. Australia is the highest user of water in the world per person despite being the most arid.
92. Each day the sun evaporates a trillion tons of water. Evaporation is the leading cause of water loss in Australian swimming pools.
93. Each year Australia uses enough water to fill the Sydney Harbour 48 times.
94. Water supplied to homes from the Artesian bore have an eggy smell which is due to sulphur gas trapped in the water. If you chill the water the smell generally disappears to acceptable levels. From experience, it takes a while to get used to but I actually liked it after a while.
95. Death generally occurs when the human body loses more than around 15% if its water. We can tolerate a 3% – 4% loss without major side affects.
96. Children in their first six months of ideas consume 6 x as much water per kg in weight than the average person,
97. Filling a half litre bottle of water 650 times with tap water is the same cost as your 99 cent bottle of water from the servo. Message here, keep refilling!
98. 300 tonnes of water are required to manufacture just one ton of steel.
99. The Artesian bores water supply can reach 100 degrees celsius in areas like Birdsville and require the use of special cooling ponds before being supplied to homes.
100. 90% of all pharmaceuticals are excreted through your urine and then enter the sewer system and waterways.
101. Next time you use the tap, remember that around 95% of the water entering our homes goes down the drain. Can we you do anything to improve on this stat? If your drainage is easily accessible, why not think about installing a grey water system and save the waste?
If you need any further assistance, feel free to reach out to Yates Plumbing and Gas. We are local Brisbane plumbers, with a passion for excellence. Our friendly qualified team can help you with all of your plumbing and gas needs.
If you require more information or would like to book our service, please email on info@yatesplumbingandgas.com.au or call us on 0437 827 502