Fun Facts about Plumbing and Water Heaters

The Tremont Hotel in Boston became the country’s first hotel to incorporate indoor plumbing in 1829. Mario and Luigi (of the video game Super Mario Brothers) are plumbers

Think a leaky faucet is no big deal? Think again. A faucet that drips just once per second can waste more than 3,000 gallons of water per year. 

In 1939, Al Moen invented the single-handle faucet that can control hot and cold water in just one turn

Did you know that Albert Einstein was named an honorary member of the Plumbers and Steamfitters Union after saying publicly that he would become a plumber if he had to do it all over again

Are we taking toilets too far?
One hot new trend is heated toilet seats. Instead of getting a nice chill in the morning on your behind, these  are a luxurious way to keep your tush warm. The average cost is $3000.00 - do you think it is worth it to keep your tuchus warm on a cold day? 

Interesting Info:

An average of three years of a person's life is spent on the toilet.

Do you put your toilet paper on the holder the flap hanging in front or underneath? Over $100,000 was spent by the United States on a study to try to get to the bottom of this... And the results? 3 out of 4 people prefer the toilet paper flap in the front. 

Did you know that roughly 157 gallons of water are wasted each year due to a slow leak of 3 drops a minute?
Every extra drip not only costs you a lot of money, but it also wastes a ton of water! According to the EPA, household leaks can waste more than 1 trillion gallons annually nationwide. Drips start to add up and also take a toll on your plumbing fixtures such as your faucet. Give us a call even if you have a drip.. that drip can turn in to a leak that can turn into a major plumbing problem. 

Did you know that in the tomb of a king of the Western Han Dynasty in China (206 BC to 24 AD), archaeologists discovered a 2,000-year-old “toilet” – complete with running water, a stone seat and even a comfortable armrest! The finding: marked the earliest-known water closet, which is quite like what we are using today, in the entire world. 

When a black ring starts to appear around the base of a toilet it generally means the wax ring that seals the toilet to the floor underneath is leaking. The color is coming from a black bacteria, mold or sewage. The only way to fix this is to pull the toilet off the floor, remove the toilet’s wax ring and replace it with a new wax ring gasket. I would also suggest making sure the drain line is cleared under the toilet – as long as you have it off the floor. If the toilet cannot flush properly, then the water will build up and put pressure on the wax ring causing it to leak. 

How many rolls of toilet paper are used in a year?
Twenty-six billion rolls of toilet paper, worth about US$2.4 billion, are sold yearly in America alone. Americans use an average of 23.6 rollsper capita a year. The average American uses 50 pounds (23 kg) of tissue paper per year which is 50% more than the average of other Western countries or Japan.

Fun Facts:

The toilet is flushed more times during the Super Bowl halftime than at any time during the year. 

The average American uses 57 sheets of toilet paper a day , which adds up to 36.5 billion rolls of toilet paper per year.

The oldest working toilet can be seen in Knossos in Greece in a small castle . It is a flushing toilet that is still functioning about 4000 years after it was built.

In the 1880s, Prince Edward hired Thomas Crapper to build bathrooms in royal palaces.

The average person goes to the toilet about 2,500 times a year.

PLUMBING FICTION:

It is OK to flush wipes down the toilet...
No!!!The last thing you want to flush down your toilet are “flushable wipes.” Often times the wipes are the cause of clogged toilets and drains! The only two things that should be flushed down the toilet are 1) human waste and 2) toilet paper!

You can save water by putting a brick in your toilet tank
The idea here is that the brick will displace water within your toilet tank. However, this myth doesn’t fully add up. Over time, the brick will fall apart, leaving things within your toilet tank (like the flapper) susceptible to damage. Moreover, displace too much water and you may end up flushing more than once!

Drop lemon peels down the disposal to make it smell good.
Yes, it will smell nice, but the peels can clog the drain. “Make sure you have a powerful enough disposal to cut through the peel,” Lutz says. Unless you know for sure, don’t do this. You can, however, pour some white vinegar in to freshen up your disposal.