Drying your hair in the bathroom would not be looked at favourably in lots of older homes with just the one bathroom…you’d either be constantly interrupted or have a queue outside when your finished. 😂 I wouldn’t use a steamy bathroom to dry my hair either…would take way too long. I’m not in the UK. I’m across the water in Ireland, but everything runs pretty much the same here.
A lot of homes in the UK have shower curtains. I think the confusion comes from her experience of hotel bathrooms. Most hotels use shower screens or glass doors for hygiene reasons, it's easier to sanitize a glass screen rather than having to change the curtain for every guest. After all, you wouldn't want a shower curtain clinging to you i the bathroom if you didn't know who it was stuck to last!
Exactly this. In the UK unless you've intentionally renovated your bathroom to have a self-contained shower unit with a door or partition then typically your 'shower' is pretty much just going to be a wall mounted attachment of your tub with a shower curtain that runs along the side of the tub itself. The only time I've seen a home here in the UK that has a actual shower 'stall rather just having a wall mounted attachment over the bath tub, is in newly renovated bathrooms and even then it's more something that might be done as someone gets older and has a more difficult time climbing over the side of the tub to get in and out when they want to take a shower. Even new modern builds still typically just go with the toilet and Bath combination layout, and then have the shower as an plumbing attachment of the Bathtub itself.
To say she's been visiting Britain for 30 years she doesn't know much about how we live😂 she got a lot of stuff wrong🤦♀️ You should watch someone who's actually British to get better information
The light string only gets dirty of you keep grabbing the string instead of the big gabber piece on the end. The same way doors get dirty if you don't use the handles. The hidden tanks are usually easy to get to, the panels often just come off, they're designed to look nice and have easy access
You mean I don't need alcoholics pissing on the floor, junkies shooting up and people having sex in my toilet at home? Well, you live and learn! Thank goodness there's an American to set us poor, backward Brits straight about civilisation.
Vintage toilets had high tanks because the older plumbing systems relied on gravity to flush the toilet, the pressure needed to flush the water came from the height of the fall
Electric showers can be really powerful and can in some circumstances compensate for low pressure in the home. She’s just used one that’s not very good. They also have the benefit of consistent temperature, something that can otherwise be affected by other people in the home, using the loo, etc.
My Canadian partner was used to very powerful showers in her home city of Vancouver. When we bought this house about 25 years ago the first thing she had installed was an electric power shower due to the low pressure of water here in the UK.
I work in a lot of people’s homes and electric showers are very rare these days. Most people have combi boilers run from mains pressure to a mixer shower valve or conventional boiler with power shower.
If the flow is poor on an electric shower it's probable not because the water pressure is poor, because electric showers usually have higher and sometimes pumped power pressure, but because the shower head has not been cleaned or descaled to remove lime scale
thats just gave me flashbacks to the cold water rush in the shower when someone flushed a toilet or ran a tap somewhere in the house, used to have to say to people "dont flush or use the taps for a bit im going for a shower"
She got quite a few things wrong! 1. The electric shower normally has a little switch on the shower head that you can turn to set different water flows! She had hers on the slow setting! 😂 2. Most toilets have toilet cisterns, just like American cisterns! It's just some newer toilets that have the cisterns in the wall! 3. Light pull cards don't have to be made of string. Lots are metal chains with a little handled that are very easy to keep clean! 😂 4. Yes, shower curtains are very common in our showers 😂 5. We do have a power socket in the bathroom to charge toothbrushes and electric shavers 😂 1 have one by my big mirror in the bathroom! Infact, one of our bristish bands in the 80s, wrote a song about a "MIRROR IN THE BATHROOM" Link to the song 😂 th-cam.com/video/jnMBdcZ2vts/w-d-xo.htmlsi=9E8wNVbrfFi0xzCM 6. We commonly have one mixer tap in the bathrooms and kitchens! especially in newer kitchen sinks, many are now having the taps with the detachable tap on a hoes! 😂 7. We mostly only have tiny sinks in tiny toilets/ bathrooms for space-saving 😂 8. Separate taps are not that bad! You can set the temperature of your water on the water heater/boiler! So if you have kids, they dont burn themselves! To be honest, I've never seen people leaving to tap on! That's a waste of water! For the last 30 years, new homes have been fitted with water meters, so you pay for what you use! 9. I wondered what you think toilet brushes are for, when you said you don't like the thought of using it when other people use it 😂 It's for cleaning your toilet! Normally, you use it with bleach cleaning fluid! Then rince off when you flush after cleaning your toilet! I put water and bleach into the toilet brush pot to keep the brush clean! What do Americans use to get rid of skid marks from they'er toilets? 🤔 10. There is more... but I can't think what they are. Right this minute! It's all well and good doing a whats the difference video, if she had done her research first! And not just say what she herself has experienced! That's just a minuscule drop in an enormous sea! To be honest... our home bathrooms aren't too dissimilar too too bathrooms!"
As a Britt I applaud your itemised rebuttal of all the ridiculous points made in this video. However, ' What do Americans use to get rid of skid marks from they'er toilets?' I think you meanTHEIR toilets. As the sentence stands you seem to be asserting that all Americans are toilets?
@@scvedgemaster8025 Not really cos a proper middle class person wouldn't say toilet, rather Loo, or if they were proper posh it would be Lavatory, even 'Bog' would be more acceptable to a posh person . Toilet is very 'Non you' As a general rule of thumb a posh english person NEVER uses an anglicised version of a foreign word. Example, using the word Perfume which comes from the French Parfum. A proper English posh person would say 'Scent' Or 'Serviette' Again from French. The correct word is Napkin. There are literally heaps of things that mark you out as 'Non you/New money that truly posh people can spot a mile away. Having Fish Knifes for example. Interesting fact, the royal family use fish knifes, but thats cos they are all descended from Germans. Thats why they had to change their name from Coburgh Sax Gotta at the start of the 1st world war. Even though they're all really stupid, even they realised it wouldn't play very well with the 'Brave Tommy's' when they went off to die in the trenches defending 'King and country' if it came out that the King was a Kraut.
I toured the U.S. for 3 months back in 97. Racked up 15,000 miles by road covering 27 states. I remember one experience I will never forget. We stopped off at a mall somewhere in New Mexico for something to eat. I went looking for a toilet and found this long row of cubicles. There was this bathroom attendant, an elderly guy in his nineties cleaning the sinks. The place was completely empty., just me and this old guy, perfect. My first real culture shock was discovering that none of the cubicles had doors!! Being British with my inherent need for privacy, i decided to get as far away from him as possible. So I walked all the way to the very end cubicle and sat down. With my underpants around my ankles I suddenly became aware to the sound of footsteps. I paused in terror. The footsteps got closer and closer and closer until the old man appeared in front of me! I crossed my arms over my lap and he slowly reached in over me to replace the toilet paper. No words were exchanged. I was stunned into silence. WTF! Can anyone explain this to me because even after all these years I cannot get over it. I had to abandon going to the the toilet and get out of there.
When he suddenly appeared I'm supplied he didn't say 'Now see here stranger, this here rest room ain't big enough for the both of us so have your shit and git!
Exactly lived in my family house 20+ year and i dont think weve ever changed the bathroom taps. We will change the bathroom and kitchen taps in the next 5 ish years, because were doing a remodel, but no point in changing them because they work perfectly fine and honestly dont look like theyre over 5 years old
I haven't moved house that often, but I have never known mixer taps in a bathroom. Over a kitchen sink, sure...................... As if it matters...................................
Yeah, most of our taps are mixers now. The only non-mixer taps left in the house are in the main bathroom on the sink, because it hasn't been replaced since the house was built in the mid-80s (the rest of that bathroom has, which is why the bath has a mixer tap which also works the shower head).
I remember when I was about 6yrs old I old punishment in the form of writing lines. 10 Lines. Bc I asked my teacher if I 'could go to the bog'. Bc thats what my dad called it at home. I didn't know any better ahahaha.
@jerbil9353 It used to be common for a downstairs toilet separate from the main bathroom to be described in estate agent literature as a "downstairs cloakroom". I don't know whether they still do as it's been a while since I needed to look. We once lived in a council maisonette that had a separate toilet just inside the front door that even the council described as the downstairs cloakroom!
What has she been smoking I have never heard in 37 years a toilet called a cloak room They store coats We very rarely use the distinction between toilet and bathroom In rhe house its the bathroom regardless most definitely for the VAST MAJORITY
I agree. The Cloakroom was instituted in Medieval times and really was a place where coats and cloaks were kept. I don't know how it could possibly denote a WC or bathroom! Occasionally you will find public buildings with places to leave your coats, called a Cloakroom. I have been in some myself.
agreed, clearly that is a place to keep coats or other outdoor wear (and cloaks/capes! back in the day), i would think this is a place trying to be different, rather than being the norm.
I'v spent months looking for a new house here in Scotland. Lots of properties describe the downstairs loo as the cloakroom. It's usually the more potentious estate agents though.
Boy is she picky!! Pull cords in bathrooms get dirty, too short, they break. Good lord! The cord is normally wipeable, easily replaced and you can choose the length, it's only cord!!! Steve, do you mean you spit in the sink when cleaning your teeth and DONT rinse it out!! Shower curtains are very common for over the bath showers, I'd say 50/50. Itz easy to dry your hair away from the bathroom ... bedroom! Dressing table or like me on the bed in wardrobe mirror. Then the bathroom is free for others to use. A little side laugh, when I was little and living in London (I'm 71) our toilet was outside (very normal). My grandmother's cat would jump up, grab the flushing chain handle and play with water coming into the toilet. It was very spooky hearing that in the middle of the night!! Nana Karen x
In the UK it is not permitted to have a 240V 13A socket less than 3 meters (10 Feet) from a bath, shower or sink. The 110V 'shaver' sockets that you find in UK bathrooms are fitted with an isolating transformer that is centre tapped to ground, so that should you become connected to the supply somehow, the maximum voltage you will experience is 55V. There is also a thermal cut out that will disconnect the supply should it become short circuited. An electric shower is required to have its own 240V 30A supply that has a residual current circuit breaker in the distribution panel and a cord pull on/off switch installed next to the shower unit. If a light switch is fitted inside the bathroom it must be a cord pull switch. Remember that our power sockets, 240V 13A, are connected to a 240V 30A ring main. This is easily enough to kill. Water and electricity do not mix.
mhm, and even with the permitted 110V sockets, pretty much the only things that you can buy that plug into them are shavers and electric toothbrushes. higher draw electronics such as hair dryers and curlers are generally relegated to the bedroom.
Stalls are where one puts horses, or where one buys greengrocery at the farmers' market, or what happens to the car if one's in the wrong gear. At public conveniences, one uses a cubicle. 😅
One caveat. The older style of urinal, that consisted of a porcelain wall with a drain trough often had subdivisions so that you didn't have to see the next guy's willy. Those divisions were called stalls.
Or seats in a theatre, or a section in a choir for a member of clergy, or uncontrolled descent of an aircraft due to speed being too low, or the general word for an abrupt end to progress (either to cause or for it to happen), or to delay someone on purpose. It's almost like the word had lots of meanings, and that a toilet wouldn't even be strange and make at least as much sense as a market stall if not more.
These types of comparison videos are often misleading - e.g. she gave the impression that everyone in the UK has an electric shower. Yes I have one myself but an awful lot of people have a standard shower. Main reason for using an electric shower is some houses may have a poor water pressure and despite what the lady in the video said, water pressure from an electric shower is fine, certainly in my experience. Same with the size of the bathroom sink - the tiny sinks she mentioned are certainly not the norm. One difference I was sure she would mention is that nobody in the UK has their washing machine in their bathroom, unlike the US.
Hidden systern toilet you DO NOT NEED TO REMOVE THE lid You normally have some kind of release in the pannel with the button on and can access from there We dont fill a sink to wash our hands We use the hot tap but soap first rub in and THEN turn the hot tap on and by the time it comes actually too hot your done
In most public bathrooms you get warm water just right for washing your hands in. At home if you have separate taps, you use the plug. It's really not a big deal.
Ive never done the plug thing im actually shocked seeing that people do. I just try to do it quickly while the hot tap runs cold then warmer then hot then if need be use the cold.
The women in my life always used stuff like hairdryers & curling tongs in the bedroom. Also, the higher the toilet cistern, tank to you, the more powerful the flush. As the water had a longer distance before hitting the flush. Our electric power is 240 volts. Compared to US 110. My dad was a plumber. Peace out.
Shower curtains are usually when there shower is attached to a bath, but it is possible to have a glass door that slides onto the edge of the bath too. It's not uncommon to see shower curtains.
Shower curtains were popular in UK bathrooms in the 1980's. We then discovered that these were gross and progressed to shower doors for our 'over bath showers', much easier to keep clean. Though a lot of our homes (now we're in the 2000's) now have walk in showers. She has had a bad experience with electric showers, as most are quite powerful, maybe she could have expanded her investigations a bit more. Water pressure should never be an issue, if your pressure is low, just install a pressure pump, problem solved
I don't think they understand the function of the sink - to hold water at the desired temperature while washing hands. Probably because most never get their hands dirty enough to require cleaning, scrubbing etc.
Is it easy though, really? I always find that when I'm still half asleep or rather drunk, my hands are either scolded or frozen. I don't understand why in the 21st century we're using 2 taps in the bathroom like something from the Dark Ages, while most kitchens have one tap that mixes the water to the desired temperature. It's either ignorance or insanity.
@@etherealbolweevil6268 dont you know? apparently everything has be washed in running water these days lol jk. Frankly, I never found hot water in public areas very hot anyway, so just use that. Also Magenta otter has never heard of a flannel and would rather throw water at herself and all over the bathroom.
We have 110/240 Volt shaving sockets in the bathrooms mate. The difference is the Amps flowing through the socket is reduced so it won't kill you like the ones in the rest of your house.
I would say low power sockets, they are still 240 volts but they cannot deliver the power required for a hairdryer, just enough to charge a razor or toothbrush.
@mojojojo11811 Indeed, I was just trying to convey the fact that we do have power points in the bathroom without going into the technical explanation regarding volts/amps etc. My bad !
The two taps thing! I can't believe how much of an issue this is for non-UK people! For hand washing I just use the hot tap: it is never hot to begin with, and by the time it runs hot, I've finished washing. If i found the 1 in 100 hot taps which comes out scalding hot straight off, I'd use the cold instead (which is never freezing cold, just room temperature) or put the plug in. For more extensive washing eg of face and body, of course you would put plug in and fill it with water of desired temperature. If it got too soapy, would refill basin to rinse (we call them basins in the bathroom, not sinks). That way uses far less water than having taps running constantly while washing. Why do people have a basin at all in US bathrooms if you never fill it with water? You could just have a drainage hole!
@@robertSibley-t3b lived all over. But it's always been kitchen sink, and wash hand basin in the loo or bathroom. Maybe generational? (I'm getting old!)
I have a high level cistern toilet at my house. It’s 100 years old. They use gravity to flush the water down at a greater velocity. They are still easy to fix, just harder to get parts for.
They're also dangerous. We had one until it tried to 'off' my wife. The link holding the chain handle lever to the mechanism broke and the lever hit the lid when it was pulled. The cast-iron lid slid off and fell, narrowly missing my wife's head. I replaced the thing immediately.
@@qwadratix lol I’m a plumber. Mine I assure you is not dangerous. Yours sounds more like it wasn’t maintained by properly. If you get up to give it a wipe occasionally you’d know if any components are loose before situations like this occur
The reason we're so 'passionate' about toilets and in particular what gets flushed down them is because we have old Victorian-era sewers and pipework and the blockages from people flushing the wrong things (wipes mainly) can be catastrophic. And if you've ever had a neighbour's blocked waste pipe cause waste water to back up along a row of terraced houses until it comes spewing out of the drain next to your front door, catastrophic is actually an understatement.
Pull cords are too short for some people? lol she must be having a laugh, they usually hang lower than a light switch. I take this video as tongue in cheek! We have mixer taps she showed a few in the beginning. Shower curtains are still around but are gross imo especially for hotels & b&bs much simpler to spray and wipe the panels, than have all the rooms with shower curtains. Why are the gaps so big between the doors on American toilets? i find that creepy.
Brit here, pull cords are the norm because they are a safety feature in most bathrooms,(unless there is a switch on the wall outside the bathroom) The pull string will have a plastic or ceramic end which can easily be wiped. Shower curtains are still available to buy but panels are easier to keep clean. Mixer taps are very common these days and you can buy them everywhere, i have them in my bathroom and kitchen and so does everyone i know, 2 taps more commonly found in older period properties. I have a normal shower and normal large sinks.
The pull cord strings for bathroom lights are easily changed, it's probably £2,50 to buy a new one. It is attachable without getting into the electrical part.
I've noticed a trend towards much smaller toilets. That's the actual chod bin itself, not the room. At a time when UK backsides are breaking all records, this seems rather bizarre.
Just to correct something. MOST UK households have mixer taps in the kitchen. Many bathroom sinks have separate taps but many are mixer taps. Most UK people with showers either have full shower curtains or have clear plastic shower doors (like I have) - I don't have a bath at all (just a shower) because of space! Built in loos have access panels.
@@reactingtomyroots Hi Steve and Lindsay - I'm managing OK and hope Steve, you've recovered from your lack of sleep! Sorry I haven't been able to send any parcels recently because the PO nearly doubled costs for heavier parcels! I'll write a letter for now and send a parcel after Christmas because I have an interesting idea of what I could send to you. I will explain in the letter + some other stuff you might find interesting as well - Jo x
16:20 behind the plant is what we call a shaver socket. It has a mini transformer that steps down the voltage and a different socket so only certain items can be plugged in like shavers and electric toothbrushes. Also the water pressure with electric showers depends on the price of the shower. Many power showers are really powerful and have more pressure than a mixer and are often used as a solution in areas where the water pressure isn't good.
High up toilet cisterns like in the video were something from the Victorian era, the reasoning behind them is that Gravity was needed to ensure the toilet flushed properly to remove the waste product(s), I don't know if that was possibly to do with lower water pressures or not, but because the water came down with speed and some force, it cleared the toilet bowl and kept it fresh for the next person to use.
The 2 taps thing.. you use less water if you part fill the sink to wash rather than letting the water run. Partly an anti-waste thing but a hold over from before there was plumbing where you would pour some water from a jug, into the wash hand basin (what many still call a sink). You mix it as you fill so temp isn't a problem. It's also a hold over from not mixing drinking water with possibly contaminated water that has been in an open tank in the attic or through the heating system. The tall cistern tank on older toilets was to provide better water pressure before the shape was more optimized. The light switch can be inside the bathroom/toilet but will be on a pull cord. Keeps wet hands from shorting 240v light switches.. There are "shaver" sockets which can be found in some bathrooms which are 110v The electric showers can be aweful but newer pumped electric showers are great. Shower curtains suck.. especially if in smaller bathrooms, they stick to you and are generally horrible. Bathrooms with half doors are probably best considered wet rooms..
my wife used her heated electric curlers and also applied her makeup every morning sat in comfort in the kitchen, mirror on table in front of her, cup of tea on hand, listening to the radio while getting ready for work. Imagine the inconvenience and annoyance if UK bathrooms were like those in the USA and myself and our two boys were trying to get ready for work or school, want to pee or poop, have a shower, brush our teeth and we couildn't get into the bathroom because she was in there drying her hair !
My dad had to "live with 4 bloody women. A man can't even have a bleep in peace without one of them needing the bathroom for something or other." He'd have blown his top if we wanted to stay in there and dry hair and put make-up on. (the 4 were step-mother, myself, younger sister and step sister.)
i like how in the vidoe at the end shes said she wouldnt want to fill the basin up with water because its dirty but she washes her hands then has to turn the taps off which is probably dirtier then the sink lol
Maybe we have an untidy house, but... our bathroom basins seem really dirty to me! And when I turn off the water I don't use my hands/palms... definitely not in a public toilet!
Shower curtains are common in uk. No sockets or light switches in case of splashing or wet fingers. Hair dryers in bedrooms! Showers over tubs are usually in older properties where the shower is an add on.
Most public toilets now have automatic taps that are completely non-touch. Hold your hands underneath and they dispense warm water, Many also have automatic soap dispensers
My last house was built in 2003, and it had a pull cord but it was just for the electric shower, nothing else. I think that’s common, to have a pull cord for the electric shower, no?
@@susansmiles2242 Yes. There is a switch for the light and a switch for the fan on the wall next to the bathroom door. So you can switch them on before you go in.
you use your bedroom for drying and styling your hair; do you not have mirrors in your bedrooms? And the pull switch is often inside the bathroom. Shower curtains are very common; tanks in the wall - there is generally a panel that can be removed easily.
When putting a plug in a sink seems like a real effort it baffles me 😂how much effort to put a plug in. But I use the both taps n mix with soap never burnt my hands with the water in a public bathroom.
I dry my hair at my dressing table in the spare room, I always get ready in a bedroom. I don't think id like to be in a steamy bathroom while trying to get ready.
Most American homes do not have dressing tables in them. Just dressers or chests of drawers with no mirrors. In my home in Gloucester I have a dressing table and it's wonderful! But in my home in Texas, the bedroom has no mirrors. But I have a GIANT Texas bathroom with a "vanity" (like a British dressing table) in it with a seat and a huge mirror.
We can charge electric toothbrushes in our bathrooms, we have ‘shaver points’ usually attached to a bathroom mirror light. Suitable for shavers and toothbrushes. We have shower curtains, of course we do but usually in more old fashioned bathrooms. What we don’t do is the weird ‘double’ curtain that you get in the US. We don’t have to have plungers in our loos, they generally don’t block like in the US.
Electric showers don't have low pressure, some properties do, but in general the electric increases the pressure as they use the cold supply and heat it quickly. The toilet blocked in has a door, they lift up. I am not sure this Lady has been to the UK, she's making things up to make a video. Sorry you been miss lead. I would like to see you react to answers. To many video's miss lead. Also most rest rooms have mixer taps. Hot comes out of a tank, the cold is a safe to drink feed.
The panel where the flush button is on that toilet you were looking at comes off so you can get to the flush mechanism and you don't have to reseal it every time. When the panels replaced, the mechanism is insulated from the temperature change and therefore doesn't get the condensation problem that you talk about.
Our British separate taps were necessary due to separate water feeds into your home. You would have a cold fresh water feed ( you can drink from the tap ) straight from the mains into your home that then filled a water storage tank , normally in your attic, to be used only as hot water through your boiler ( non drinkable ). The hot water storage in your attic could have all types of bugs/pigeons find their way in over the years if not properly maintained. Luckily, we now have " Combi " boilers where it's just fresh water being used for both cold & hot water and mixer taps are becoming the standard to be installed.
@hiramabiff2017 My dad taught me to only ever drink from a cold water tap if the water comes directly from the mains feed, and not from a cold water tank. You can tell the difference by turning the cold tap on, then putting your thumb over the outlet. If you can easily stop the water flow, it's likely from a tank.
@@andybaker2456 hehehe, I still can hear my dad saying the same to me when I think back. See, that little trick to where the water is coming from will be one of those things lost to history soon. Thank you for reminding me👍....
Cold water storage cisterns still are installed on new build properties that tend to be over 4 bedroom etc. if you have a combi then you are runner a smaller system. Both have their plus and downsides. Also the separate taps are because of water regulations and the risk of legionella growing around 40° in the pipes. It was safer to keep the separate for this reason
Ground source & air source heat pumps are replacing combi boilers now. Very low rare tho due to cost of it which essentially means you do need lot more than just installing it
Some of our Victorian public toilets are stunning, and the stall door is from floor to ceiling, solid, and almost sound proof. There’s one in Cardiff, steps to underground, they used to have someone on the door, brass fittings and china/porcelain for the pull light switch etc, it’s difficult to explain it if you’re not used to it. 😊
I had the tap conversation on another thread, a UK bathroom fittings supplier replied saying he only sold two sets of separate taps in the last 8 years, both to older couples. They are out there in older properties, and some tourist locations in old buildings, but mixer taps are waaaay more common than these videos make out.
Exactly. Also, the hot water should not be set to boiling, that should be regulated by a thermostat. I've found in foreign countries this is no set and you definitely can get 3rd or 2nd degree burns through hot water. Madness!
@@chelliebellie4443yeah exactly, when you run your hand under a hot tap and it shouldnt be uncomfortable to hold it there for long periods of time, but not painful. I think its meant to be set a bit above body temperature, nothing extreme
if your boiler breaks, that means no hot water. unless you have an electric shower. then this unit gives you hot water even when your boiler is not working.
Don’t pay any attention to the silly little lady in the pink outfit. I live here in the UK have done for 52 years and yes we have shower curtains and the majority of houses you come to in the UK and I would even go as far as saying most do not have a switch on the outside of the bathroom to turn the lights on. It’s normally a pool cord inside the door when you’re talking about a bathrooms in the UK you can have power outlets in your bathroom, but they are reduced voltage. They are two pin plugs which are different from the normal plugs we have in the UK and they are for using electric razors and small appliances. They run on a separate step down transformer which is situated outside of the toilet/bathroom for safety reasons so the little lady in the pink outfit has got most of it wrong so far so don’t pay much attention to what you said in this video with the exception of the public toilets with their signs and symbols. That is a thing that you will find often but the rest of what she’s come out with is a load of rubbish for 99% of properties you find in the UK for a lady who claim to be visiting the UK for a long time she hasn’t really understood what she has seen
I've rented my entire life and I reckon it's 50:50 to whether you have a switch outside or a pull cord inside. The last place had a pullcord, the current one a switch in the hall for both the toilet and the shower room [no bath, it's a small house].
Names - Loo. We have 110v 'shaving sockets' in bathrooms which we use for toothbrushes also) The Cloakroom originates in Garderobe, which is also a Scandinavian room for a true cloak room. The connection is that back in the days of castles and such with the loo being a shaft to the the ground far below or such, the ammonia (don't ask!) - would keep moths away - so that was why it was a good place to also hang robes, protected by this from those moths. The early high separate cisterns ensured good flushing pressure. Showers in the UK sometimes have screens and others curtains. I hate curtains as they are prone to condensation mould (though screens are prone to white chalk marks but curtains are horrible if they suddenly cling to you if you step too close. As to the screens getting water everywhere - you have to remember the average European is rather narrower so fits well within its coverage Shower heads with no curtain or screen are not intended for showering but for rinsing your shampoo. Some electric showers are bad but others are incredible and can be downright painful if you max flow and accidentally point the flow where the sun don't shine. Light cords meant the light switch could be in the bathroom without hazard. Cisterns in the wall are invariably accessible behind removable panels with concealed fixings. They are typically not calked. In all my years I have not once found one to be a problem and as you say - aesthetically they are infinitely superior and no there is no issue with mould. A common system in commercial premises and hotels is the Armitage Shanks IPS system: www.idealspec.co.uk/Uploads/BrochureFiles/G4%20NEW%20SYSTEM%2021_Amended.pdf
Yes I was in a passenger " rest room" at a train station. Just a lot of seats with in a room. With 2 other doors at the side leading to male and female toilets.
The reason dual buttons exist in the uk is due to how our toilets flush. US toilets are siphonic while UK toilets are wash down toilets, in simple terms wash down toilets flush the toilet by pouring a high volume off water down which pushes all the waste in the pan over a duct in the pipes. You can actually flush a UK toilet with just a bucket off water. One off the reason US toilets clog easier at home compared to public is because public ones tend to be air pressured and the modern US toilets at home tend to have tanks with only 1.6 gallons off water which isn’t enough water to have a good flush. One other thing you will notice is the water in UK toilets sits really low down.
Correction, it's the UK that uses syphons. The US ones open a flap and ALL the water in the tank rushes out, the UK starts a syphon and the water rushes out until it reaches a certain level (hence the possibility of two options). The rest is true though, in the UK we push the contents out and hopefully clean down the bowl in the process, the US has a higher water level so there is no opportunity to get a messy bowl but needs a bigger volume of water to clear everything past the u-bend. This is why UK toilets have brushes as the bowl is often not fully cleaned and is also why you get a lot of splashback from a US toilet.
@@andyjdhurleyUk toilets create a siphon in the tank to get the water down but technically it’s a wash down toilet. USA toilets are called Siphonic toilets because the siphon happens in the bowl which is the flush that vacuums the waste down. If you search Siphonic toilet then search wash down you will see which version comes up.
31:57 Hot water taps don't start at the hottest temperature. The longer you run them, the hotter they get until they get to temperature so no need to be shuffling like that. Cold taps go the other way
As a Brit in my 40’s I cab honestly say that I never really saw shower doors/screens until around 20 years ago and many people still use them. We all do our hair in the bedroom.
@@kirsteneasdale5707they are sometimes used for showering as well but in that case it will have a rail to attach it to so it is above head height whilst standing in the bath, will probably need a separate pump though unless you have a gravity fed system with a very high head of water as mains pressure is unlikely to be sufficient. 3 types of shower in the UK - mixer shower - direct feed from hot and cold water tanks - requires header tanks. Power shower - as mixer but with an electric pump to increase pressure, can be fed from header tanks or mains supply. Electric shower - built in pump and heater so fed from cold water mains supply only.
Full 3 pin sockets are allowed in bathrooms in the UK, but they've got to be more than 3m away from the edge of any bath or shower. Given the size of most bathrooms in the UK, it makes it impossible. Shaver sockets can be closer which is why they're used Most Brits don't monopolise the bathroom while they arse about with curling tongs or hair driers. We let other people use the bathroom and we do our make up and hair in our bedrooms where we may well have a dressing table for that purpose. Hair driers and tongs , if left plugged in , could easily fall into a sink or bath of water and electrocute your kids or your spouse. That is why we don't have mains sockets in bathrooms. Shaver sockets are lower voltage and are two pin sockets ..... toothbrush chargers are two pin and are waterproof so if the chargers falls in the water.... no problemo!
The Electricity here in the UK is higher voltage than in America so its safer to keep the switch outside of the room or have a pull cord inside the room so your wet hands or any steam in the room dont come into contact with the switch, same with no sockets its just a safety thing as the voltage is higher in UK than America. Electric Showers are waterproof sealed units and most Electric showers have quite powerful water pressure if the shower head is not blocked by limescale and cleaned properly so much better than relying on the central heating for your hot water especially if the central heating needs fixed instant hot water
I grew up being told that you had to wash your hands in the sink with the plug in. If you just washed them under a running tap, you would be sent back to the bathroom to do it properly. It also uses less water than a running tap. Shower curtains are probably the norm in many homes the UK, with doors being more common in newer homes, or homes with refurbished bathrooms.
Whenever I've moved home the first thing ripped out is a shower curtain. I can't stand them. For some reason they always want to adhere to my bum! Glass screen always. I'm due to have my bathroom remodelled as due to disability I cannot use a bath anymore. So I'll have a wet room, no bath. The flooring is laid in a way that the water runs back into the shower drain. It usually comes with a floor to ceiling shower curtain but I've asked for a glass screen instead. It has to be big enough for a wheelchair although I don't need one yet. As others have said UK bathrooms tend to be small rooms so not much room for manoeuvre, literally!
@@lulusbackintown1478 we have lived in 3 different houses in 47 years & the first things I do every time is 1) change all outside doors 2) rip out all bathroom suites My husband thinks I’m mad but has no choice but to go along with it lol
Our toilet tanks are not in the wall. They are in a cabinet that the toilet is plumbed into. The front panel comes off for access to the tank, you don't have to get any caulking out. You dont get any problem with condensation because the cupboard stops it as damp air cannot get to the tank. The claw foot bath only has a hand shower for getting shampoo off your hair. If you want a shower you use the shower cubicle. Most bathrooms and kitchens have mixer taps these days, but separate taps aren't a problem in most homes. You just fill the sink, it uses less water than leaving the tap running and I know of no one who would wash or brush their teeth and not clean the sink after them. Even my young children were taught to do so, then you always start with a clean sink. In public toilets these days you wash your hands under the hot tap. It's normally set a a temp that can't burn you for health and safety reasons. Water pressure in UK can be problematic as some supply pipework in older homes can be over 100 years old. Electric showers can help then. The shower she used may be in a very old house.
@PaulineSirrell and this coming from a country lets face it truely doesnt have an issue with water ..just how its billed (sorry used).. at end of day we genuinly have a good fresh water supply and we in properties have a almost free flow supply of water ...how each household uses that supply us upto the owner..what im trying to say is all hone owners businesses or landlords have to pay..you can use a public toilet (cost 20p)anywhere..ask a business for respect while in need..or answer a call from mother nature herself.. But dont try to degrade us to your believed USA standard cause ive been there in orange county home/villa for rent .. toilent rules was dont flush paper..shower was get in get out or get cold..forget having a bath not enough hot water for a decent soak and relax. We have long standing buildings that have restrictions on how we can provide bathrooms lighting plumbing..that protect the history of the building..yet we upgrade within the guidance ....Americas way is get rid n build it cheap.thats my perspective my house n home was built in under queen Victoria reign we have a plack on our houses in my village confirming when they were built they was approved by royalty
We most definitely do have shower curtains in the UK. Actually, some of the big hotel chains have them in every bath/shower. In private homes, if the shower is in the bath, then it's probably 50/50 a glass door or a curtain.
Shower curtains are normal, if your shower is in the bath, but dedicated shower cubicles are very common, so not required. You sometimes see folding panels, or doors, for bath showers, but they're annoying and can easily let water past, especially if you nudge them while showering, leaving you with a wet floor. If you're posh, you might have a wet room, which will just have a glass partition separating the shower from the rest of the bathroom and the floor slopes to the drain.
The electric showers typically have way more pressure than the one in the video. Honestly it’s the best thing because you can have a lovely warm ( high pressure) shower, and then switch it to cold in a second if you want that cold blast before you get out ( has good side effect for heart and mind) Also our basins/sinks are way bigger 😂 I feel like this lady hasn’t seen many examples of typical British homes. The door she had for the shower was tiny! Mine comes half way across and is fantastic, and they don’t gather mould like shower curtains can so much better in the long term. We do also have shaving sockets in bathrooms. So most British electric toothbrushes have a 2 prong plug so you can still charge it in the bathroom. You could do the same with a hair dryer I guess, but I love sitting at a vanity table with a coffee and some music while I’m styling my hair, much nicer than doing it standing in a steamy bathroom. I do love watching your videos, it’s great seeing the differences 😊
One reason why some homes here in the UK have electric instant heat (I had one that was just a pumped shower with no heater that drew from my huge hot water cylinder for many years) but when I replaced my hot water tank I went from a gravity feed tank to mains pressure so now I have just a thermostatic mixer unit and huge water pressure. My water is still heated by an immersion heater in the hot water tank and I can heat it from my solar panels with excess generation, many houses in the UK have gas heated boilers to heat their hot water rather than an electric heater. Electric points in bathrooms are possible in the UK - I have a 2 pin shaver socket that also charges my electric toothbrush- they do have to be double insulated to protect against electric shock. The string pull light switch is also a safety thing - means you don’t touch a wired switch with wet hands in a bathroom, otherwise the switch is outside the bathroom Shower curtains - very common here. I had a shower over the bath with one for many years but when I refitted my bathroom I removed the bath completely and replaced it with walk in shower surround with no door and an sloping floor to aid the drain away. I also added the luxury of underfloor electric heating - lovely on cold winter mornings !
I'm in UK. Had a new bathroom couples years ago. Took out bath to make way for an electric shower. We obs have shower doors, small sink and a pull cord light switch on the inside. I woukd say shower curtains are still here but get replaced by doors perhaps. Also our bathrooms tend to be smaller so the smaller sink can be a space saver. Thank you for your great content ❤
The example she showed in the video was probably a cloakroom basin - nobody would think to use a basin that size to wash their hair or anything bigger than their hands!
I have the same roll top bath with claw feet but its level on top not higher at one end, I love it, we have an electric shower as well over it, they stay a constant temp, save water and take less time, ours compensates for the low water pressure we have in our area, very usefull. We charge our toothbrushes in our bedrooms and do our make up/hair there as well or in a vanity area/dressing room. We replaced our string pull lightswitch with a thin chain, more hygenic and we use the new style flat rubber bog brush lol. We also have a loo sink combo unit side by side, the front panel jusy above the loo comes off for access and just pops back on into clips. Really easy for fixing the loo etc.
Shower doors relatively rare in my experience in Britain, also Modern electric showers have the ability to change the water pressure on command, as well as the temperature.
Older homes in the UK actually have an even more powerful flush. Newer toilets tend to have quiete a small tank. Older homes with the big, overhead tank, you have to stand back when you flush so you don't get sucked in 🤣 My last house the entire street could hear when you flushed the loo
Dear oh dear. Okay, a lot of electric showers are power showers - mine almost takes the skin off you. Because the heater element heats up the water as it comes through - you don't get hot/cold variances when someone flushes the toilet or runs the taps. Many showers have curtains, but most shower cubicles have a snug fitting glass or plastic door to keep heat and water inside the shower. Toilets - the vintage style tanks were set high for water pressure reasons. Built-in cisterns are easy to access. They will have an access panel which comes away and you have full access to your cistern and plumbing. Pull cords are usually found in older houses. But seriously, hold the plastic/metal/wood end and not the string. However, the strings can be replaced in 2 mins. Most bathrooms in a home have shaver outlets. If I want to faff about with my hair, I sit at the mirror in my bedroom. Baths with a shower attachment go back to the days before separate shower cubicles were a thing. You flipped the tap setting to the shower head and you knelt in the bath to shower off the grime floating in the water. With the resurgence of roll-top baths etc, you often get that same setup. Some have a shower curtain you can pull around, some have a fitted door that allows you to stand and shower off. Washbasin taps come in different setups. Mixer taps are very common, but often there is a hot on one site of the basin, the cold on the other. My kitchen sink has a mixer tap, so does my son's en-suite. My bathroom has a very old set up and I have an old Victorian sink and bath with beautiful old taps on both. The hot takes about 15 secs to come through, but I love them so much I deal with that small inconvenience 😁 Little washbasins are for little rooms. No-one would expect you to wash in them. They are for hand washing after you've spent a penny or two. Toilet signs are common. I suspect the huge list of signs shown as examples are from one toilet. Small businesses, in the middle of nowhere often ask patrons to be decent and do or don't do certain things. Many many seem obvious and a bit daft, but people have wide ranges of behaviours in toilets 😉 "If you sprinkle when you tinkle, be a sweetie and wipe the seatie"
The only "bad" that is fairly common is the separate sink taps and many of us have mixers. We have either shower curtains or doors (big ones), whichever we fancy and prefer not to risk electrocution in the bathroom. Trust me, anyone who has that lovely shape bath with the mixer taps will have a separate shower as well, as do many of us. I think that lady may have been living in hotels when in the UK. Enjoyed your reaction, as always 😊
It is a safety issue, how are EMTs suppose to help someone in a locked public bathroom ,if the door goes all the way to the floor and the gaps are not even no higher than an inch
@@marydavis5234 The same way they do in every other country. The doors in public stalls are usually pretty easy to open in an emergency if you know how. Either way I'd rather risk the emergency situation than always pee with an audience.
@@marydavis5234 Pretty much every public toilet stall lock in the UK can unlocked from the outside with a coin or a flat blade screwdriver, access for emergency services is not an issue at all.
Back in the 1960s I visited a public toilet with this sign. "If you sprinkle when you tinkle, be a sweet and wipe the seat". As a little girl, I found this hilarious and it still makes me smile.
I'm sorry but that woman in the video is annoying, she's not experienced much of the UK regarding bathrooms, the shower pressure would depend on the water supply, or you fit a more powerful shower. A lot of wash basins in public toilets dont have plugs, the taps are mostly press and release so only so much water comes out, shower curtains are everywhere. Cold water tap is always on the right, this is a safety thing for the visually impaired. Edited
We have a mixer tap over the tiny basin in the loo and that has the cold water on the right and the hot on the left. So do the mixer taps in public bathrooms in shopping centres. This is Ireland but there's no real difference to the UK. Thinks back to mixer taps when I live in NZ, cold on the right and hot on the left there as well. Guessing it's fairly universal and being for the visually impaired makes perfect sense.
We do have shower curtains here. It's modern bathrooms that don't have them so often. I don't know why you would use electrical items like hair dryers in a bathroom. We tend to dry our hair in our bedrooms in front of a vanity mirror on a vanity table and stool.
The main difference, pardon pun, is that you would have to do something very seriously stupid in a UK bathroom to get electrocuted................. And names........................... call it what it is - toilet, loo, bog, WC, crapper, us Brits cannot be doing with rest room and all that sh**............................ If you need to pee, just say - I have to go for a pee, I am busting for a pee..........................jeez. Even on a first date!!! As for different flushes................ South Africa had/has a great way to remember, which I have tried in the interest of water conservation............if you are part of a large household, it probably works great, but otherwise not recommended - the RSA way - "If it's yellow, let it mellow, if it's brown, flush it down". (A bit l;ike slip, slap, slop in Oz.)
Most bathrooms have the light switch inside, it’s just a pull cord instead of a switch so you can turn the light on or off with wet hands. And of course we have shower curtains, it’s personal choice.
As there are no sockets in the bathroom, we use hair dryers etc in the bedroom (or dressing room if you have one). Many people have a dressing table with a stool or chair in the bedroom where we sit to do our hair, make-up, jewellery.
Before it was converted into flats, there was an office block in Newcastle Under Lyme with a windowless gents' toilet in the basement. The light swtich was outside and had a dymo tape message below it to turn the light off when leaving. Underneath was a dymo tape of a different colour and obviously clattered out in a bit of a temper saying "But make sure nobody is still inside first."
Honestly, we would normally have a dressing table in a room where you can literally sit to dry your hair and do whatever else you need. Also electric toothbrushes are low enough current to run off the shaver socket so it's not an issue. Shower doors are just easier to keep clean, depends on personal preference as to whether you use that or a curtain. Separate taps? Either deal with it or fit a mixer tap. If you're out and about you deal with it, at home we just tend to replace them. There's a couple we haven't got round to yet but most of the ones in my home are mixer taps.
Toilets with the cistern hidden in the wall normally have a removable panel that just pulls off without having to scrape caulk from a joint. Regarding the two taps, when you first turn on the hot tap you don't immediately get scalding water shooting from the tap, it gradually warms up allowing you to wash your hands without burning them......or simply put the plug in.
Without watching this I can say that mixer taps are the norm in most houses. You will only find separate hot and cold taps if the house is old and hasn’t been modernised, or if somebody wants a “retro” look in their house. Americans have this weird perception that all houses have separate taps 🤷🏼♀️ The reason that there were separate taps is because originally the cold water came directly from the mains and the hot water was fed from a tank in the loft and could contain all kinds of dirt and bacteria Edit and a separate toilet isn’t a bathroom it’s a toilet or loo or WC
We can have electric shaver sockets in bathrooms, which would charge a toothbrush. They are wired to the lighting circuit, which has lower current rating, but nowadays will have RCD protection anyway. Hairdryers would never be safe as long as they have exposed wire heating elements. You could have one that's permanently tethered to the wall where it can't be dropped in the sink etc. Bless our American friend if she really thinks the mains function of bathroom fans is to combat mould. She must never have heard the very British utterance "I'd give it a minute, if I were you" 😂 High level flushes, with pull chains, used to be the norm. The extra gravity gave them some real oomph to tackle that the low fibre diet & Izal bogroll. The castle had a cast iron cistern, a common sight in schools & public loos. ...it's going to be carpet & double taps next, isn't it? I guess I was wrong - outside switches are relatively new, a pullcord switch inside the bathroom was more common. We've gone the other way with shower curtains. They were more common when showers over baths started to added to existing bathrooms. Splash screens are more common now, with purpose made tubs, like the one in the vid. The electric shower, is likely another superior voltage thing. They come in a range of power ratings, the ones that can really spin your electricity meter can put out a decent flow. The main advantage is your less at the mercy of the washing machine, or somebody turning on a tap while you're in the shower. The pressure may drop a bit, but you're less likely to get frozen or scalded!
at 24:30 having the shower head is useful for washing soap/ conditioner out of hair without dipping it back in soapy water or to rinse all the soap off when you’re done with the bath (also useful I think for parents with kids young enough to still need help washing hair, easier than getting a young kid to dip their head in the water and easier to make sure you get any soap or shampoo or product out
The two tap system is because people like to use cold water cleaning their teeth! Also, some people like hotter water than others! We have combined taps too! Some work on hand sensors! The old toilets cisterns you see at high level used to be used in outside toilets! They actually work really well!
I don't get why Americans dry their hair in a steamy bathroom. We do hairdressing in our bedrooms.
Yes I’ve never got that either, it’s makes no sense to me.
They're lazy. Sorry let me rephrase - they prefer convenience (due to being lazy).
@@rebeccat94My wife does the same.
Drying your hair in the bathroom would not be looked at favourably in lots of older homes with just the one bathroom…you’d either be constantly interrupted or have a queue outside when your finished. 😂
I wouldn’t use a steamy bathroom to dry my hair either…would take way too long. I’m not in the UK. I’m across the water in Ireland, but everything runs pretty much the same here.
The public toilets are more or less all the same here in the UK.
If eye contact is a possibility that's not a door it's officially a window.
😂
Good point! Yikes!
Its not to save money, its a symptom of a society completely obsessed and paranoid about individuals sex lives!
@@jessgunn6639or pandering to voyeurism 🤷🏻♂️
Agree!!🤣🤣🤣🤣
A lot of homes in the UK have shower curtains. I think the confusion comes from her experience of hotel bathrooms. Most hotels use shower screens or glass doors for hygiene reasons, it's easier to sanitize a glass screen rather than having to change the curtain for every guest. After all, you wouldn't want a shower curtain clinging to you i the bathroom if you didn't know who it was stuck to last!
Exactly, panels are so much quicker to clean than changing the curtains.
Exactly this.
In the UK unless you've intentionally renovated your bathroom to have a self-contained shower unit with a door or partition then typically your 'shower' is pretty much just going to be a wall mounted attachment of your tub with a shower curtain that runs along the side of the tub itself.
The only time I've seen a home here in the UK that has a actual shower 'stall rather just having a wall mounted attachment over the bath tub, is in newly renovated bathrooms and even then it's more something that might be done as someone gets older and has a more difficult time climbing over the side of the tub to get in and out when they want to take a shower.
Even new modern builds still typically just go with the toilet and Bath combination layout, and then have the shower as an plumbing attachment of the Bathtub itself.
Aarrgghh! The Horror! Shudder 😮
You're absolutely wrong we have a glass screen it's not the 80s LMAO
@@jacquirichardson7424 reread what was said in full, then think about it a bit
To say she's been visiting Britain for 30 years she doesn't know much about how we live😂 she got a lot of stuff wrong🤦♀️ You should watch someone who's actually British to get better information
The light string only gets dirty of you keep grabbing the string instead of the big gabber piece on the end. The same way doors get dirty if you don't use the handles.
The hidden tanks are usually easy to get to, the panels often just come off, they're designed to look nice and have easy access
Agree 100%
There is a huge difference between public facilities and when people have at home. She doesn’t always make that clear.
You mean I don't need alcoholics pissing on the floor, junkies shooting up and people having sex in my toilet at home? Well, you live and learn! Thank goodness there's an American to set us poor, backward Brits straight about civilisation.
Exactly 100%
Vintage toilets had high tanks because the older plumbing systems relied on gravity to flush the toilet, the pressure needed to flush the water came from the height of the fall
also where the term head of water comes from
Thunder boxes
We used to have one growing up in the 60’s/ 70’s. Seems hilarious now😂😂
A house that I rented still had the outside toilet. It had 'Niagra' embossed on it.😅
@@sallyannwheeler6327 How big did it grow?
Electric showers can be really powerful and can in some circumstances compensate for low pressure in the home. She’s just used one that’s not very good.
They also have the benefit of consistent temperature, something that can otherwise be affected by other people in the home, using the loo, etc.
She admitted it was 30 years old, why couldn't she recognise that it wouldn't be as good as modern ones?
My Canadian partner was used to very powerful showers in her home city of Vancouver. When we bought this house about 25 years ago the first thing she had installed was an electric power shower due to the low pressure of water here in the UK.
I work in a lot of people’s homes and electric showers are very rare these days. Most people have combi boilers run from mains pressure to a mixer shower valve or conventional boiler with power shower.
If the flow is poor on an electric shower it's probable not because the water pressure is poor, because electric showers usually have higher and sometimes pumped power pressure, but because the shower head has not been cleaned or descaled to remove lime scale
thats just gave me flashbacks to the cold water rush in the shower when someone flushed a toilet or ran a tap somewhere in the house, used to have to say to people "dont flush or use the taps for a bit im going for a shower"
She got quite a few things wrong!
1. The electric shower normally has a little switch on the shower head that you can turn to set different water flows! She had hers on the slow setting! 😂
2. Most toilets have toilet cisterns, just like American cisterns! It's just some newer toilets that have the cisterns in the wall!
3. Light pull cards don't have to be made of string. Lots are metal chains with a little handled that are very easy to keep clean! 😂
4. Yes, shower curtains are very common in our showers 😂
5. We do have a power socket in the bathroom to charge toothbrushes and electric shavers 😂 1 have one by my big mirror in the bathroom! Infact, one of our bristish bands in the 80s, wrote a song about a "MIRROR IN THE BATHROOM"
Link to the song 😂
th-cam.com/video/jnMBdcZ2vts/w-d-xo.htmlsi=9E8wNVbrfFi0xzCM
6. We commonly have one mixer tap in the bathrooms and kitchens! especially in newer kitchen sinks, many are now having the taps with the detachable tap on a hoes! 😂
7. We mostly only have tiny sinks in tiny toilets/ bathrooms for space-saving 😂
8. Separate taps are not that bad! You can set the temperature of your water on the water heater/boiler! So if you have kids, they dont burn themselves! To be honest, I've never seen people leaving to tap on! That's a waste of water! For the last 30 years, new homes have been fitted with water meters, so you pay for what you use!
9. I wondered what you think toilet brushes are for, when you said you don't like the thought of using it when other people use it 😂
It's for cleaning your toilet! Normally, you use it with bleach cleaning fluid! Then rince off when you flush after cleaning your toilet! I put water and bleach into the toilet brush pot to keep the brush clean! What do Americans use to get rid of skid marks from they'er toilets? 🤔
10. There is more... but I can't think what they are. Right this minute!
It's all well and good doing a whats the difference video, if she had done her research first! And not just say what she herself has experienced! That's just a minuscule drop in an enormous sea!
To be honest... our home bathrooms aren't too dissimilar too too bathrooms!"
In the nicest way possible, this screams middle class.
As a Britt I applaud your itemised rebuttal of all the ridiculous points made in this video. However, ' What do Americans use to get rid of skid marks from they'er toilets?' I think you meanTHEIR toilets. As the sentence stands you seem to be asserting that all Americans are toilets?
@@scvedgemaster8025 Not really cos a proper middle class person wouldn't say toilet, rather Loo, or if they were proper posh it would be Lavatory, even 'Bog' would be more acceptable to a posh person .
Toilet is very 'Non you' As a general rule of thumb a posh english person NEVER uses an anglicised version of a foreign word. Example, using the word Perfume which comes from the French Parfum. A proper English posh person would say 'Scent' Or 'Serviette' Again from French. The correct word is Napkin.
There are literally heaps of things that mark you out as 'Non you/New money that truly posh people can spot a mile away. Having Fish Knifes for example.
Interesting fact, the royal family use fish knifes, but thats cos they are all descended from Germans. Thats why they had to change their name from Coburgh Sax Gotta at the start of the 1st world war.
Even though they're all really stupid, even they realised it wouldn't play very well with the 'Brave Tommy's' when they went off to die in the trenches defending 'King and country' if it came out that the King was a Kraut.
I toured the U.S. for 3 months back in 97. Racked up 15,000 miles by road covering 27 states.
I remember one experience I will never forget. We stopped off at a mall somewhere in New Mexico for something to eat. I went looking for a toilet and found this long row of cubicles. There was this bathroom attendant, an elderly guy in his nineties cleaning the sinks. The place was completely empty., just me and this old guy, perfect. My first real culture shock was discovering that none of the cubicles had doors!! Being British with my inherent need for privacy, i decided to get as far away from him as possible. So I walked all the way to the very end cubicle and sat down. With my underpants around my ankles I suddenly became aware to the sound of footsteps. I paused in terror. The footsteps got closer and closer and closer until the old man appeared in front of me! I crossed my arms over my lap and he slowly reached in over me to replace the toilet paper. No words were exchanged. I was stunned into silence. WTF! Can anyone explain this to me because even after all these years I cannot get over it. I had to abandon going to the the toilet and get out of there.
I hear "spaghetti western" whistling while you hear those crunching footsteps. They must use your story as an advert for Andrex or something.
😱
@@Lily-Bravo 😆 for Halloween maybe.
Lordy, no doors - that has to be a war crime, surely?!
When he suddenly appeared I'm supplied he didn't say 'Now see here stranger, this here rest room ain't big enough for the both of us so have your shit and git!
Mixer taps are absolutely the norm, we just tend to not rip stuff out if it’s still functional
Exactly lived in my family house 20+ year and i dont think weve ever changed the bathroom taps. We will change the bathroom and kitchen taps in the next 5 ish years, because were doing a remodel, but no point in changing them because they work perfectly fine and honestly dont look like theyre over 5 years old
"if it aint broke" as they say
Also, old fashioned (usually reproduction) Victorian-style sinks are popular, so people fit the matching old-fashioned style taps.
I haven't moved house that often, but I have never known mixer taps in a bathroom. Over a kitchen sink, sure......................
As if it matters...................................
Yeah, most of our taps are mixers now. The only non-mixer taps left in the house are in the main bathroom on the sink, because it hasn't been replaced since the house was built in the mid-80s (the rest of that bathroom has, which is why the bath has a mixer tap which also works the shower head).
Women normally dry their hair, etc, in their bedroom or in a separate dressing room. There's normally mirrors in bedrooms anyway.
And the mirrors aren’t steamed up! 😊
@@catherinewhite8819 haha. I hate a steamy mirror 🤣
I laughed so much when she said we say 'powder room'. Literally no-one says powder room. We call it the toilet, cos that's what it is.
Yup. Never heard powder room, or cloakroom, in my life, to refer to a toilet/half bath.
I remember when I was about 6yrs old I old punishment in the form of writing lines. 10 Lines. Bc I asked my teacher if I 'could go to the bog'. Bc thats what my dad called it at home. I didn't know any better ahahaha.
I've seen signs that say cloakroom, usually a renovated under-stairs space made to a toilet. But yeah, nobody says powder room except ironically.
Yeah, I wonder if or is more posh or high end society thing.
@jerbil9353 It used to be common for a downstairs toilet separate from the main bathroom to be described in estate agent literature as a "downstairs cloakroom". I don't know whether they still do as it's been a while since I needed to look. We once lived in a council maisonette that had a separate toilet just inside the front door that even the council described as the downstairs cloakroom!
What has she been smoking
I have never heard in 37 years a toilet called a cloak room
They store coats
We very rarely use the distinction between toilet and bathroom
In rhe house its the bathroom regardless most definitely for the VAST MAJORITY
I agree. The Cloakroom was instituted in Medieval times and really was a place where coats and cloaks were kept. I don't know how it could possibly denote a WC or bathroom! Occasionally you will find public buildings with places to leave your coats, called a Cloakroom. I have been in some myself.
agreed, clearly that is a place to keep coats or other outdoor wear (and cloaks/capes! back in the day), i would think this is a place trying to be different, rather than being the norm.
I call it the water closet
I'v spent months looking for a new house here in Scotland. Lots of properties describe the downstairs loo as the cloakroom. It's usually the more potentious estate agents though.
The power of those toilets is amazing, the drop makes the water flow amazing
Boy is she picky!! Pull cords in bathrooms get dirty, too short, they break. Good lord! The cord is normally wipeable, easily replaced and you can choose the length, it's only cord!!! Steve, do you mean you spit in the sink when cleaning your teeth and DONT rinse it out!! Shower curtains are very common for over the bath showers, I'd say 50/50. Itz easy to dry your hair away from the bathroom ... bedroom! Dressing table or like me on the bed in wardrobe mirror. Then the bathroom is free for others to use. A little side laugh, when I was little and living in London (I'm 71) our toilet was outside (very normal). My grandmother's cat would jump up, grab the flushing chain handle and play with water coming into the toilet. It was very spooky hearing that in the middle of the night!! Nana Karen x
She is picky, and a wee bit stupid!
She keep calling the toilets restrooms, we don’t have restrooms..
@@irene3196😂
Yes, I am very picky ;-) Guilty as charged! haha... I'm also a TH-camr looking for entertaining things to discuss.
@@irene3196 Only folk with constipation 😀
In the UK it is not permitted to have a 240V 13A socket less than 3 meters (10 Feet) from a bath, shower or sink. The 110V 'shaver' sockets that you find in UK bathrooms are fitted with an isolating transformer that is centre tapped to ground, so that should you become connected to the supply somehow, the maximum voltage you will experience is 55V. There is also a thermal cut out that will disconnect the supply should it become short circuited. An electric shower is required to have its own 240V 30A supply that has a residual current circuit breaker in the distribution panel and a cord pull on/off switch installed next to the shower unit. If a light switch is fitted inside the bathroom it must be a cord pull switch. Remember that our power sockets, 240V 13A, are connected to a 240V 30A ring main. This is easily enough to kill. Water and electricity do not mix.
mhm, and even with the permitted 110V sockets, pretty much the only things that you can buy that plug into them are shavers and electric toothbrushes. higher draw electronics such as hair dryers and curlers are generally relegated to the bedroom.
It's so much safer and it prevents you accidentally electrocuting your wife by dropping the hair dryer in the bath while she's bathing
My razor socket is about 3ft from the bath and has 240 and 110. Belfast
Yes and pull cord lights are not mandatory if a cloakroom/wc
@@CHRISTSPIRACY.comJESUSwasVeganstill has an isolating transformer. Most will be 230V but some also can be switched to supply 115V
Stalls are where one puts horses, or where one buys greengrocery at the farmers' market, or what happens to the car if one's in the wrong gear. At public conveniences, one uses a cubicle. 😅
Correct ! 😊
One caveat. The older style of urinal, that consisted of a porcelain wall with a drain trough often had subdivisions so that you didn't have to see the next guy's willy. Those divisions were called stalls.
@@qwadratix I'm just disappointed you didn't start with 'One has one caveat..'
Or seats in a theatre, or a section in a choir for a member of clergy, or uncontrolled descent of an aircraft due to speed being too low, or the general word for an abrupt end to progress (either to cause or for it to happen), or to delay someone on purpose.
It's almost like the word had lots of meanings, and that a toilet wouldn't even be strange and make at least as much sense as a market stall if not more.
And milking stalls for cows😊
These types of comparison videos are often misleading - e.g. she gave the impression that everyone in the UK has an electric shower. Yes I have one myself but an awful lot of people have a standard shower. Main reason for using an electric shower is some houses may have a poor water pressure and despite what the lady in the video said, water pressure from an electric shower is fine, certainly in my experience. Same with the size of the bathroom sink - the tiny sinks she mentioned are certainly not the norm. One difference I was sure she would mention is that nobody in the UK has their washing machine in their bathroom, unlike the US.
Hidden systern toilet you DO NOT NEED TO REMOVE THE lid
You normally have some kind of release in the pannel with the button on and can access from there
We dont fill a sink to wash our hands
We use the hot tap but soap first rub in and THEN turn the hot tap on and by the time it comes actually too hot your done
In most public bathrooms you get warm water just right for washing your hands in.
At home if you have separate taps, you use the plug. It's really not a big deal.
👌
Yeh how much effort does it take to put a plug in a sing tbh 😂
Ive never done the plug thing im actually shocked seeing that people do. I just try to do it quickly while the hot tap runs cold then warmer then hot then if need be use the cold.
Guys just pop down to your boiler, select the option that shows taps and lower the max temperature if its too hot.
@@16DeadAndSmiling that would ruin it for filling the bath tho
The women in my life always used stuff like hairdryers & curling tongs in the bedroom. Also, the higher the toilet cistern, tank to you, the more powerful the flush. As the water had a longer distance before hitting the flush. Our electric power is 240 volts. Compared to US 110. My dad was a plumber. Peace out.
Shower curtains are usually when there shower is attached to a bath, but it is possible to have a glass door that slides onto the edge of the bath too. It's not uncommon to see shower curtains.
Shower curtains were popular in UK bathrooms in the 1980's. We then discovered that these were gross and progressed to shower doors for our 'over bath showers', much easier to keep clean. Though a lot of our homes (now we're in the 2000's) now have walk in showers. She has had a bad experience with electric showers, as most are quite powerful, maybe she could have expanded her investigations a bit more. Water pressure should never be an issue, if your pressure is low, just install a pressure pump, problem solved
The notes about respecting the toilets are the local councils attemp to NOT HAVE TO CHARGE PEOPLE to use the facilities
I have never understood the problem with Americans and the two separate taps - it is easy
I don't think they understand the function of the sink - to hold water at the desired temperature while washing hands. Probably because most never get their hands dirty enough to require cleaning, scrubbing etc.
Is it easy though, really? I always find that when I'm still half asleep or rather drunk, my hands are either scolded or frozen. I don't understand why in the 21st century we're using 2 taps in the bathroom like something from the Dark Ages, while most kitchens have one tap that mixes the water to the desired temperature. It's either ignorance or insanity.
They don't even understand that knives and forks are to be used at the same time.
@@etherealbolweevil6268 dont you know? apparently everything has be washed in running water these days lol jk. Frankly, I never found hot water in public areas very hot anyway, so just use that. Also Magenta otter has never heard of a flannel and would rather throw water at herself and all over the bathroom.
Do you wash your face at night before you go to bed? That is the trickiest bit for me...
We have low voltage sockets in the bathroom for electric shavers, recharging toothbrushes, etc. Just no 240 volt outlets.
We have 110/240 Volt shaving sockets in the bathrooms mate. The difference is the Amps flowing through the socket is reduced so it won't kill you like the ones in the rest of your house.
I would say low power sockets, they are still 240 volts but they cannot deliver the power required for a hairdryer, just enough to charge a razor or toothbrush.
They are electrically isolated by transformers and cannot kill you.
@mojojojo11811 Indeed, I was just trying to convey the fact that we do have power points in the bathroom without going into the technical explanation regarding volts/amps etc. My bad !
Bizarre that you have gaps in your public toilets !
Bigger gaps than the Forest defence 😮
That's putting it mildly 😅
@@reactingtomyroots I can understand the gaps at bottom and top for safety is someone needs help if ill etc but the sides not a clue
Not sure I’d want to use one of these without someone standing guard outside!
@@TomClarkSouthLondonharsh ..... but fair 😄
It’s quite frustrating to listen to that woman. She gets so many things wrong.
I lived in Japan for many years. The sink on top of the lavatory is the norm there. I have never seen one back home in England.
In public loos in many large places such as department stores you now have flush sensors- don't touch, just pass hand in front.
I saw one the other day where it flushed automatically when you put the lid down!!
@@christinedugmore Seems a bit pointless, nobody puts the lid down after they've done their business
US ones flush when you walk past them.
There sensors are insanely sensitive
the ones installed at our local hospital are too close to the seat so if you sit up straight it flushes while you're seated 🤣
our office has those if you lean back you can start the flush not pleasant
The two taps thing! I can't believe how much of an issue this is for non-UK people! For hand washing I just use the hot tap: it is never hot to begin with, and by the time it runs hot, I've finished washing. If i found the 1 in 100 hot taps which comes out scalding hot straight off, I'd use the cold instead (which is never freezing cold, just room temperature) or put the plug in. For more extensive washing eg of face and body, of course you would put plug in and fill it with water of desired temperature. If it got too soapy, would refill basin to rinse (we call them basins in the bathroom, not sinks). That way uses far less water than having taps running constantly while washing. Why do people have a basin at all in US bathrooms if you never fill it with water? You could just have a drainage hole!
must live in the posh part of the uk. in south east London we call it the sink.
@@robertSibley-t3b lived all over. But it's always been kitchen sink, and wash hand basin in the loo or bathroom. Maybe generational? (I'm getting old!)
Call em sinks in bathroom here too 😂
Always called it a basin too.
I have a high level cistern toilet at my house. It’s 100 years old.
They use gravity to flush the water down at a greater velocity. They are still easy to fix, just harder to get parts for.
They're also dangerous. We had one until it tried to 'off' my wife. The link holding the chain handle lever to the mechanism broke and the lever hit the lid when it was pulled. The cast-iron lid slid off and fell, narrowly missing my wife's head. I replaced the thing immediately.
@@qwadratix lol I’m a plumber. Mine I assure you is not dangerous.
Yours sounds more like it wasn’t maintained by properly. If you get up to give it a wipe occasionally you’d know if any components are loose before situations like this occur
@@qwadratix >sees one dangerous example of something
> calls all the things dangerous
You sure you're not American?
The reason we're so 'passionate' about toilets and in particular what gets flushed down them is because we have old Victorian-era sewers and pipework and the blockages from people flushing the wrong things (wipes mainly) can be catastrophic. And if you've ever had a neighbour's blocked waste pipe cause waste water to back up along a row of terraced houses until it comes spewing out of the drain next to your front door, catastrophic is actually an understatement.
Pull cords are too short for some people? lol she must be having a laugh, they usually hang lower than a light switch. I take this video as tongue in cheek!
We have mixer taps she showed a few in the beginning. Shower curtains are still around but are gross imo especially for hotels & b&bs much simpler to spray and wipe the panels, than have all the rooms with shower curtains.
Why are the gaps so big between the doors on American toilets? i find that creepy.
Brit here, pull cords are the norm because they are a safety feature in most bathrooms,(unless there is a switch on the wall outside the bathroom) The pull string will have a plastic or ceramic end which can easily be wiped.
Shower curtains are still available to buy but panels are easier to keep clean. Mixer taps are very common these days and you can buy them everywhere, i have them in my bathroom and kitchen and so does everyone i know, 2 taps more commonly found in older period properties. I have a normal shower and normal large sinks.
The pull cord strings for bathroom lights are easily changed, it's probably £2,50 to buy a new one. It is attachable without getting into the electrical part.
And if the cord to the light pull gets dirty just put some bleach on it
Yeah, those small sinks are only used where there is no space for a bigger one and it's that or no sink at all.
I've noticed a trend towards much smaller toilets. That's the actual chod bin itself, not the room. At a time when UK backsides are breaking all records, this seems rather bizarre.
Favourite Toilet sign : "Our aim is to keep this toilet tidy. Your aim can help us." 🤣
My friends grandmother had a book in her loo. Gone with the Wind.
"We aim to please, you aim too please."
haha that's great!
Ha !
We aim 2 please !
4U2PN
Just to correct something. MOST UK households have mixer taps in the kitchen. Many bathroom sinks have separate taps but many are mixer taps. Most UK people with showers either have full shower curtains or have clear plastic shower doors (like I have) - I don't have a bath at all (just a shower) because of space! Built in loos have access panels.
Thanks for providing some more context, Joanne! Hope you're well :)
@@reactingtomyroots Hi Steve and Lindsay - I'm managing OK and hope Steve, you've recovered from your lack of sleep! Sorry I haven't been able to send any parcels recently because the PO nearly doubled costs for heavier parcels! I'll write a letter for now and send a parcel after Christmas because I have an interesting idea of what I could send to you. I will explain in the letter + some other stuff you might find interesting as well - Jo x
I have a mixer tap in my bathroom and separate hot and cold taps in my kitchen. I live in England 😂
SO TRUE !!
16:20 behind the plant is what we call a shaver socket. It has a mini transformer that steps down the voltage and a different socket so only certain items can be plugged in like shavers and electric toothbrushes. Also the water pressure with electric showers depends on the price of the shower. Many power showers are really powerful and have more pressure than a mixer and are often used as a solution in areas where the water pressure isn't good.
High up toilet cisterns like in the video were something from the Victorian era, the reasoning behind them is that Gravity was needed to ensure the toilet flushed properly to remove the waste product(s), I don't know if that was possibly to do with lower water pressures or not, but because the water came down with speed and some force, it cleared the toilet bowl and kept it fresh for the next person to use.
The 2 taps thing.. you use less water if you part fill the sink to wash rather than letting the water run. Partly an anti-waste thing but a hold over from before there was plumbing where you would pour some water from a jug, into the wash hand basin (what many still call a sink). You mix it as you fill so temp isn't a problem.
It's also a hold over from not mixing drinking water with possibly contaminated water that has been in an open tank in the attic or through the heating system.
The tall cistern tank on older toilets was to provide better water pressure before the shape was more optimized.
The light switch can be inside the bathroom/toilet but will be on a pull cord. Keeps wet hands from shorting 240v light switches..
There are "shaver" sockets which can be found in some bathrooms which are 110v
The electric showers can be aweful but newer pumped electric showers are great.
Shower curtains suck.. especially if in smaller bathrooms, they stick to you and are generally horrible.
Bathrooms with half doors are probably best considered wet rooms..
my wife used her heated electric curlers and also applied her makeup every morning sat in comfort in the kitchen, mirror on table in front of her, cup of tea on hand, listening to the radio while getting ready for work. Imagine the inconvenience and annoyance if UK bathrooms were like those in the USA and myself and our two boys were trying to get ready for work or school, want to pee or poop, have a shower, brush our teeth and we couildn't get into the bathroom because she was in there drying her hair !
Me too, I have a freestanding mirror that I pop away afterwards. Your lady sounds lovely.
My dad had to "live with 4 bloody women. A man can't even have a bleep in peace without one of them needing the bathroom for something or other." He'd have blown his top if we wanted to stay in there and dry hair and put make-up on. (the 4 were step-mother, myself, younger sister and step sister.)
i like how in the vidoe at the end shes said she wouldnt want to fill the basin up with water because its dirty but she washes her hands then has to turn the taps off which is probably dirtier then the sink lol
Clean the effing sink lady!
Maybe we have an untidy house, but... our bathroom basins seem really dirty to me! And when I turn off the water I don't use my hands/palms... definitely not in a public toilet!
Shower curtains are common in uk. No sockets or light switches in case of splashing or wet fingers. Hair dryers in bedrooms! Showers over tubs are usually in older properties where the shower is an add on.
Most public toilets now have automatic taps that are completely non-touch. Hold your hands underneath and they dispense warm water, Many also have automatic soap dispensers
My light switch is in my bathroom. It's a pull cord most of the people I know have pull cords in the bathroom.
Most houses I have been to have switches on the outside. I haven’t seen a pull cord for years
My last house was built in 2003, and it had a pull cord but it was just for the electric shower, nothing else. I think that’s common, to have a pull cord for the electric shower, no?
@@lisalally same here. 1990s house with a pull cord for the electric shower.
@@susansmiles2242council properties have cord pulls, in the bathroom,, I do
@@susansmiles2242 Yes. There is a switch for the light and a switch for the fan on the wall next to the bathroom door. So you can switch them on before you go in.
you use your bedroom for drying and styling your hair; do you not have mirrors in your bedrooms?
And the pull switch is often inside the bathroom.
Shower curtains are very common; tanks in the wall - there is generally a panel that can be removed easily.
When putting a plug in a sink seems like a real effort it baffles me 😂how much effort to put a plug in. But I use the both taps n mix with soap never burnt my hands with the water in a public bathroom.
I guess it depends on the person, but at our house no we don't have mirrors in our bedrooms. Mostly because of me--Lindsay loves mirrors. lol
I dry my hair at my dressing table in the spare room, I always get ready in a bedroom. I don't think id like to be in a steamy bathroom while trying to get ready.
Most American homes do not have dressing tables in them. Just dressers or chests of drawers with no mirrors. In my home in Gloucester I have a dressing table and it's wonderful! But in my home in Texas, the bedroom has no mirrors. But I have a GIANT Texas bathroom with a "vanity" (like a British dressing table) in it with a seat and a huge mirror.
@@HelenMarie555 Don't you have an exhaust fan to remove the steam?
We can charge electric toothbrushes in our bathrooms, we have ‘shaver points’ usually attached to a bathroom mirror light. Suitable for shavers and toothbrushes. We have shower curtains, of course we do but usually in more old fashioned bathrooms. What we don’t do is the weird ‘double’ curtain that you get in the US. We don’t have to have plungers in our loos, they generally don’t block like in the US.
The hand held shower over the bath is just for rinsing your hair.
US toilet blockages, perhaps related to diet more than hydraulics.
Shower curtains can be really annoying. Sliding glass doors are so much easier.
@@etherealbolweevil6268Ha ha, I know what you mean but I think it’s to do with shape of their actual toilets and a less powerful flush.
@@MagentaOtterTravelsI agree.
Electric showers don't have low pressure, some properties do, but in general the electric increases the pressure as they use the cold supply and heat it quickly. The toilet blocked in has a door, they lift up. I am not sure this Lady has been to the UK, she's making things up to make a video. Sorry you been miss lead. I would like to see you react to answers. To many video's miss lead. Also most rest rooms have mixer taps. Hot comes out of a tank, the cold is a safe to drink feed.
17:00 You're right... But turning the bathroom lights off whilst your loved ones are doing their business is great fun 😆
The panel where the flush button is on that toilet you were looking at comes off so you can get to the flush mechanism and you don't have to reseal it every time. When the panels replaced, the mechanism is insulated from the temperature change and therefore doesn't get the condensation problem that you talk about.
ive had a shower curtains in every home ive lived in and everyone i know has one too
Me too - infact this woman seems to have not experienced anything the way I have living here all my life
Our British separate taps were necessary due to separate water feeds into your home. You would have a cold fresh water feed ( you can drink from the tap ) straight from the mains into your home that then filled a water storage tank , normally in your attic, to be used only as hot water through your boiler ( non drinkable ). The hot water storage in your attic could have all types of bugs/pigeons find their way in over the years if not properly maintained. Luckily, we now have " Combi " boilers where it's just fresh water being used for both cold & hot water and mixer taps are becoming the standard to be installed.
@hiramabiff2017 My dad taught me to only ever drink from a cold water tap if the water comes directly from the mains feed, and not from a cold water tank. You can tell the difference by turning the cold tap on, then putting your thumb over the outlet. If you can easily stop the water flow, it's likely from a tank.
@@andybaker2456 hehehe, I still can hear my dad saying the same to me when I think back. See, that little trick to where the water is coming from will be one of those things lost to history soon. Thank you for reminding me👍....
Cold water storage cisterns still are installed on new build properties that tend to be over 4 bedroom etc.
if you have a combi then you are runner a smaller system.
Both have their plus and downsides.
Also the separate taps are because of water regulations and the risk of legionella growing around 40° in the pipes. It was safer to keep the separate for this reason
@@hiramabiff2017Me too.LOL
Ground source & air source heat pumps are replacing combi boilers now. Very low rare tho due to cost of it which essentially means you do need lot more than just installing it
My wife had a mirror and table with stuff in the bedroom for hair makeup etc.
Some of our Victorian public toilets are stunning, and the stall door is from floor to ceiling, solid, and almost sound proof. There’s one in Cardiff, steps to underground, they used to have someone on the door, brass fittings and china/porcelain for the pull light switch etc, it’s difficult to explain it if you’re not used to it. 😊
I had the tap conversation on another thread, a UK bathroom fittings supplier replied saying he only sold two sets of separate taps in the last 8 years, both to older couples. They are out there in older properties, and some tourist locations in old buildings, but mixer taps are waaaay more common than these videos make out.
Exactly. Also, the hot water should not be set to boiling, that should be regulated by a thermostat. I've found in foreign countries this is no set and you definitely can get 3rd or 2nd degree burns through hot water. Madness!
@@chelliebellie4443yeah exactly, when you run your hand under a hot tap and it shouldnt be uncomfortable to hold it there for long periods of time, but not painful. I think its meant to be set a bit above body temperature, nothing extreme
@@_Hollie_ it should be set around 55°.
Any higher and you increase the risk of limescale, anything lower than 50° and you are risking legionella
Depends what you call older buildings
@@_Hollie_but putting the plug in is an effort it seems 😂
if your boiler breaks, that means no hot water. unless you have an electric shower. then this unit gives you hot water even when your boiler is not working.
Don’t pay any attention to the silly little lady in the pink outfit. I live here in the UK have done for 52 years and yes we have shower curtains and the majority of houses you come to in the UK and I would even go as far as saying most do not have a switch on the outside of the bathroom to turn the lights on. It’s normally a pool cord inside the door when you’re talking about a bathrooms in the UK you can have power outlets in your bathroom, but they are reduced voltage. They are two pin plugs which are different from the normal plugs we have in the UK and they are for using electric razors and small appliances. They run on a separate step down transformer which is situated outside of the toilet/bathroom for safety reasons so the little lady in the pink outfit has got most of it wrong so far so don’t pay much attention to what you said in this video with the exception of the public toilets with their signs and symbols. That is a thing that you will find often but the rest of what she’s come out with is a load of rubbish for 99% of properties you find in the UK for a lady who claim to be visiting the UK for a long time she hasn’t really understood what she has seen
I've rented my entire life and I reckon it's 50:50 to whether you have a switch outside or a pull cord inside. The last place had a pullcord, the current one a switch in the hall for both the toilet and the shower room [no bath, it's a small house].
Quite simply, water and electricity do not mix!
Names - Loo. We have 110v 'shaving sockets' in bathrooms which we use for toothbrushes also) The Cloakroom originates in Garderobe, which is also a Scandinavian room for a true cloak room. The connection is that back in the days of castles and such with the loo being a shaft to the the ground far below or such, the ammonia (don't ask!) - would keep moths away - so that was why it was a good place to also hang robes, protected by this from those moths.
The early high separate cisterns ensured good flushing pressure.
Showers in the UK sometimes have screens and others curtains. I hate curtains as they are prone to condensation mould (though screens are prone to white chalk marks but curtains are horrible if they suddenly cling to you if you step too close. As to the screens getting water everywhere - you have to remember the average European is rather narrower so fits well within its coverage
Shower heads with no curtain or screen are not intended for showering but for rinsing your shampoo.
Some electric showers are bad but others are incredible and can be downright painful if you max flow and accidentally point the flow where the sun don't shine.
Light cords meant the light switch could be in the bathroom without hazard.
Cisterns in the wall are invariably accessible behind removable panels with concealed fixings. They are typically not calked. In all my years I have not once found one to be a problem and as you say - aesthetically they are infinitely superior and no there is no issue with mould. A common system in commercial premises and hotels is the Armitage Shanks IPS system:
www.idealspec.co.uk/Uploads/BrochureFiles/G4%20NEW%20SYSTEM%2021_Amended.pdf
You guys are looking at the two button loos the same way we all think about the 3 seashells in demolition man lol
Restroom 😂 it’s a toilet, you don’t go and have a nap or a lay down. 😂
Yes I was in a passenger " rest room" at a train station. Just a lot of seats with in a room. With 2 other doors at the side leading to male and female toilets.
Never could figure the Americans on this topic:
Need the toilet at home and go to the bathroom.
Need the toilet outside and go to the restroom.
speak for yourself 🤣
😂
@@ianroper2812 I once had a friend who would have a nap on the loo almost every time 😅
The reason dual buttons exist in the uk is due to how our toilets flush.
US toilets are siphonic while UK toilets are wash down toilets, in simple terms wash down toilets flush the toilet by pouring a high volume off water down which pushes all the waste in the pan over a duct in the pipes.
You can actually flush a UK toilet with just a bucket off water.
One off the reason US toilets clog easier at home compared to public is because public ones tend to be air pressured and the modern US toilets at home tend to have tanks with only 1.6 gallons off water which isn’t enough water to have a good flush.
One other thing you will notice is the water in UK toilets sits really low down.
Duel flush system is an Australian invention. To save water. My sister's toilet fill via the rainwater tank outside.
Correction, it's the UK that uses syphons. The US ones open a flap and ALL the water in the tank rushes out, the UK starts a syphon and the water rushes out until it reaches a certain level (hence the possibility of two options). The rest is true though, in the UK we push the contents out and hopefully clean down the bowl in the process, the US has a higher water level so there is no opportunity to get a messy bowl but needs a bigger volume of water to clear everything past the u-bend. This is why UK toilets have brushes as the bowl is often not fully cleaned and is also why you get a lot of splashback from a US toilet.
@@andyjdhurleyUk toilets create a siphon in the tank to get the water down but technically it’s a wash down toilet.
USA toilets are called Siphonic toilets because the siphon happens in the bowl which is the flush that vacuums the waste down.
If you search Siphonic toilet then search wash down you will see which version comes up.
31:57 Hot water taps don't start at the hottest temperature. The longer you run them, the hotter they get until they get to temperature so no need to be shuffling like that. Cold taps go the other way
Exactly! It is seriously very hard not to think”Idiots.”
@@sallyannwheeler6327they can’t handle 2 taps, so complicated for them.
"If you sprinkle, when you tinkle, be a sweet and wipe the seat!"
As a Brit in my 40’s I cab honestly say that I never really saw shower doors/screens until around 20 years ago and many people still use them. We all do our hair in the bedroom.
The shower that stands by itself on top of the taps is for washing hair only
No, it isn't.
@@amandag5072it is!
@@amandag5072Yes it is, and it’s also for rinsing the bath are you’ve cleaned it.
@@kirsteneasdale5707they are sometimes used for showering as well but in that case it will have a rail to attach it to so it is above head height whilst standing in the bath, will probably need a separate pump though unless you have a gravity fed system with a very high head of water as mains pressure is unlikely to be sufficient.
3 types of shower in the UK -
mixer shower - direct feed from hot and cold water tanks - requires header tanks.
Power shower - as mixer but with an electric pump to increase pressure, can be fed from header tanks or mains supply.
Electric shower - built in pump and heater so fed from cold water mains supply only.
No electric sockets are never a problem because we are used to it. If you need to dry your hair you do it in the bedroom.
Full 3 pin sockets are allowed in bathrooms in the UK, but they've got to be more than 3m away from the edge of any bath or shower. Given the size of most bathrooms in the UK, it makes it impossible. Shaver sockets can be closer which is why they're used
Most Brits don't monopolise the bathroom while they arse about with curling tongs or hair driers. We let other people use the bathroom and we do our make up and hair in our bedrooms where we may well have a dressing table for that purpose.
Hair driers and tongs , if left plugged in , could easily fall into a sink or bath of water and electrocute your kids or your spouse. That is why we don't have mains sockets in bathrooms. Shaver sockets are lower voltage and are two pin sockets ..... toothbrush chargers are two pin and are waterproof so if the chargers falls in the water.... no problemo!
AND in American films they murder people in the bath with electrical items !
We mostly have shower curtains if it's in a bath. Doors usually on a shower unit.
The Electricity here in the UK is higher voltage than in America so its safer to keep the switch outside of the room or have a pull cord inside the room so your wet hands or any steam in the room dont come into contact with the switch, same with no sockets its just a safety thing as the voltage is higher in UK than America. Electric Showers are waterproof sealed units and most Electric showers have quite powerful water pressure if the shower head is not blocked by limescale and cleaned properly so much better than relying on the central heating for your hot water especially if the central heating needs fixed instant hot water
I grew up being told that you had to wash your hands in the sink with the plug in. If you just washed them under a running tap, you would be sent back to the bathroom to do it properly. It also uses less water than a running tap. Shower curtains are probably the norm in many homes the UK, with doors being more common in newer homes, or homes with refurbished bathrooms.
Yeah, I think it's all just dependent on what you're used to!
Whenever I've moved home the first thing ripped out is a shower curtain. I can't stand them. For some reason they always want to adhere to my bum!
Glass screen always. I'm due to have my bathroom remodelled as due to disability I cannot use a bath anymore. So I'll have a wet room, no bath. The flooring is laid in a way that the water runs back into the shower drain. It usually comes with a floor to ceiling shower curtain but I've asked for a glass screen instead. It has to be big enough for a wheelchair although I don't need one yet. As others have said UK bathrooms tend to be small rooms so not much room for manoeuvre, literally!
@@lulusbackintown1478 we have lived in 3 different houses in 47 years & the first things I do every time is
1) change all outside doors
2) rip out all bathroom suites
My husband thinks I’m mad but has no choice but to go along with it lol
Our toilet tanks are not in the wall. They are in a cabinet that the toilet is plumbed into. The front panel comes off for access to the tank, you don't have to get any caulking out. You dont get any problem with condensation because the cupboard stops it as damp air cannot get to the tank. The claw foot bath only has a hand shower for getting shampoo off your hair. If you want a shower you use the shower cubicle. Most bathrooms and kitchens have mixer taps these days, but separate taps aren't a problem in most homes. You just fill the sink, it uses less water than leaving the tap running and I know of no one who would wash or brush their teeth and not clean the sink after them. Even my young children were taught to do so, then you always start with a clean sink. In public toilets these days you wash your hands under the hot tap. It's normally set a a temp that can't burn you for health and safety reasons. Water pressure in UK can be problematic as some supply pipework in older homes can be over 100 years old. Electric showers can help then. The shower she used may be in a very old house.
@PaulineSirrell and this coming from a country lets face it truely doesnt have an issue with water ..just how its billed (sorry used).. at end of day we genuinly have a good fresh water supply and we in properties have a almost free flow supply of water ...how each household uses that supply us upto the owner..what im trying to say is all hone owners businesses or landlords have to pay..you can use a public toilet (cost 20p)anywhere..ask a business for respect while in need..or answer a call from mother nature herself.. But dont try to degrade us to your believed USA standard cause ive been there in orange county home/villa for rent .. toilent rules was dont flush paper..shower was get in get out or get cold..forget having a bath not enough hot water for a decent soak and relax. We have long standing buildings that have restrictions on how we can provide bathrooms lighting plumbing..that protect the history of the building..yet we upgrade within the guidance ....Americas way is get rid n build it cheap.thats my perspective my house n home was built in under queen Victoria reign we have a plack on our houses in my village confirming when they were built they was approved by royalty
I knew someone that had to remove the granite top, which was also part of a window cill, to access the flush mechanism regularly to replace bits!
We most definitely do have shower curtains in the UK. Actually, some of the big hotel chains have them in every bath/shower. In private homes, if the shower is in the bath, then it's probably 50/50 a glass door or a curtain.
I had both, a crappy short door and shower curtain for the rest
Yes, that is what i want now, just a wet room with a shower curtain,dont need a bath anymore, the simple the better
Shower curtains are normal, if your shower is in the bath, but dedicated shower cubicles are very common, so not required. You sometimes see folding panels, or doors, for bath showers, but they're annoying and can easily let water past, especially if you nudge them while showering, leaving you with a wet floor. If you're posh, you might have a wet room, which will just have a glass partition separating the shower from the rest of the bathroom and the floor slopes to the drain.
The electric showers typically have way more pressure than the one in the video. Honestly it’s the best thing because you can have a lovely warm ( high pressure) shower, and then switch it to cold in a second if you want that cold blast before you get out ( has good side effect for heart and mind)
Also our basins/sinks are way bigger 😂 I feel like this lady hasn’t seen many examples of typical British homes. The door she had for the shower was tiny! Mine comes half way across and is fantastic, and they don’t gather mould like shower curtains can so much better in the long term.
We do also have shaving sockets in bathrooms. So most British electric toothbrushes have a 2 prong plug so you can still charge it in the bathroom. You could do the same with a hair dryer I guess, but I love sitting at a vanity table with a coffee and some music while I’m styling my hair, much nicer than doing it standing in a steamy bathroom.
I do love watching your videos, it’s great seeing the differences 😊
One reason why some homes here in the UK have electric instant heat (I had one that was just a pumped shower with no heater that drew from my huge hot water cylinder for many years) but when I replaced my hot water tank I went from a gravity feed tank to mains pressure so now I have just a thermostatic mixer unit and huge water pressure. My water is still heated by an immersion heater in the hot water tank and I can heat it from my solar panels with excess generation, many houses in the UK have gas heated boilers to heat their hot water rather than an electric heater.
Electric points in bathrooms are possible in the UK - I have a 2 pin shaver socket that also charges my electric toothbrush- they do have to be double insulated to protect against electric shock. The string pull light switch is also a safety thing - means you don’t touch a wired switch with wet hands in a bathroom, otherwise the switch is outside the bathroom
Shower curtains - very common here. I had a shower over the bath with one for many years but when I refitted my bathroom I removed the bath completely and replaced it with walk in shower surround with no door and an sloping floor to aid the drain away. I also added the luxury of underfloor electric heating - lovely on cold winter mornings !
Electric combi boilers are still better than tanks that heat up water.
Yeah you get people yelling IM IN HERE PUT THE LIGHT ON!!
😂
I'm in UK. Had a new bathroom couples years ago. Took out bath to make way for an electric shower. We obs have shower doors, small sink and a pull cord light switch on the inside. I woukd say shower curtains are still here but get replaced by doors perhaps. Also our bathrooms tend to be smaller so the smaller sink can be a space saver. Thank you for your great content ❤
The example she showed in the video was probably a cloakroom basin - nobody would think to use a basin that size to wash their hair or anything bigger than their hands!
Thanks Ann-Marie! :)
My 7yo Granddaughter Daisy turns the light switch off outside my cloakroom every time I use it…..and thinks it’s hilarious!😂
I have the same roll top bath with claw feet but its level on top not higher at one end, I love it, we have an electric shower as well over it, they stay a constant temp, save water and take less time, ours compensates for the low water pressure we have in our area, very usefull. We charge our toothbrushes in our bedrooms and do our make up/hair there as well or in a vanity area/dressing room. We replaced our string pull lightswitch with a thin chain, more hygenic and we use the new style flat rubber bog brush lol. We also have a loo sink combo unit side by side, the front panel jusy above the loo comes off for access and just pops back on into clips. Really easy for fixing the loo etc.
Shower doors relatively rare in my experience in Britain, also Modern electric showers have the ability to change the water pressure on command, as well as the temperature.
Older homes in the UK actually have an even more powerful flush.
Newer toilets tend to have quiete a small tank. Older homes with the big, overhead tank, you have to stand back when you flush so you don't get sucked in 🤣
My last house the entire street could hear when you flushed the loo
😂
you're exactly right, we spend our childhoods turning the light off when our siblings are in there. memories
And waiting until said sibling was in the shower and turning the hot water tap on downstairs and waiting for the scream. I miss the 70's 😀😄
My wife and I still do that to each other!
@@annicecooper8105 Fitting a Surrey flange or an Essex Flange to the tank stops the shower temperature being affected by taps.
@@stephenwalker6823 spoilsport ! 🤪🤣
Dear oh dear. Okay, a lot of electric showers are power showers - mine almost takes the skin off you. Because the heater element heats up the water as it comes through - you don't get hot/cold variances when someone flushes the toilet or runs the taps. Many showers have curtains, but most shower cubicles have a snug fitting glass or plastic door to keep heat and water inside the shower.
Toilets - the vintage style tanks were set high for water pressure reasons.
Built-in cisterns are easy to access. They will have an access panel which comes away and you have full access to your cistern and plumbing.
Pull cords are usually found in older houses. But seriously, hold the plastic/metal/wood end and not the string. However, the strings can be replaced in 2 mins.
Most bathrooms in a home have shaver outlets. If I want to faff about with my hair, I sit at the mirror in my bedroom.
Baths with a shower attachment go back to the days before separate shower cubicles were a thing. You flipped the tap setting to the shower head and you knelt in the bath to shower off the grime floating in the water. With the resurgence of roll-top baths etc, you often get that same setup. Some have a shower curtain you can pull around, some have a fitted door that allows you to stand and shower off.
Washbasin taps come in different setups. Mixer taps are very common, but often there is a hot on one site of the basin, the cold on the other. My kitchen sink has a mixer tap, so does my son's en-suite. My bathroom has a very old set up and I have an old Victorian sink and bath with beautiful old taps on both. The hot takes about 15 secs to come through, but I love them so much I deal with that small inconvenience 😁
Little washbasins are for little rooms. No-one would expect you to wash in them. They are for hand washing after you've spent a penny or two.
Toilet signs are common. I suspect the huge list of signs shown as examples are from one toilet. Small businesses, in the middle of nowhere often ask patrons to be decent and do or don't do certain things. Many many seem obvious and a bit daft, but people have wide ranges of behaviours in toilets 😉
"If you sprinkle when you tinkle, be a sweetie and wipe the seatie"
The only "bad" that is fairly common is the separate sink taps and many of us have mixers. We have either shower curtains or doors (big ones), whichever we fancy and prefer not to risk electrocution in the bathroom. Trust me, anyone who has that lovely shape bath with the mixer taps will have a separate shower as well, as do many of us. I think that lady may have been living in hotels when in the UK. Enjoyed your reaction, as always 😊
Ugh I couldn't handle those creepy gaps in your public toilets 😂 were the people who designed them a bunch of pervs or something?
It is a safety issue, how are EMTs suppose to help someone in a locked public bathroom ,if the door goes all the way to the floor and the gaps are not even no higher than an inch
I think they were too lazy to make the doors fit snugly so they left a giant gap for the wonky angles. But it's so annoying!
@@marydavis5234 The same way they do in every other country. The doors in public stalls are usually pretty easy to open in an emergency if you know how. Either way I'd rather risk the emergency situation than always pee with an audience.
@@marydavis5234 Pretty much every public toilet stall lock in the UK can unlocked from the outside with a coin or a flat blade screwdriver, access for emergency services is not an issue at all.
@@MattF340 here in the US ,the locks on public bathroom stall are inside the door, there is no way to unlock them from the outside of the door.
Back in the 1960s I visited a public toilet with this sign. "If you sprinkle when you tinkle, be a sweet and wipe the seat". As a little girl, I found this hilarious and it still makes me smile.
I'm sorry but that woman in the video is annoying, she's not experienced much of the UK regarding bathrooms, the shower pressure would depend on the water supply, or you fit a more powerful shower. A lot of wash basins in public toilets dont have plugs, the taps are mostly press and release so only so much water comes out, shower curtains are everywhere. Cold water tap is always on the right, this is a safety thing for the visually impaired. Edited
huh where i live the hot is on the left, tho it may just be my home
Er, the cold water tap is always on the right. You sure you're not American?
My bad, I did mean to out right ffs.
We have a mixer tap over the tiny basin in the loo and that has the cold water on the right and the hot on the left. So do the mixer taps in public bathrooms in shopping centres. This is Ireland but there's no real difference to the UK. Thinks back to mixer taps when I live in NZ, cold on the right and hot on the left there as well. Guessing it's fairly universal and being for the visually impaired makes perfect sense.
We do have shower curtains here. It's modern bathrooms that don't have them so often. I don't know why you would use electrical items like hair dryers in a bathroom. We tend to dry our hair in our bedrooms in front of a vanity mirror on a vanity table and stool.
Shower head for a tub/bath that is not for standing and showering is for doing your hair and being able relax at the same time
The main difference, pardon pun, is that you would have to do something very seriously stupid in a UK bathroom to get electrocuted.................
And names........................... call it what it is - toilet, loo, bog, WC, crapper, us Brits cannot be doing with rest room and all that sh**............................ If you need to pee, just say - I have to go for a pee, I am busting for a pee..........................jeez. Even on a first date!!!
As for different flushes................ South Africa had/has a great way to remember, which I have tried in the interest of water conservation............if you are part of a large household, it probably works great, but otherwise not recommended - the RSA way - "If it's yellow, let it mellow, if it's brown, flush it down".
(A bit l;ike slip, slap, slop in Oz.)
Most bathrooms have the light switch inside, it’s just a pull cord instead of a switch so you can turn the light on or off with wet hands.
And of course we have shower curtains, it’s personal choice.
As there are no sockets in the bathroom, we use hair dryers etc in the bedroom (or dressing room if you have one). Many people have a dressing table with a stool or chair in the bedroom where we sit to do our hair, make-up, jewellery.
Yes, there’s nothing worse than dropping an earring down the plug hole!
That makes sense!
Before it was converted into flats, there was an office block in Newcastle Under Lyme with a windowless gents' toilet in the basement. The light swtich was outside and had a dymo tape message below it to turn the light off when leaving. Underneath was a dymo tape of a different colour and obviously clattered out in a bit of a temper saying "But make sure nobody is still inside first."
Honestly, we would normally have a dressing table in a room where you can literally sit to dry your hair and do whatever else you need. Also electric toothbrushes are low enough current to run off the shaver socket so it's not an issue. Shower doors are just easier to keep clean, depends on personal preference as to whether you use that or a curtain.
Separate taps? Either deal with it or fit a mixer tap. If you're out and about you deal with it, at home we just tend to replace them. There's a couple we haven't got round to yet but most of the ones in my home are mixer taps.
Toilets with the cistern hidden in the wall normally have a removable panel that just pulls off without having to scrape caulk from a joint. Regarding the two taps, when you first turn on the hot tap you don't immediately get scalding water shooting from the tap, it gradually warms up allowing you to wash your hands without burning them......or simply put the plug in.
Without watching this I can say that mixer taps are the norm in most houses. You will only find separate hot and cold taps if the house is old and hasn’t been modernised, or if somebody wants a “retro” look in their house. Americans have this weird perception that all houses have separate taps 🤷🏼♀️
The reason that there were separate taps is because originally the cold water came directly from the mains and the hot water was fed from a tank in the loft and could contain all kinds of dirt and bacteria
Edit and a separate toilet isn’t a bathroom it’s a toilet or loo or WC
We can have electric shaver sockets in bathrooms, which would charge a toothbrush. They are wired to the lighting circuit, which has lower current rating, but nowadays will have RCD protection anyway. Hairdryers would never be safe as long as they have exposed wire heating elements. You could have one that's permanently tethered to the wall where it can't be dropped in the sink etc.
Bless our American friend if she really thinks the mains function of bathroom fans is to combat mould. She must never have heard the very British utterance "I'd give it a minute, if I were you" 😂
High level flushes, with pull chains, used to be the norm. The extra gravity gave them some real oomph to tackle that the low fibre diet & Izal bogroll. The castle had a cast iron cistern, a common sight in schools & public loos.
...it's going to be carpet & double taps next, isn't it?
I guess I was wrong - outside switches are relatively new, a pullcord switch inside the bathroom was more common.
We've gone the other way with shower curtains. They were more common when showers over baths started to added to existing bathrooms. Splash screens are more common now, with purpose made tubs, like the one in the vid.
The electric shower, is likely another superior voltage thing. They come in a range of power ratings, the ones that can really spin your electricity meter can put out a decent flow. The main advantage is your less at the mercy of the washing machine, or somebody turning on a tap while you're in the shower. The pressure may drop a bit, but you're less likely to get frozen or scalded!
at 24:30 having the shower head is useful for washing soap/ conditioner out of hair without dipping it back in soapy water or to rinse all the soap off when you’re done with the bath (also useful I think for parents with kids young enough to still need help washing hair, easier than getting a young kid to dip their head in the water and easier to make sure you get any soap or shampoo or product out
The two tap system is because people like to use cold water cleaning their teeth! Also, some people like hotter water than others! We have combined taps too! Some work on hand sensors! The old toilets cisterns you see at high level used to be used in outside toilets! They actually work really well!