Facts that you need to know about Plumbing

info • 29 March 2024

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  1. The Tremont Hotel in Boston became the first hotel to install indoor plumbing in 1829. However, the history of indoor plumbing dates back far longer. Archaeologists in Egypt discovered a plumbing system in the Pyramid of Cheops and evidence of indoor plumbing in Egyptian palaces from 2500 B.C.
  2. Ancient Egyptians used copper piping in their plumbing.
  3. Since 1963, U.S. homes have installed more than 5.3 million miles (28 billion feet) of copper piping. For context, that length equals running a single copper tube around the earth 200 times.
  4. Archeological evidence from the palace of King Minos of Crete has shown that flushing water closets existed over 2,800 years ago. Therefore, the old joke about Sir Thomas Crapper inventing the toilet is not factual.
  5. Sir John Harrington built a flushing toilet for his godmother Queen Elizabeth I in 1596. The gesture turned his name into the nickname for flushing toilets in the U.S. So, the next time you hear someone say they’re going to “the John,” you know the origin of that nickname.
  6. Alexander Cummings filed the first-ever patent for a flushing toilet in 1775.
  7. Albert Einstein loved plumbing and once mentioned that he’d become a plumber if he had to start life all over again. The statement resonated with the Plumbers and Steamfitters Union in Washington, DC, so they made him an honorary member. A group of local plumbers in New York also sent him a set of gold-plated plumber tools.
  8. Installing a low-flush toilet can save you 18,000 gallons of water each year.
  9. The word “plumbing” comes from the Latin term plumbum, which means “lead.”
  10. Always set your water heater at no hotter than 125°F. Higher temperatures increase the risk of a burn. At 165°F, your skin will burn in less than a second.
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