Plumbing Facts

Below are a set of fun and interesting facts about plumbing and plumbing related issues. Have a read through and learn about the lesser known facts of plumbing.

1. Famous and often controversial rock star Ozzy Osbourne was a plumber’s apprentice before getting into the music industry.
2. The word “plumber” dates all the way back to the Roman Empire. In Rome, pipes were originally made from lead, which is “plumbum” in Latin. People who worked with lead were called Plumbarius, which was eventually shortened to the word we use today.
3. The term “plumbers” was a popular name given to the covert White House Special Investigations Unit established during the presidency of Richard Nixon in response to the leaked “Pentagon Papers” documents. Their job was to plug intelligence leaks in the U.S. Government relating to the Vietnam War; hence the term “plumbers”.
4. The average person visits the toilet six to eight times a day. During these six to eight visits to the toilet a day, each individual uses approximately 57 sheets of toilet paper.
5. You have a 1 in 10,000 chance of being injured by a toilet.
6. Thomas Crapper is commonly thought to have invented the first toilet, though is not true. A man by the name of Arthur Giblin invented the first effective flushable toilet. He was an employee of Crapper’s and sold his patent to Crapper.
7. The first toilet paper was invented in 1880, but it didn’t come on a roll. Instead it came as a box, like tissues.
8. Scott toilet paper has been around over a hundred years. The company developed its toilet paper on a roll in 1890.
9. 72.4% of people place their toilet paper to be pulled from over the roll, rather than under.
10. The toilet uses more water than any other appliance in the house.
11. More toilets flush during half time of the Super Bowl than during any other time of year
12. A third of people flush their toilet while they’re still sitting on it.
13. Rats can survive being flushed down toilets. On top of that, they can often return to the dwelling they were in via the same route.