As you walk around your office, chances are good that you’re busy thinking about things that need to get done or planning out your day. One thing you’re probably not thinking about is your plumbing (at least not most of the time).
To help put the historical significance and importance of plumbing into perspective, here’s a list of our favorite plumbing facts for business owners that you’re sure to enjoy.
- It’s common knowledge that we spend an average of 33% of our lives sleeping, but have you ever wondered how much of your time is spent on the toilet? It’s a little known fact that we spend nearly 3 years on the toilet in one lifetime!
- We take indoor plumbing for granted now since its successful resurgence in 1829 when Boston’s Tremont Hotel was the first hotel in the U.S. to offer this amenity. However, evidence of indoor plumbing can be dated back to 2500 B.C. in the palaces of ancient Egypt, according to archeologists.
- The Egyptians also used one of the most popular materials we use today for their plumbing — copper piping.
- Bathrooms have had many different names spanning over a wide variety of cultures throughout history. It was known as the “house of horror” by the Egyptians, the “necessarium” by the Romans, the “smelly house” by the French, and the “necessarium” by the Romans.
- Albert Einstein reportedly said that he would have been a plumber if he could do it all over again. (Lucky for us he never figured how to turn back time.) In honor of his plumbing aspirations, the Plumbers and Steamfitters Union in Washington, DC gave him a set of gold-plated plumbers’ tools after making him an honorary union member.
- In 1775, the first patent for a flushing toilet was issued to Alexander Cummings.
- Sir John Harrington built a flushing toilet for his godmother, Queen Elizabeth in 1596, which made “John” a popular nickname for it in the U.S.
- Enough copper piping has been installed in the U.S. since 1963 to circle the globe 200 times. It comes out to be about 5.3 million miles long, which is more than 28 billion feet!
- Americans use nearly 40% of their household water each year by simply flushing the toilet.
- You can save nearly 18,000 gallons of water each year by installing a low-flush toilet.
- More than 9,000 gallons of water is wasted in an average U.S. home just running the faucet the faucet while waiting for the water to heat up.
- While you’re wasting that 9,000 gallons you’re also wasting up to 15% of your annual heating costs!