British Peculiarities I: The Virtual Absence of Mixed Taps
Marte found this article on the issue. I’m not crazy! The issue is really alive! See, Churchill and Boris Johnson spent time pondering over it! Read for yourself.
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Old-Fashioned Faucets:
Unique British Standard
By JAMES R. HAGERTY
Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal
From The Wall Street Journal Online
LONDON (Oct. 31, 2002)—During a wartime visit to Moscow in 1942, Winston S. Churchill discovered a marvel of modern technology: hot and cold water flowing from the same faucet.
The plumbing in the villa where he stayed as a guest of Stalin was unlike the primitive British standard of separate taps for hot and cold. Rather than having to fill up the sink to achieve the right blend, the British leader could wash his hands under gushing water “mingled to exactly the temperature one desired,” as he put it in his memoirs. From then on, he resolved to use this method whenever possible.
His countrymen have been slow to take up the single-spigot cause. Most bathroom sinks in Britain still have separate hot and cold taps today, 60 years after Mr. Churchill’s conversion and decades after nearly all dual taps were scrapped in the U.S. and most vanished from continental Europe. For reasons of thrift, regulations and a stubborn attachment to tradition, the British have resisted the tide of plumbing history. Even when they renovate old homes, many choose two-tap systems, and builders often install them in new, low-end housing. Separate taps account for an estimated 40% of all bathroom-faucet sales in the U.K.
“It’s very strange to me,” says Ayelet Langer, who moved to London from Israel last year and found two faucets mounted on the newly installed bathroom sink in her apartment. “I thought I couldn’t really cope with it at first, but now I do.” Worried that the water from the hot tap will scald the fingers of her one-year-old son, she washes his hands in the kitchen sink, which has a single spout.
Britons don’t understand why foreigners raise a fuss over this issue. “The British are quite happy to wash their hands with cold water. Maybe it’s character-building,” says Simon Kirby, managing director of Thomas Crapper & Co., a maker of bathroom equipment in Stratford-on-Avon.
Boris Johnson, a Conservative Party member of Parliament representing Henley, congratulates “the higher civilizations” that have adopted advanced plumbing technology. But he argues that having the choice of either hot or cold for washing hands “is an incentive to get it over and done with and not waste water.”
Separate faucets are only one of the peculiarities of the British bathroom. Another is electricity—or rather the lack of it. Regulations aimed at preventing shocks forbid the installation in bathrooms of electrical outlets, except those designed for shavers. One more antishock measure bans standard on/off switches in bathrooms. The lights are controlled by pull cords hanging from the ceiling.
None of these eccentricities causes as much annoyance among foreigners as separate taps. Renee Guinivan of Bath, N.C., a retired secretary whose daughter lives in London, finds them “unsanitary.” Ms. Guinivan could fill the sink with a mixture of hot and cold before washing. But what if the last person who used the sink brushed his teeth and spat? “I hate to be fussy,” she says, though she is tempted to tote around a small package of Ajax cleaning powder and a sponge when she visits Britain.
“Perhaps it’s something Puritanical about the English” that inclines them to shun modern luxuries, says Pam Carter, a spokeswoman for the Savoy Hotel.
In keeping with the grand style of a luxury hotel opened in 1889, the Savoy’s vast white-tile bathrooms retain a Victorian look. The huge shower heads, resembling upside-down pie tins, dump cascades of water on guests. Call buttons above the tubs read “valet” and “maid” (though the buttons no longer function and guests are expected to use the telephone if they want help). To appease its largely American clientele, the Savoy has converted many of its sinks to single hot-and-cold taps, but some of the sinks retain separate faucets. Ms. Carter points to a gleaming white double-tap sink from the 1950s, large enough to bathe a midsize dog. “It would be a crime to get rid of something like that,” she says.
Many in Britain keep separate bathroom taps to preserve the authenticity of Victorian homes. The force of habit also plays a role. As the commercial director of the Bathroom Manufacturers Association, Yvonne Orgill might be expected to favor frequent renovations, yet she is completely satisfied with the separate taps on her bathtub and sees no reason to replace them. “I can turn them on and off with my toes, being a lazy person” she says.
In their defense, some British cite red tape. Older British homes often have storage tanks in their attics that feed water heaters. Under certain conditions, those tanks could be contaminated – for instance, by the intrusion of a rat – and tainted hot water that flows into a mixer tap might get sucked into a cold-water pipe leading back to the public water supply, endangering the whole neighborhood. So regulations forbid mixing of hot and cold water streams inside a tap unless the tank meets strict standards or protective valves are installed.
Separate taps are also a bit cheaper. A midprice pair of chrome bathroom-sink taps from Pegler Ltd. costs about $87, or half the price of a hot-and-cold “mixer” tap of similar quality.
Even so, modernity is slowly imposing itself. British people who travel overseas often are impressed by single taps, not to mention the “lovely shower systems that blow your head off,” says Kevin Wellman, operations director at the British Institute of Plumbing. A U.S. company, American Standard Cos., is now the largest supplier of bathroom equipment in Britain and promotes modern fittings, including mixer taps.
Martin Phillips, a Londoner who sells car-industry forecasts and is married to an American, says his wife has converted him. Now when he encounters a sink with separate taps, he says, “it drives me potty.”
But there are many holdouts. One is Mr. Kirby, the managing director at Thomas Crapper. Of the mixer tap, he says, “I wouldn’t even consider it as a modernization—just a different way of doing it.”
Of course, he has a professional interest in the matter. Founded in 1861 by Thomas Crapper, the firm he runs makes replicas of Victorian bathroom equipment, including bathroom “basins,” or sinks, ranging from about $1,320 to $1,875. In a rare compromise with authenticity, the company does provide some sinks with mixer taps, but those are sold mainly to overseas customers.
Mr. Kirby says he doesn’t find separate taps inconvenient. He dunks his hands under the cold water tap when he wants a quick wash. “If I want to wash them properly, I put the plug in” and fill the basin, he says. Isn’t that less hygienic than washing under running water? “It’s a cultural difference,” Mr. Kirby says. “We’re less bothered about that.”
Despite their clashing views on hand-washing, Mr. Kirby keeps portraits of Winston Churchill in his home and office. He isn’t surprised that the prime minister liked fancy plumbing. “You have to remember that Churchill was half-American,” Mr. Kirby says, “so he was probably a bit more open to some of these innovations.”
31 May 2005 19:32
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[Skip to the latest comment]Attila
British people are self-denying.
the only things that they do not deny from themself are holidays, alcohol, drinking and shopping. but they do not buy mixer taps, plaster for their walls, and they do not insulate their disgusting properties.
17 Dec 2008, 12:23
Kimberly
I’m so glad it’s not just me who finds this quirk annoying and unsanitary…
11 Jan 2009, 19:47
Marco
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24 Mar 2009, 15:05
steve donnelly
If anyone is looking for an adapter to combine hot and cold water taps into one, I can make them, contact me, here is an example. Maybe not the most attractive thing, but it works! And it’s non-destructive and takes seconds to install, so it’s great for renters or those who want to keep their antique plumbing intact. My email address is below the photo at this link:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2478352&id=502531261
19 Jun 2009, 20:10
Suzi
Haha, I live in Britain, in an old Victorian house. The kitchen sink has seperate taps for hot and cold water. The tenants before me had found an amazing rubber and plastic invention to connect the two taps. sadly, that thing was invented in the 80s and they don’t sell them anymore. I’ve been googling where I can find another one of those plastic/ rubbery things because the one we have is too worn out now. Found your blog. Might contact this Steve Donnelly fellow to check out his product! :)
24 Feb 2010, 12:13
Pete Lorimer
I am an American renting a modern flat in London that was built in the 1990’s. What I thought was a single mixer tap in the kitchen is, in fact, a tap with 2 separate waterways all the way to the end of the spout – one for hot and the other for cold. I first noticed it when washing dishes under the running tap, as my hands had the odd sensation of simultaneously being scalded and frozen. A single stream of water emits from the tap, but the front side is all hot, and the back side is all cold. Surely with the intricacies involved in manufacturing something like this you can’t argue that it’s less expensive than a mixer tap with it’s single waterway.
20 Mar 2010, 10:30
Dermot
Yeah, the UK and Ireland are really backwards in their plumbing, domestic electricity and heat insulation practices. It is usually colder inside a house in Ireland or the UK, than it is outside! Ridiculous. And this is usually the case even in newly-built houses. I have never understood it, as these are two significant countries in Western society, you would think that they would have got basic standards of living practices up to scratch with the rest of the modern world. Housing is one reason why I moved from Ireland to Finland (which is where I currently live) =)
05 Apr 2010, 00:05
kat
in my opinion the british are just not practical in most of things, not only the taps. what drive me mad about taps is not the fact that they are separate, but that most of them are so small that you cant actually wash your hands without touching the basin wall, yuck! and the press-down taps that dont run unless you are pressing them down so how are you ment to wash the hands ie rub them tugether to wash off the sticky soap in public toilets??
19 Aug 2010, 23:56
alex
That’s retarded !!!
22 Dec 2010, 11:54
Lisa
The other disgusting practice of Brits, to add to other ones mentioned already, is the washing up.
Quite few people neglect to rinse the detergent off their plates. They simply leave the soap suds to dry off on the drying rack. I’ve been living here for a while for my career for past 5 years, but I’m ready to leave the so called “traditional style living” behind and to go back to the modern convenient world. If anyone ever mentions about their backwardness.. Brits are ready to defend themselves with “industrial revolution” originating from their proud country… It’s one thing to be stylish, but another thing to be practical. They just don’t get the idea of ergonomics in this country.
28 Feb 2011, 17:04
diana
God… bitch bitch bitch … is it REALLY that important in the global sense of the word. I work as a designer and have installed thousands of taps and have been installing mixers for years so god knows where you guys are hanging out. Im not going to defend this country as ALL countries have their own ways of doing things and thats what makes them interesting and different. Human beings are very adaptable and maybe if you americans spent more time concentrating on not squandering the worlds resources, invading other peoples countries to satisfy your insatiable appetite for oil and trying to make everyone like you the world would be a more tolerant place … ... and of course if you don’t like it here you can always go home …..
27 Apr 2011, 12:28
Cara
Well, if Britain spent less money on welfare for 80% of the population, they would have the resources to modernize like the rest of Europe!
03 May 2011, 22:57
James
Cara, unfortunately most of our money has gone towards dragging the likes of Spain, Greece, Portugal and Ireland up to our economic level, and then bailing them out once they screw it up.
This tap thing is such a non issue.
11 May 2011, 16:36
joel
Its the most retarded thing Ive ever seen, if tradition is so important then why use electricity. Its so unhygienic much like the washing up habit, in oily and dirty water so what you get is a dish with oil and Fairy liquid. Its not a question of money or even aesthetics its a basic sense of ‘frankly my dear I just dont give a damn’ attitude the Brits have towards their own comfort and their own health and well being (check out the cuisine) deep down they see no difference, hence Diana (comment 11) says ‘is it really that important?’, no, you know what? keep stuffing yourself with stodgy puddings and oily chips, lick the fairy liquid and grease off your plate and rinse your teeth with dirty water, you’ll still live till youre old and get to fight out against terrible injustice in the world, but why not have some respect for yourself?
12 May 2011, 03:33
Maged Mestrah
Just stumbled upon this post, having the same problem with the separate taps in a new place I’m moving in to. Is steve donnelly still around? Facebook picture is no longer available and there’s a looong list of steve donnellys on facebook!
02 Aug 2011, 07:30
Another
moving into a new property.. very annoying o find separate taps for hot and cold water.. did they stop thinking logically here?
21 Sep 2011, 14:11
Blackandyellow
My biggest pet peeve is the separate taps issue invented by plumbers for the deranged, closely followed by electricity for the insane and house building by chimps for chimps “red bricks for your house madam?”. I won’t even begin to tell you how much I cringing I do watching Brits do the “washing up”. Every time I see this bizarre practice the first thing that comes to mind is, Why does everything have a rinse cycle except the Brits? Whenever I’ve asked about why on earth anyone would choose to have double taps I get answers which exemplify what makes up the typical British character, namely that they are backward, obtuse and pompous…and, secretly feeling inferior as most have traveled and seen for themselves how everyone else lives which 99% of the time is far better than themselves. This is why most feel the need to defend their horrible, ugly house-building practices.
27 Sep 2011, 07:23
FatalException
Wow, there are some small minded bigots posting in here. Most of us (British people) would like mixer taps in sinks, especially ones used for washing hands. Sadly old houses come with separate taps, or already have separate taps installed. Sadder still is new houses are built by developers for the cheapest price and best return on their investment.
Stop being so bigoted.
01 Oct 2011, 14:15
Tony Ryan
We have seperate taps because we want them, we drive on the left because we want to, millions of people come to our country every year because they want to. if you want to have a mixer tap pay for one to be installed if you dont want to pay for it then go back to your own perfect country and stop whining.
02 Nov 2011, 09:16
Josh.
To be fair, the British did invent almost everything. And without the British Industrial Revolution you would all be living in the Dark Ages. Foreign people are clearly jealous of us and want to be us. So what if we have two taps? We designed it that way so we didn’t all get Cholera or Legionnaires disease. We have old houses, and what?! I bet some of our taps are older than your continents, so don’t hate us because we actually have a national history. Whichever country you are from, I’m sure I can think of many reasons why it isn’t as good as Britain. Also, to all those people posting comments in ‘English’ (another thing we have given the world) at least learn how to spell and use correct grammar before you try and slate us.
19 Dec 2011, 01:17
Laura
I second everything said by Josh, Tony Ryan and FatalException. If you believe that us having separate taps means us having to endure horrendous and backwards lives (which is a joke because British people are proud of their nationality) then you must have a screw loose! I apologise if you can’t find a translation for that expression on Google Translate as that seems to be what you non native speakers have been using.
Britain continues to be an extremely popular tourist destination, more so that your countries with so called “superior” taps. Get a grip people and concentrate on real, more serious issues!
19 Dec 2011, 16:34
Laura
*than your countries. Whoops, must have made that error because I washed my hands in cold water before typing!
19 Dec 2011, 16:37
Sam
Hilariously ironic that this is written in English – you know, that language we gave to the world. Maybe we were too busy inventing all that stuff we invented (world wide web, television, calculator, steam engine, jet engine, steel production, penicillin) to actually give a shit?
19 Dec 2011, 16:59
Matt
Thank you Britons for all you have given to the World. You forgot to mention the rock music, BBC and colonization. But in some cases you are not catching up. And inventors are all over the world. So don’t hang on your industrialization that happened 200 years ago … Other countries are taking you over slowly and surely.
If we find separate taps inconvenient and brag about it, it’s our own opinion. Most of my UK friends love mixer taps but don’t have the possibility to install them in UK (renting). The first thing I did in the house I rented: changed separate taps with a mixer one in the kitchen after asking the landlord.
But don’t and DON’T make fun of people’s language mistakes! People who make grammatical mistakes SPEAK at least TWO languages. While most of Briton’s don’t. So don’t get on this level “Oh they bitch over our taps … look, they can’t even spell right … hahahaha … let’s tell them”. It’s simply retarded.
11 Jan 2012, 19:56
Adopted Brit
People.. look behind a tradition or a habit and you will always find a practical reason why most things are designed in the way they are.. Until well after the II world war, the UK had a huge problem with water. Even though the mixer tap was actually invented in the UK (check Wikipedia), the dual tap was designed and kept being installed to force people to close the hole and mix the water, and by doing so “save water” .. this is also behind the habit of soaking and not rinsing dishes .. The UK no longer has water shortage problems (most summers) but the “tradition” of separate tap remains!
11 Jan 2012, 22:40
Bloke
Well I’m British and I actually like the 2 tap system. The reason for this is simple: I prefer to wash my hands in cold water because it saves on gas which is good for my pocket and good for the environment. I also don’t want to be soft by having to wash in warm water. You may like a mixer-tap and if so then good on you, but personally I would always choose 2 taps!
P.S. for all those bitching about UK hygiene standards, it can’t be that bad: people in the UK live longer lives than Americans so I don’t think a little bit of cold water is killing us.
P.P.S there are a number of practical reasons why mixer taps are not always practicable, for example low water pressure.
22 Jan 2012, 20:48
Tom
wao hateful.
Backwards style of living? Because many places dont have mixer taps?! Jesus. To most Brits they just dont care that much, it isnt a huge deal.
As to driving on the left, we have done historically because Japan we have a history of Knights (Samurai) and one would pass on the left to be ready to draw a sword. Europe was the same under Papal rules, but changed to the American idea of being on the left -stemming from coach riding and its horses.
So if youre American, youre on the correct side, British youre on the correct side, Europe, youve turned your back on your history for no good reason.
Britain is a place of fantastically rich history and we like to preserve the little quirks.
Washing up, most people I know rinse and then leave to soak, some dont, regardless Ive NEVER met someone who doesnt rinse the soap off thats retarded.
BBC is the worlds highest quality news service, and we also get the Proms, the BBCs five orchestras and “tv of Hollywood movie quality” -quoted from a visiting JPNS friend. Why should we sacrifice that, has anyone ever actually compared the BBC to FOX news, dont make me cry.
The Monarchy provides HUGE income to the UK, and the amount it lives off is less than it makes and what the government chooses. Take a look at the Democracy Index, Constitutional Monarchies are consistantly more democractic owing to it being an extra check balance.
We like our pound, we have a long history of it, we have no wish to join a new currency for a small benefit -ps EU costs 10billion pounds a year to be in and they took our fish stocks with a annual market value of around 20billion pounds. Most of the pro EU stuff doesnt suit Britain because we use Common Law not Civil and we believe in Individual rights such as Innocent until proven guilty. Also, what benefit will giving control of our currency to the EU give us, look at the PIGS, if they could devalue theyd be fine, but they cant.
Electric in the bathroom, almost always unneccessary, battery shavers give a fine shave and people are happy with that. As to drying hair and such, dont you ladies have a dressing table?
Insulation, all British houses have a double wall insulation system, means the house internal temperature doesnt vary so much, if you dont have your heating on at all it will keep chillier in the day from nighttime, if you dont have the cooling on at night, it will be warmer at night from the daytime. Thats we created Central Heating. You wannna go in an uninsulated house, try a wooden single wall one.
Touching the sink someone else has used maybe “unhygienic” but its good for the immune system. Take hygiene too far and youre only making yourself weaker. As to those big old shower heads, they have a way of completely drenching you that is much kinder on the skin that a strong blast from a power shower. Ive found they both wash equally as well, the big shower heads drench the body and wash everything away quicker, but the power showers tend to blast dirt away more.
Finally, metric, whats the point in throwing away our fine set of measurements, so what if Johnny foreigner doesnt quite understand it all, do we really want every country to be identically similar just for convinience? The EU makes all European countries culturally poorer. On that line of reasoning I proclaim all languages should be thrown away and everyone uses English, its more convienient -stupid idea.
Can I rant about something completely stupid but use it hatefully against you Europeans and Americans?
Why is your electricity supply so pathetically weak and small, I cant run powerful gadgets, music mixing is of a lower quality, and everything from hairdryers to hairstraighteners are weaker.
And dont get me started on the Washing machines that you load from the top, 50 litres per drum, and some 3 or more rinses, what a ridiculous waste of water. And the clothes cant be hot washed “how unhygienic”....
24 Jan 2012, 09:18
Mark
Most British people dont speak two languages well erm, seeing as the UK doesnt have an official language, and theres Welsh and Gaelic I think thats quite offencive if Im honest.
And lets not forget sheer common sense, most of the world uses English so even though every British student learns a foreign language at school they rarely get the chance or need to use it, not to mention Britain is an Island, not a European country with different languages being used commonly within just a few miles drive or even walk.
If the world language was French the British would undoubtably speak English AND French.
24 Jan 2012, 09:31
Mick
Well said Tom !
I’m a plumber and the reason that the UK have two taps is that:
UK regulations do not allow mixing mains (drinking) water with heated water in the body of the tap. They must be kept apart.This avoids drawing warm, potentially harmful (bacteria sustaining) water into the drinking water if the mains is turned off or loses pressure.
24 Jan 2012, 19:56
Carl
Agree with #26 / Bloke comment.
In many heating/water systems without tank, the boiler kicks in when there is draw on the hot water outlet. It is much more efficient to wash ones hands in cold water from the cold tap without using the boiler/gas.
You don’t make a cup of tea from the hot tap… You don’t put hot water in the kettle to make a cup of tea… why is the rest of the world maintaining it’s hot water to scolding temperatures then? Hot water is used for showering and washing, so there’s no reason to have it coming out of the hot tap unsuitable for human touch…
29 Jan 2012, 14:30
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