50 Fun Facts About Plumbing

The word plumber comes from the Latin plumbum, which means what?

The first effective pipes in the Roman era were made of lead, and the metal's chemical symbol Pb comes from the same root.

Standardised earthenware pipes with sealed flanges appeared by 2700 BC in which civilisation?

Copper piping followed in Egypt by 2400 BC, linking the Pyramid of Sahure to its temple complex.

Rome's first aqueduct, the Aqua Appia, was built in which year?

By the third century AD the city had eleven aqueducts, feeding mostly its public baths, all moving water by gravity alone.

The Cloaca Maxima, one of the world's oldest sewers, served which ancient city?

It began as an open canal to drain marshes, is named for the goddess Cloacina, and parts of it are still in use today.

The Roman hypocaust was an early form of what?

Hot air from a furnace circulated beneath raised floors and up through wall pipes, a forerunner of modern central heating.

Sir John Harington, who described a flush toilet in 1596, installed one for which royal godmother?

The device went into Richmond Palace, and his book about it was called A New Discourse of a Stale Subject.

The S-trap, which keeps sewer gas out of buildings, was patented in 1775 by whom?

The Scottish mechanic's design was the crucial step toward the modern flush toilet; Bramah improved on it three years later.

Joseph Bramah, who patented the first practical flush toilet in 1778, is also famous for inventing what?

He was also a celebrated locksmith whose challenge lock went unpicked for 67 years.

Which of these is true of Thomas Crapper?

The English plumber's fame was inflated by a 1969 satirical biography, and the word crap is Middle English, older than his career.

What is the purpose of the U-shaped trap under a sink?

The standing water in the bend forms a seal; the same idea protects drains in oil refineries from escaping fumes.

In a drain-waste-vent system, what is the job of the vent pipe that runs up through the roof?

Without venting, draining water can siphon the traps dry and let sewer gas into the house.

The ballcock in a toilet cistern gets its name from what?

A lever connects the hollow float to the fill valve, shutting off the water when the tank is full and preventing overflow.

The banging noise in pipes when a tap is shut off suddenly is known as what?

It is a pressure surge from moving water stopping abruptly, and it can be cured with an arrestor that cushions the shock.

PEX, the flexible red and blue tubing used in home water lines, is short for what?

The cross-linking greatly improves impact strength and resistance to stress cracking compared with ordinary polyethylene.

White plumber's tape wrapped around threaded joints is made of which material?

The same fluoropolymer is sold under the Teflon name; the US military spec calls for at least 99 percent purity.

The Stillson wrench, the classic pipe wrench, was created by a mechanic at which Massachusetts firm?

Daniel Stillson licensed his design to many manufacturers, and the patent has long since expired.

The plumbing plunger was invented in 1874 by John Hawley, a New Yorker in what line of work?

The flattened rim was added two years later; the tool is also called a force cup or plumber's friend.

The 1933 Roto-Rooter rig was built from wagon wheels, a steel cable and the motor from what?

Samuel Blanc of Des Moines, Iowa cobbled it together after clearing a blocked sewer at his son's apartment.

The 'septic' in septic tank refers to what?

The tank provides only primary treatment; the liquid then flows to a drain field for more.

The Kohler company made its first bathtub in 1883 by applying enamel to what?

The Wisconsin firm had been founded ten years earlier by Austrian immigrant John Michael Kohler.

The Washlet, the electronic bidet seat found across Japan, is made by which company?

It launched in June 1980 and has sold more than 70 million units.

The word bidet originally referred to what in French?

The fixture took the name because of the straddling position used to sit on it.

The 1858 Great Stink, which drove Parliament to act on sewage, was caused by the smell of which river?

A hot summer cooked the untreated waste on the riverbanks until the stench reached the Commons.

Which engineer built London's main drainage system in response to the Great Stink?

His 82 miles of intercepting sewers ended the city's cholera outbreaks and gave London the Victoria, Chelsea and Albert Embankments.

The 2017 Whitechapel fatberg found under London weighed about how much?

It stretched more than 250 metres, was mostly wet wipes and cooking fat, and a chunk of it went on display at the Museum of London.

Fatbergs form when fat, oil and grease combine with what flushed item in particular?

The so-called flushable wipes do not break down, and utilities have run campaigns to keep them out of toilets.

The Tremont House in Boston, opened in 1829, is best remembered as the first hotel with what?

It had eight water closets on the ground floor and basement bathrooms with cold running water, plus free soap in every room.

The 2014 water crisis in Flint, Michigan began when the city switched its supply from Lake Huron to what?

Officials failed to add corrosion inhibitors, so lead leached from old pipes and exposed about 100,000 people.

Hard water, which leaves limescale, is rich in dissolved compounds of which two elements?

A water softener swaps those ions for sodium using an ion-exchange resin.

The US Energy Policy Act of 1992 capped new toilets at how many gallons per flush?

The low-flow mandate was widely mocked at first because early models often needed a second flush.

The dual-flush toilet was first put into practical production in 1980 by a company in which country?

Caroma's model used 11 and 5.5 litres, and the design is now near-universal in Australia and mandated in many countries.

John Hammes invented the garbage disposal in 1927; his company became known as what?

The company spent years persuading cities to lift bans on putting food waste down the drain.

A sump pump is typically installed where in a house?

It sits in a pit and pumps out groundwater or rain that collects below the water table.

In a medieval castle, the toilet was called a garderobe, a French word that literally means what?

The chute usually emptied into a cesspit or the moat, and people believed the ammonia kept moths out of the clothes stored there.

Rolled toilet tissue was popularised in 1890 by which American firm?

Paper had been used for hygiene in China since the sixth century, and Seth Wheeler patented the perforated roll in 1883.

A plumb bob, hung on a string to find true vertical, takes its name from the same root as plumber. Why?

It is a precursor of the spirit level and is still used to establish a vertical reference line.

In which year was the United Association, the plumbers and pipefitters' union, founded?

In the 1880s the pipe trades were split among plumbers, steamfitters and gas fitters, each with their own small unions.

The world's most famous fictional plumber, Mario, made his debut in which 1981 arcade game?

He was originally called Jumpman and was a carpenter; the plumbing career came with Mario Bros. in 1983.

'Joe the Plumber' became a household name after questioning which candidate about tax policy in 2008?

Samuel Wurzelbacher of Ohio was then cited repeatedly by the McCain campaign in the final debate.

World Toilet Day, a UN sanitation observance, falls on which date?

The UN estimates 3.4 billion people still lack safely managed sanitation.

The Neolithic village of Skara Brae in Orkney surprised archaeologists by having what in its stone houses?

The houses also had stone dressers and box beds, and the site is part of a UNESCO World Heritage listing.

In the ancient city of Mohenjo-daro, waste water from houses ran into what?

The city, built around 2500 BC, also had a Great Bath and wells for individual households.

Which ancient civilisation introduced clay sewer pipes around 4000 BCE, with early examples at Nippur?

The city of Uruk holds the oldest known brick latrines, built over fired-clay sewer pipes around 3200 BCE.

Copper piping appeared in Egypt by 2400 BCE, connecting a temple complex at Abusir to which pharaoh's pyramid?

The copper waste pipe is among the earliest metal plumbing known.

How did the Romans use inscriptions on lead pipes?

After Rome fell, water supply and sanitation stagnated or regressed for well over a thousand years.

Which BF Goodrich chemist developed a practical way to plasticise PVC in 1926?

PVC pipe went into production in the 1940s and was widely used rebuilding Germany and Japan after WWII.

Which pipe material was standard for US drinking-water lines from the late 1800s until about 1960?

Copper took over afterwards, first soft copper with flared fittings, then rigid tubing with soldered joints.

Since 1997, Norwegian rules on easy replacement of home plumbing have made which system a de facto standard?

New domestic plumbing must be easily accessible for replacement after installation.

Which 'premises plumbing pathogen', discovered in 1976, can grow in shower heads and water heaters?

Stagnation, warmth and low disinfectant levels favour such opportunistic bacteria in building pipes.

Which sizing system is used for PVC and galvanized steel plumbing lines?

Copper tube, CPVC and PEX are instead sized nominally, so half-inch PEX matches half-inch copper.