10 Plumbing Trivia Questions

At Pure Water Plumbing, we love sharing our knowledge with you to help make your family’s lives healthier and happier. We thought it might be fun to share some of our favorite plumbing trivia bits that you may or may not have already known. Play along!

1. Standardized plumbing can be traced back to around 3,000 B.C. when the Indus River Valley civilization used plumbing pipes made of what material to provide transportable water and drain wastes?

1. Woven grass coated with tar
2. Hardened earth
3. Hollowed out tree logs cured with sap

2. 50% of pharmaceuticals taken by people are excreted through urination. Therefore our sewer systems contain heavy dose of drugs.  

3. The flush-and-fill mechanism used in virtually all modern toilets was created for a hand-washing device by Turkish inventor al-Jazari in 1206 A.D.

• TRUE
• FALSE

4. King George II of Great Britain died falling off a toilet on the 25th of October 1760.

• TRUE
• FALSE

5. The modern flush toilet was invented by Thomas Crapper (1836-1910). It earned it’s colorful nickname, “The Crapper”, when English doughboys leaving for the trenches of WWI passing through London saw signs for Crapper’s successful plumbing company, and adopted his name as a slang term for it.

6. Who are the most famous plumbers ever, popularized by a well-known video game created in 1985?

7. Until the 18th century, European city dwellers used "chamber pots" to catch bodily wastes, then casually threw the contents into the public streets where they mixed with horse droppings. If you think today's cities smell bad, imagine London, Paris or Prague circa 1600.

• TRUE
• FALSE

8. When you flush a toilet in the Southern Hemisphere, the water flows the opposite direction.

9. In 1937, just a few years after graduating high school, Al Moen was inspired to invented a single-handled mixing faucet that can control hot and cold water in just one turn after burning his hands on a two-handled faucet. He succeeded in that effort in 1939.

• TRUE
• FALSE

10. It's been estimated that the average person visits the toilet six to eight times per day, spending a total of one whole year on the commode during their lifetime.

THE ANSWERS

1. The earliest plumbing pipes on record were made of earthen material.
2. The number, 50%, is false, but the rest is true. The correct answer is that 90% of pharmaceuticals are excreted through urination. A recent study by the EPA has found fish containing trace amounts of estrogen, cholesterol-lowering drugs, pain relievers, antibiotics, caffeine and even anti-depressants.
3. True
4. True
5. False. It is untrue that Crapper invented the modern toilet. He was, however, awarded numerous patents for improvements to the flush toilet and did much to popularize the device. The flushing toilet was invented by John Harrington in 1596, which is where we get the nickname “the John.”
6. Mario and Luigi, of the video game Super Mario Brothers. Since the game’s inception they have appeared in over 200 games.
7. True. The first public toilets appeared at London's Crystal Palace in 1851. They were also the first-known "pay toilets," as patrons were charged a penny for their use. ("To spend a penny" thus became English slang for using the toilet.) It wasn't until the late 19th century when the germ theory of disease finally took hold that urban planners rushed to install sewer and clean water systems in their communities. The modern closed tank and bowl didn't start to replace the older elevated tank design until around 1910.
8. False. It’s possible for the water to flow either direction in either hemisphere.
9. True
10. False. If you do the math, you’ll discover that the average person actually spends THREE whole years on the toilet over the span of their life!

Pure Water Plumbing is proud of our reputation for providing high-quality service, customer satisfaction, and a variety of offerings to choose from. We offer a broad range of services, from commercial and residential plumbing, to water heater installation and repair, and even bathroom remodeling. We work hard to meet and exceed your expectations. In addition to water filtration, Pure Water Plumbing does commercial and residential plumbing and bathroom remodeling.  We service Goodlettsville, Antioch, Bellevue, Brentwood, Clarksville, Columbia, Franklin, Gallatin, Greenbrier, Hendersonville, Hermitage, La Vergne, Lebanon, Madison, Mount Juliet, Nashville, Old Hickory, Smyrna, Spring Hill, and White House, Tennessee. Visit our website Here, or contact Pure Water Plumbing today at (615) 378-5091.