The electric in a bathroom is divided into zones, but basically touching distances so if you have a large enough bathroom you could have a socket but it would need to be + 3 metres away from the bath tub
I've always thought shower curtains were pretty standard in most British bathrooms, especially when it's the shower head in the bath scenario. Had one in the houses I grew up in and the last house my wife and I were in. The only reason I don't have one now is because I have a shower cubicle with an electric power shower as shown in the video. The water pressure actually pins you to the wall though so I can't agree with you about the dribbling flow I'm afraid. Not even going to touch on the taps because the subject has been done to death and goes round in circles that neither side agrees on. Personally I've not had separate taps in a house for over 30 years and when I do have to encounter them I have never found an issue with them. Good video 👍🏻
Yes, let's NOT talk about taps! Good to know about the shower curtains. I bet a lot of places don't want to have them because they get moldy (mouldy?). Very happy to hear that YOUR electric shower is powerful. Clearly I have had the misfortune to encounter too many wimpy electric showers ;-) Thanks so much for watching and commenting! XX Dara
Most of the observations on British water systems originated from the need to prevent water wastage, particularly in big cities. Many years ago most buildings, including houses, had to have cold water storage tanks to reduce overloading the water mains, only 'drinking water' taps were connected directly to the mains supply. This is why toilet flushing now has dual flush and electric showers are seen as a method of reducing water usage. The concealed flushing cistern is very common in continental Europe. The 'vintage' style bathroom is fashionable in restoration of older houses.
I have heard that the vintage bathrooms are popular and people install the sinks with separate taps so they have twee little sinks... but I just think they are very inconvenient. I heard about the separate hot and cold water thing a while ago... and have tried to avoid drinking hot water from the tap ever since! I do think dual flush toilets and electric showers are a good idea to reduce water usage. I just really do like powerful showers! Thanks so much for your comment! Cheers! XX Dara
I rent from a housing association, recently they decided the bathroom needed renovating. I now have a more powerful shower, a two flush toilet, new shower curtains, a new heater which turns off if I forget it's on and a sophisticated extractor fan which senses the humidity, turning itself on when needed.
Perfect! Extractor fans which automatically turn on with the switch and then turn off several minutes after the light is switched off are brill! And having a more powerful shower is the biggest blessing! Enjoy your new amenities! (Said in an American accent that sounds like aMENities not aMEANities... hahaha) Cheers! XX Dara
I think the two taps thing is an old-fashioned historical feature, and is gradually being replaced by single mixer taps in newer homes, which is ...A Good Thing! I agree with you. My own home has mixer taps only. Also I truly loath the shower/bath combo, whether it's a shower curtain (my pet hate, since who wants a wet shower curtain trying to hug you), or a shower door. I understand that it's a small British bathroom space issue, I have recently replaced my tub entirely with a walk-in wet-room, since we prefer showers to baths. They are more energy efficient too.
Yes, our flat only has showers no baths. It is more practical for us. Your wet shower curtain comment made me smile... haha! I am gobsmacked that when I visit a bathroom fixtures and fittings store in the UK you will still see brand new basins with separate taps! They are trying to be all vintage and twee and it's just silly and impractical!!!
In terms of toilet names, we more or less say the same thing but differently. The word toilet comes from the French and means to wash, similarly, the word lavatory comes from the Latin (lavabo) meaning, to wash. So lavatory and toilet are essentially the same as wash room/bathroom. The word, "heads" is a naval term, the toilets on old sailing vessels were located on the outside of ships near the bow (ie head of the ship) so that the bow waves would wash away offending matter.
The first time I used an American toilet, I thought I flooded it because of the high water level! Also flushing the fresh water pushes up, lower water level toilets the fresh water pushes down. Seeing the water going up in the bowl, I was horrified and thought there was something wrong!
Oh yes, I know what you mean. In my home growing up the water would sometimes come WAY up the side of the toilet bowl but then magically get pulled down with a huge vortex before overflowing all over the floor. I can imagine that made you panic the first time! Thanks for all your comments on my crazy video! Cheers! XX Dara
A sensitive subject, sensitively handled, I learned a lot. In Ireland they call it 'the jacks' - similar to the US 'john'. Virgin Trains had talking toilets on their trains, a recorded female voice said something like 'I used to be a public toilet, then I got this job, it was a come up in the world.' I think she went on to list the objects you may not put down the toilet on a train. Virgin lost the West Coast franchise, Avanti took over, I don't think they have Virgin's quirky sense of humour. I don't think you would find a talking toilet on an Amtrak train. :)
Thanks for your comment, Aidan... that is hilarious! I think Virgin trains have the same sense of humour as Soutwest Airlines in the US. I also did not know about John converting to Jack in Ireland... that is interesting!
@@MagentaOtterTravels That’s interesting! Ryanair can also be funny in their social media posts. And on the subject of toilets, there was a rumour Ryanair were going to charge for using the toilet in flight, but it was just a hoax! The historical comedy drama Blackadder has humorous references to ‘the privy’
Without further a-doo-doo 😉, I must say I loved this video. Soooo much great info. The two water faucets at the sink would drive me bonkers, for sure!! ❤️❤️❤️
It was a goofy vid, but thanks for washing! Honestly, the worst thing about the separate faucets is when you are washing your face... it is not convenient! But thankfully my flat has "mixer taps" as they are called ;-)
Yes, that really is the best way. In our flat in Cheltenham, we don’t have any bathtubs because there isn’t space. But we definitely prefer shower cubicles if we just have to choose one! Thanks so much for watching and commenting! Cheers! XX Dara
Shower curtains used to be more standard years ago. These days though most British bathrooms have the glass shower screen where it’s a shower above the bath. It’s seen as more modern, but I agree. The seals on the screens could be better!! Taps wise, again it’s an old legacy now. I hate separate taps!! I’m British and totally agree with you. It’s horrible. But I haven’t had separate taps for years. No new homes in the U.K. have separate taps. It’ll always be a mixer tap only. I am shocked that American bathrooms don’t have heated towel rails. It’s only recently I’ve realised how much a British thing heated towel rails are…
We really should have heated towel rails in the USA... they are fabulous! I would have LOVED that when I lived in Michigan or Illinois... truly cold places where in the winter you DREAD getting out of the shower! Separate taps are something I still see in really old public toilets and hotels and B&B's. But when makes me shake my head is when I NEWLY refurbished bathroom that has a basin with separate taps installed because they want it to look vintage. No thank you! Thanks so much for your comment! I hope you subscribe and stick around for more quirky commentaries on Britain and travel adventures through American eyes. Cheers! XX Dara
In the USA, any and all electrical outlets by water must be protected by GFCIs to prevent shocks. It cuts off power faster than you can blink. Furthetmore, any device that is used in a bathroom must also have a GFCI at the plug end of the power cord, just in case one isn't provded in the wall power wiring. Just because it's 120V doesn't mean the electric shock is less nasty. It's quite nasty...!
We loved your footage in Massachusetts, Dara and Ian. How appropriate to include the H school in your toilet video trailer! (Just kidding!) We love Massachusetts except the traffic of Boston. Loved how you showed some of the public transport available. It's beautiful all along the coast! We need to be checking out some of your other New England footage and are looking forward to tomorrows premier!
As a British Citizen living in the UK the British Bathroom has many advantages but also some major disadvantages over the US equivalents - the advantages is the concealed toilet stalls in public toilet/restrooms, the vintage toilets still in use in some areas like the High Tank Chain Operated ones (also the new replicas you can also buy to do a bathroom up in the old Victorian/Edwardian 1880-1910's style), the dual flush controls on modern toilets (as long as the valve mechanism is a good quality one - the Fluidmasters (which is a US company making parts for our toilets in this country) are the best) and that we still use 6 Litres (1.6 Gallons in US terms) for the full flush (I still like the traditional flush handle for replica vintage style Tank Top toilets (we call them CC Toilets = Coupled Cistern "Cistern is another word for a toilet tank here in the UK") which now can be used on a Dual Flush System). other advantages include not having electrical outlets in the bathroom (for safety reasons as our voltage is higher) and having the light switch outside. The disadvantages is that our sinks/basins are smaller (especially the new modern ones which are so tiny they are very impractical - I will keep my older larger basin/sinks in use even when I renovate my 2 bathrooms in the coming years), the electric showers I don't like myself (my old house had one which was rather useless), the modern minimalist square shaped toilet bowls (I hate them - very uncomfortable to sit on - round bowls are best which the US toilets have an advantage being round or oval/elongated) and also the low water level in the toilet bowl (common feature on our Washdown Toilets here and in Europe) which means you have to brush the toilet bowl after every other use (the US Siphonic Type does have a major advantage over ours and I do kind of prefer the Siphonic Type especially for commercial toilets working on a Flushometer Valve as our modern commercial toilets are prone to clogging with their rather weak flushes - why I like the older more vintage ones (the High Tanks) still in use as they don't). *We used to have a UK Spec Siphonic Toilet pre 2000 which had a higher water level in bowl and was very quiet with powerful siphonic suction (called a Twin Trap Or Double Trap as they had two trapways in the bowl which used a Aspirator Device between the tank and bowl to start the siphoning upon flushing) - it's a shame that they are no longer made but they should be brought back so UK consumers have a choice between Washdown & Siphonic again but improved/redesigned (maybe using a US style Siphon Jet instead of the Aspirator) so they work using the modern Dual Flush Controls which the originals don't!
You know a lot about plumbing! Very interesting! Thanks for your comment. I agree about the size of the basins in the bathrooms... the current thing in British homes seems to be putting TINY basins in the cloak rooms (powder rooms) which are the size of the basin you'd find in an airplane lavatory. They are so small you cannot wash your hands without getting water everywhere! Thanks again for your thorough comment! Cheers! Dara
I have done a few bathroom renovations (in previous house and parents) using some help from my father who has taught me plumbing and by doing research on fixtures like the two types of flush toilet, so yes I do know a lot about the subject with the pros and cons with certain types of fixture - as well as my own personal preference of what works for me (certainly NOT minimalist as I loathe those square toilet fixtures as I cannot get on with them of experience of using them in some ultra modern hotels in the UK and Europe). Yes those tiny sink/basins are a real pain (I have stayed round friends which have them - which you cannot wash your hands or anything else in fact) it is lucky that I have a larger one in my cloakroom (powder room - half/semi bathroom) as well as in my main bathroom and master bedroom ensuite - they will be retained when I renovate these rooms in my current home over the next year or two!
The residential double trap syphonic terlit (southern slang) has made it's appearance in the US now. It's the Niagara Conservation 0.8 gpf terlit. Nice powerful suction and quiet! But terrible bowl rinse. What do you expect when most of the water goes towards creating the suction and flush?
True as the suction is excellent but bowl rinse is not but the old British versions did have larger 2 to 3 Gallon tanks so at least there was some bowl rinse but quite weak!
I do appreciate a heated towel rack, but my all time favourite, having lived in Japan is the heated toilet seat. It's just the best on a cold winter's night and you can find heated toilet seats in public toilets as well. The Japanese were the inventors of that sink in the cistern, I found lots of old toilets with them. The first few times I was confused as they didn't have a tap, you flushed and water came out automatically, I wasn't sure if you washed your hands or just looked at it! The bathroom sink was in the other room so I always used that! The dual flush system was invented in Australia as a water saving feature, years ago people would put a brick in the cistern to reduce the amount of water being used. It's interesting that it has spread around the world now. I find it stranger to find a toilet which doesn't have a dual flush system.
Dual flush is brilliant. And so are Japanese toilets! I haven't been to Japan, but I worked for a Japanese ice cream company in Los Angeles for a year. They had a Japanese toilet and it was quite the thing!
I'm British and I sell bathrooms for a living, so I have plenty of opinions on this! Toilet cistern in the wall: the fittings are accessed either via a removable top on the shelf that contains the cistern, or by taking off the flush button plate, which is deliberately big enough to get a hand inside for maintenance. Handshower on the bath: It's pretty rare and strange to have a bathroom with only a bath and no proper stand-up shower (whether over the bath or separate). Not unheard of, but a bit odd. People don't sit in the bath and shower, they have a bath, and just use the handshower to rinse their hair after shampooing etc. Short shower screens: This is a European thing that we've taken on, traditionally shower curtains were much more common. You're right, they are inadequate. Electric showers: Yes, I HATE these. Not only is the water pressure atrocious, but they're also incredibly expensive to run. I'm not sure exactly why they exist, I think some people buy them because they're cheap up-front, but that minor initial saving is immediately obliterated by the extremely high cost of running them. It's a false economy. Separate hot and cold taps: This is a very old fashioned thing, to do with cross-contamination in older British domestic water systems. You're absolutely right, it's awful. Fortunately, new bathrooms practically always have mixer taps; I've been selling bathrooms for 20 years and I can count on one hand the number of times I've sold new separate hot and cold taps (literally! The total number of sets of hot and cold basin taps I've sold in two decades is exactly two, both to extremely elderly customers who'd had them all their lives and didn't want to change).
It's good to hear from an expert. As someone who's usually responsible for the repairs in our flat, it's nice to know that the toilet cistern is easily accessible. It's also a relief to know that most people remodeling their bathrooms aren't sticking with separate taps. I have noticed that over the years their prevalence is slowly decreasing. My wife is so particular about it that if we're looking to book a B&B she insists on asking about whether they have separate taps and if they do, she usually won't stay there. It's not as big of an issue to me but I can understand that a woman washing makeup off her face wouldn't want to deal with them.
Yay! I love hearing from experts! I'm just an opinionated American gal! haha I'm VERY glad to hear that cisterns in the wall can be accessed, and I also heard from someone else that the systems are reliable and we probably won't need to fix ours! Thanks for explaining all the other points. Very logical... and very good to know! It was good to learn some things! Cheers! XX Dara
This was excellent! Your two years of research & prep really showed! Light-hearted and fun, but also factual and interesting. You must be so relieved to finally have the video out in the world! Sleep well tonight. 😊
Shower curtains are very common, I have one at home and every Premier Inn I've ever visited (and that's a lot!) have them as standard, but they seem to be regarded as "old fashioned" these days and bathroom companies always want to sell you a piece of toughened glass instead. As far as electric showers go, these are very variable. There are some really good models, and some pretty poor, but a lot depends upon the mains water pressure available. I've stayed in some older hotels where my room was the last one on the main and the flow was pathetic.
Yes, apparently not ALL electric showers are bad, but I've definitely used some weak ones! And same here, the hotel chains often use shower curtains because they are less expensive to install and replace than glass doors. They do get moldy (mouldy?) but they are usually white and they bleach them. Or replace them. Glass is expensive! We like Premier Inns as well... we booked a stay at one in Newcastle this summer, and Travelodge in London! Thanks for your comment! Cheers! XX Dara
The performance of electric showers has less to do with the pressure of the water going in (mains cold water pressure is generally pretty good), and more to do with the wattage of the shower itself, and thus the power of its heating element. A bad electric shower has a weak heating element, so can only heat water very slowly as it passes through. Result: Horribly poor water flow. A "better" electric shower has a higher-powered element, so can heat water faster and deliver more water flow. This leads on to another, less obvious disadvantage of electric showers though, which is how obscenely expensive they are to run. The electric meter seriously starts spinning like the wheels on a slot machine when you switch on an electric shower. I can't think of anything that eats electricity like it.
I have a shower curtain in my shower room. Electric showers work great but you need it hooked up to the mains supply directly otherwise the pressure can eb and flow if other users within the building are using water! You aren't allowed a light switch inside the bathroom as it's considered a safety issue for people that could have wet hands. It must be either outside or a pull cord inside I'm afraid. Tanks built into the wall are not normal. A cistern behind the toilet that you can lift the top off for emergencies is more normal. The seperate taps are a throw back to when water tanks with hot water in lofts /attics gained foriegn objects that made a lot of people ill with lysteria! So they seperated the cold water that is pure from the mains water supply and the stored hot water in the tank. No longer an issue today but many places keep the tradition!
Ever since I heard about the lifesteria thing, I have been careful to not drink hot tap water 😉 Thanks so much for watching and taking the time to comment! Cheers! XX Dara
That's quite a lot of bathroom research haha! So the separate taps is the most noticeable and inconvenient to me for sure. My Ian's older UK home has separate taps and to wash my face in the sink, I make a quick dash to fill my hands up with cold water first and then add some hot and then quickly wash my face with the water that I hope I was able to mix to the perfect temperature. It is quite the ordeal and something I definitely side with America on lol.
Yes, it is an art when it comes to face washing! When you move there, you'll have to be a good English woman and put the plug in and mix the water in the basin. I still don't see how that works for clean water though after you've washed your face??
I've spent 30+ years (unsuccessfully) defending British showers to visiting Americans. Hot and cold supplies are at different pressures (for boring, historic reasons) so a shower mixer doesn't work. The wall mounted electric showers you mention are a complete joke. The only half decent solution is to fit a shower pump, which takes hot and cold water and delivers both separately at high pressure to a regular shower mixer and then everything is fine......apart that is from the noise the shower pump makes. The only other solution is to completely re-plumb the property to have the hot water system at mains pressure like the cold. Modern houses are now mostly being plumbed that way.
That's so interesting! Thanks for explaining that. Our Cheltenham flat was probably re-plumbed when they converted the Victorian home into flats and added a shower room in our bedroom. All I know is that it gets hot water fast and the pressure is good! Better than our shower in Texas for sure. Thanks for your comment! Dara
I'm with you Dara... those pull-chain lights are a no-go for me. But wow oh wow would I ever love a towel warming rack! This was fantastic to see! Thank you my friend!
I agree! Give me a normal light switch... and a nice hot towel in a warm bathroom ;-) I bet you get some frosty days in the bathrooms in Toronto! THANK YOU SO MUCH for joining the premiere! That really meant a lot to me!
I do not like push button flush. For people with hand weakness the buttons are nearly imperceptible to push down. Then there ‘s the question of sanitation. Think- invisible fecal matter could be on finger tip, push button down, finger tip grazes side of flush mechanism. Button pops up into position, fecal bacteria proliferate, next person’s finger grazes side wall -- nasty. Simple flipper, push down with any body part , to sanitize - spray
I agree with you. We have a toilet in England where the push button is REALLY hard to push on, and when I was having wrist problems last year I hated that it was difficult just to flush the commode!
Another brilliant idea for a video! I had no idea there were so many differences. I totally agree about the silly doors with the gaps. Is that supposed to help ventilation? Ridiculous. Do the Scottish have detailed instructions for all sorts of things, or just bathrooms? I've never seen a sink on top of a toilet before!
I'm certain the person in charge of the Scottish bathroom is very "unique" and not the Scottish norm! I didn't see that anywhere else, LOL! There is no excuse for the door gaps in the US! It's not ventilation. I think it is just being cheap. Sparing materials and scrimping on labour costs. At the expense of privacy! Thanks for watching and commenting! Cheers! XX Dara
@@MagentaOtterTravels Dara it is a pleasure. I am glad to have connected with you. You have a great channel and Kim and I would love to meet up for a natter. She has subbed you by the way. Kimspics 59 She is the photography branch of the outfit. 👍🏻. Take care and maybe catch you when you are back in Gloucestershire. 🙏🏻🚶🏻♂️🚶♀️
@@WanderingwithWatto yes, I just discovered Kim today and subbed to her channel too! Let's do try to meet up for a wander and a pub visit when we are in Gloucestershire! Cheers! XX Dara
Hi Dara, Another thing that I hate about British toilets is that when you flush it sounds as if a rocket has launched in your house. They are so loud. I think it is because they are older,but sometimes I think something is wrong with them
You're right. That's a good observation. The really old ones that have the raised tanks are particularly noisy. I think some of the new ones flush loudly but it's because they are designed to use very little water and therefore have to suck out the contents forcefully to properly clear.
Hi Norwegian! Yes, they can be loud! Just like the commercial toilets in public restrooms in the USA. I think it is just a more powerful flushing system. The public toilets in the states often scare young children!
I agree I don’t like shower doors unless they are on a shower cubicle. I have always had a shower curtain over the bath. With a lower water level in the toilet you don’t get splash back although yes it can be messier hence the toilet brush. British toilets rarely clog unless you use half a roll of loo paper, which happens in some public loos because there are some weird people out there. I don’t have any single taps in my house and most new houses don’t have them. I don’t mind them on the bath but don’t like them on the sink. I have an electric shower and the water pressure is good, in fact that is the reason I had it put in. Also the reason for having a hand held shower over the bath is just to wash your hair not to have a full shower.
Thank you so much for watching and taking the time to leave such a thorough comment! I think I've just had some wimpy electric showers... others have said that they can have good pressure. I hope you check out some of my other videos, like this recent one about eating English food favourites with my friend. It's pretty fun ;-) ua-cam.com/video/oLRiqFRfyqY/v-deo.html Cheers! Dara
I love this topic, I've been obsessed with bathrooms in my travels for years! I've learnt to be bilingual when it comes to finding bathrooms in my travels. The UK really has the most terms with loo, public conveniences, WC and the general toilets. You can still find lavatory as well. The US I found that it was mainly bathroom (if in a private home) and restroom in public places. Canada I had to switch from restroom to washroom. Australia and NZ it's always toilet, I think that's mainly because the room with the toilet in most homes is a separate room, if you ask for the bathroom you'll get shown to the room with a shower, bath and sink, no toilet. That does lead to some confusion!
Wow, that would be confusing! I have found that I am most successful if I always say "restroom" in the US and always say "toilet" literally everywhere else in the world! Even if I don't know the language, many languages have a world for toilet that is close enough... or people in other countries at least know the English word ;-)
Oh yay, I thought I'd missed the premiere!! It's tomorrow!! 😅 I'm looking forward to seeing this bathroom comparison video that's been a full 2 years in the making! 🤗 Great trailer for your channel! 💖
the two tap thing stemmed from not cross contaminating the water as hot water came from a cistern usually located in the loft or ceiling space and the cold water straight from the mains for drinking , however as time has gone on all new builds and refurbishments tend to go with the mixer tap now
Sorry to miss your live premiere - stuck in heavy school traffic! What a great appraisal of American and British bathrooms; I laughed like a drain! Such fun! So worth watching! OK: you get a double 'aaargh' for trailing your hairdrier flex over the handbasin; double ticks for loathing small handbasins (big enough only for three year olds); double ticks for preferring mixer taps (when do you need two taps?); treble ticks for shower enclosures (shower curtains soon get gucky and ought to be banned!); treble ticks also for electric showers (simply, they're a misnomer - electric dribbles would describe them better); and to access a tank in the wall, you have a battle to dislodge the white panels concealing the tank, only to find they refuse to go back again! What will you compare next....?
I’m so happy to hear that you enjoyed the video! Thank you for your thoughtful comments! There are two topics for which I have been compiling photos for two years. One was the bathroom thing, the other is a video about how much Britons love their dogs 🐶 ❤️… No idea when I will finally publish that one! I have two comparison videos coming up over the next two weeks in which I compare US and UK supermarkets! So, those are the next comparison videos 😉
I was kicked out of the chat at the end, but just wanted to say this was such a fun video to watch and you nailed all the points perfectly! So true!! 😻😻
No worries. I purposely do abrupt endings to help my retention ;-) THANK YOU SO MUCH for joining the live chat. It was so great to have all the banter in the potty party this morning! And as a North American transplant to the UK, I'm glad you could relate to my observations ;-)
Dara, regarding the bad points, such as the curved bath with the tiny shower, I think this is just fashion, albeit daft fashion. You didn't mention the American way of having a clear glass big window usually behind the bath. I have seen these in many new-builds in the USA. A bjg clear window in the bathroom? Whg?
Hi Kim! Are you Watto's wife? Nice to meet you! Hope to meet you IRL this summer! I appreciate you joining the chat... it was a silly topic that I clearly have thought about WAY too much! LOL
Hello Dara. Another interesting video with delicate subject matter dealt with care. When I was young, a long time ago, our house had the really old fashioned high cisterns in the toilets. The pull cord was usually a chain and we still remind children to “Pull the chain” when they leave the toilet. The cistern being high also gave the flushing water more force, i.e. gravity assisted water pressure! In Wales, typically the loo is called “Ty Bach” from when it used to be outside at the end of the garden, a very popular time for potties, or a Gazunder for “goes under”. Ty is Welsh for House, and Bach is Small, hence Small House! P.S. You will sometimes hear people saying “I’m going too see a man about a dog” when they are off to the loo.
Thanks for your comment, Peter! Glad to know I haven't lost you ;-) I appreciate your comment about "seeing a man about a dog"... so curious that here we say HORSE! haha Cheers! XX Dara
@@Poliss95 the cottage Ian inherited was literally falling down. But it was in a BEAUTIFUL location in Somerset. He sold it at auction because there was no way we could have renovated it.
@@jillhobson6128 that is a funny name. Yes, I always hated that part of camping in cold weather. Being there in my tent in a warm sleeping bag but needing to pee… and knowing it meant walking across the campground in the dark and cold to the toilets. I really appreciate indoor plumbing!
Well, it is something EVERYONE uses... but yes, normal people don't talk about it as much as I just did! haha Thank you very much for joining!! XX Dara
Hehe enjoyed this 😃 Loved the Dallas Airport idea, that was genius and I have to agree with you that tiny sinks and two taps are not good! Have a great weekend Dara 🙂💜
Thanks so much, Ana and Alf! I hope you appreciated the fact I included Wales in my analysis ❤️🏴. That Marriott we stayed at near Chepstow was fabulous!
American viewers .... please note that a Toilet Brush is not an alternative to wiping with paper. lol Head is not a rude word, it is what the toilet is called in the Navy, both in the UK and America. John is not rude either, as it comes from the English inventor for the "U bend" John Crapper. slang names in the UK are ... reading room, throne room, sh1tter, Crapper or outhouse. the light switch is on the outside of bathrooms in the UK, as for you not to use them with wet hands. hence why we have string pullcords inside bathrooms, as they do not conduct electricity. if the cord is getting dirty. you may need to remind people to wash their hands after using the toilet. lol you have a choice of 3 cisterns in the UK. there is the high level cistern (the one you called old fashioned), the close coupled cistern or concealed cistern. the high level one is better, as it has more force due to gravity (sounds like you need them in the good old U.S of A). the concealed cistern will always have a hidden access panel that can be removed to change the ball float or syphon. the ones you showed, the shelve above could be removed. most modern British bathrooms are now "Tanked". which means the whole bathroom floor is just one big shower tray. the thing you are calling a hand-held shower, is actually a hair-rinser. it is meant to be used while sat in the tub or you just lean over the side if you only want to wash your hair without showering. so it is a good idea really. electric showers are no different to any instant water heater. but depending on the water pressure, a pump may be needed. you can not scold your skin in boiling water, when using a basin's hot tap. as the max temperature is 78 degrees on all hot water cylinders in the UK. sorry for knit picking, but I was a plumber for 30yrs. lol
@@Poliss95 sounds like you have a faulty thermostat or is your water coming directly from a boiler, rather than a hot water cylinder/instant water heater.
Can we just pause for a moment to marvel once again at the fact that the inventor of the toilet was named JOHN CRAPPER? I mean, that truly is a gem of a historical trivia fact. Always enjoyed that one. I don't see why we can't have a light switch inside the bathroom and wash AND DRY our hands after using the loo... before turning off the light? I have decided that next 1 April I'm going to be in Britain... and in the morning (since apparently you told me noon is the deadline for pranks) I'm going to run around and turn off the lights from the outside whilst everyone who is using the bathroom! hee hee I'm so fascinated to hear that you were a plumber! I didn't know that! I don't mind people being knit pickers or pedants on my channel... I find it amusing! Have you heard this euphemism after someone has spent all night on a pub crawl and is sick afterwards... that they are "praying to the porcelain gods"?
@@MagentaOtterTravels John Crapper didn't invent the toilet, just the U bend. as previously they was made with a S bend. yes I had heard of that saying for being sick. we also have "pointing Percy at the porcelain" for a male having a wee. lol
2 buttons are catching on in the USA as water saving becomes a thing. The water saver toilets in the US are not as good as the ones that use more water.... more water means more head of water (pressure). Fun video
It’s really weird how American public toilets have these huge gaps in the doors whilst the authorities deem the word Toilet to be too “offensive” to use ! In Costco you buy Bathroom Paper instead of Toilet Paper in the U.K. ! With a Bog being slang for Loo we also use Bog Paper or Bog Roll !
I've heard of loo roll and bog roll, but never bathroom paper! I'll have to look out for that one if I get to Costco in Bristol this summer! Thanks for your comment, Philip! Cheers! XX Dara
@@ians3586 U.K. Costco imports nearly all its stuff from the US where it’s called bathroom paper; whether the U.K. sometimes stocks Toilet paper made here I’m not sure.
@@MagentaOtterTravels U.K. Costco imports a lot of stuff from the US where it’s called Bathroom paper; whether the U.K. Costco sometimes stocks Toilet paper made here I’m not sure.
@@philipmason9537 I was in a Costco in Leeds years ago. I was surprised to see that they had the exact same things as in the US! Not only American peanut butter, for example, but also the bakery had the exact same chocolate cakes, which were baked there obviously, not imported! ❤️😋
Electric showers vary with cost. A good quality electric shower will give a good shower. UK toilets work much better than US version so to block one needs a rather unusual "event" 🙃
The UK bathrooms you show look mostly like holiday bathrooms/toilets. The only time I have encountered small sinks in UK households is in second toilets which are often fitted into a tight space like under the stairs. I'm very tall so I hate those little toilets. My current toilet is terrible for flushing. Five flushes on average to clear the morning's business. It's a bad design of toilet which doesn't flush the water in the right place. I will change it when I get around to it. Generally I don't have any bad flushing experiences in UK. Our free public toilets are being replaced with paid toilets. As a result there are more people using the local bus stops and trees instead in the evenings. I don't use them toilets. I think they are just trying to cash in on the holiday makers as we are in a holiday area. I would rather support local business by buying a coffee to use a toilet. What an interesting topic :-) Interesting to learn about the USA toilets. I found the toilets in France and Belgium to be cleaner than most of the UK toilets. Better coffee in their cafes, too ;-) I don't like mains power in a bathroom. I saw mains outlets, also 240V, in Belgium bathrooms.
Thanks so much for your comment! I hope you subscribe and stick around for more quirky observations from this American Anglophile! I totally understand what you mean about the tiny sinks, BUT... I have to tell you a story. We almost bought a flat in Fairford, a delightful town on the edge of the Cotswolds. The home was a disused police station! Online it looked beautiful, and we were THRILLED to discover it. Then we had some friends go see it in person for us (we were in Texas at the time). Though the master bedroom looked great on the floor plan, there was no way to fit even a double bed into the room and still have an adult human stand upright in the room and walk around the bed. It had a severely sloping ceiling. You would have hated it! And equally bad, the "master en suite" was a tiny room with a shower, a toilet and one of those wee little basins! There is NO WAY I could have washed my face in that every night. And us trying to brush our teeth would have also been tricky. Glad we avoided that purchase! Have a great week. Cheers! XX Dara
@@MagentaOtterTravels I've been a subscriber since you visited Imo in Wales some time ago. I'm in Wales but started following Imo a long time ago when I was looking into home education. I, too hate the tiny basins. I am over six foot tall and have large hands. I grew up in South Africa where living space and holiday space is a lot bigger. I have a king size bed in my bedroom with one large wardrobe along the only the only wall it will fit, and it happens to be in front of the radiator, so that is blocked from being inefficient. Just enough room to shuffle around the bed to the other side. Very small bedside cabinets. They do like to pack us in like sardines in UK! I miss having decent size storage, a dining room, a laundry room, and a study. All those were were pretty basic things to have in South Africa, plus the swimming pol and many friends had a bar as well. Also usually an outbuilding with its own bathroom for a maid or the retired parents. That sort of place would be a real luxury in UK. You also mentioned the taps, yes they are so old fashioned in UK, even in the new houses. Why don't the showers have a thermostat fitted to regulate the temperature of the water? It seems to be a luxury extra here. Anyway, must stop moaning ;-) Better not get on to the British kitchens...
@@MagentaOtterTravels absolutely fantastic video! The two years of prep and research are so evident. Absolutely hilarious. We do see some very different bathrooms and signage. Will start cataloging them now. Brilliant idea! Huge like from us! ♥️
@@GENerationXplorers I don't do premieres very often. Too stressful! And I realise a lot of people aren't available at the time my videos drop. But it is a good way to get UA-cam to promote my videos a bit more. I was chuffed that this one was 1 of 10 after MANY WEEKS of every video being 10 of 10!!! thanks very much for your support! Cheers! XX Dara
Shower curtains or fully enclosed doors are what I need... otherwise it's water everywhere! haha Thanks for watching and commenting, Cara! Cheers! XX Dara
It takes only a few seconds to wash your hands so why not use cold water? We have a large walk-in shower cubicle, so don't need curtains or door. There are two shower heads, a larger one near the ceiling and a smaller one that can be hand held.
This should be fun! I do NOT miss the crazy shower Lake District flat that had that glass shield that only covers half the tub so water just goes everywhere 😱
The last two years have been really bad! During the pandemic so many businesses and public locations just couldn’t or didn’t want to go to the extra work of keeping restrooms open during the pandemic.
Agree. That's the only thing we've found that's really an annoyance. Dara's gotten so particular about it that when we are looking for places to stay in the UK, the only question she asks proprietors before booking is whether they have separate taps or not.
Many Britons are VERY defensive about the separate taps... which is why I left that point till last. I hoping the trolls don't watch that much of my video LOL... they never do. They just click on the thumbnail and leave nastygrams ;-) Thanks for showing up for the potty party today, Christian!
The good, the bad, and the different! Now we'll have that music in our head all day -- not that we mind one bit. Had zero idea about the 2 button system, but that is FAR superior to our version! And who wouldn't want a warmed towel? Now we're super jealous! Those signs are freaking hilarious, especially the "no" part of flush, flush again. We'll never understand why a person would use a toilet this way -- they're afraid of cooties so the solution is to blast cooties everywhere for the next person? This video is even more epic than we expected, and we're loving every minute of it!
Thanks so much Drew and Jen!!! The signs WERE hilarious! I can't get over the picture of the bent over human spraying poo everywhere... how gross!!! But yes, heated towels on a cold morning are the BEST! Thanks so much for watching, I really appreciate it! XX Dara
Yes! Now I know what the 2 buttons on a toilet are for! As for tiny bathrooms, there is a very tiny one behind Burton’s Restaurant in the town of Battle. It also has a changing table and hot air dryer included. Very ingenious! Tub surrounds that don’t surround……we also experienced water everywhere. LOVE those towel racks!!! Great for traveling when one has to do a bit of laundry that will be dry by the next day. I noticed a lot of bathtubs had no grab bars, very high sides, and a very curved, slippery bottom. I used my wash cloth to stand on because I just did not want to fall. (I took my own washcloth because we were told hotels did not provide them). Our travel group of 8 were all over the age of 60 and we had to be so careful in those tubs with no grab bars. Oh yes, the water fixtures in the shower…..trying to figure out how to get the right temperature as well as adjusting the water flow let me with a few shocking, cold showers! ❤️
Yes, you have encountered many of the things I talked about! ;-) Funny that you used your flannel (washcloth) as a non-stick mat in the shower. I bought non-slip stickers and applied them to the bottom of my shower in Cheltenham. It was slippery as well! Thankfully, I have a shower door that fully closes! haha Thanks for your comments, Ruth! Have a great weekend!
I remember my first experience of a auto flush toilet!! JFK 1993 - scared the 💩 out of me!! Loved the video, loved the chat. Wills would have loved this, he has toilet gags for days!!! 🍻
Please tell Wills to watch when he has a minute... I'd love him to drop his crappy jokes in the comment section! Thanks so much for watching, Rach! Cheers! XX Dara
We never say powder room. it's usually called a toilet, perhaps sometimes a cloakroom if it's downstairs. Americans seem to have thing about calling a room a toilet!
Fun and interesting, Dara. Well worth ALL the effort and time you put into this one. I thought of another question for you regarding your experiences with public washrooms here and abroad: What about paper towels vs. the blower-type dryers for your hands? I have mixed feelings on this; each option has its pros and cons, but one of my pet peeves are the blower ones that turn off too quickly, because they aren't the motion-detecting type, and my hands are never dry enough, so I have to keep turning it back on! Just wondering what your findings have been in the US vs. the UK. 👋😄
I see more air dryers here in the US than the UK. Although in a REALLY old video I did in Cheltenham about a pizza restaurant in a church, I show that the hand dryer was an air dryer from ILLINOIS!!! That is unusual. However, you do see Dyson dryers on occasion. I personally prefer the towels. I hate the paper waste, but I'm such a germaphobe, I want to have those paper towels for turning off taps and opening the bathroom door! Thanks so much for watching and commenting!
@@MagentaOtterTravels At one time, all the hand dryers were from Berkeley Illinois. so common that I remember the name and don't think you saw any other make.
@@jillhobson6128 Yes, I think they had a monopoly on the market at one point. Dyson and similar high powered dryers have given them a run for their money. BTW Dara grew up in Illinois and Bobby lives there.
I couldn't go past this one without commenting. 😁 It's a dunny or the bog in Australia 😁 Public toilets (as we call them most often) are a mixture of the US and UK facilities. I've never seen a US style dunny though (the high water thing). Most toilets are double flush these days. Same with in home bathrooms - light switches and power points everywhere - except right next to the toilet (I'll get back to that 😄). Most showers are fully enclosed cubicles. A combo show bath might have a curtain or one of those stupid half doors though. If you want to use the very best toilets in the world go to Japan (although I have started seeing them appear here too). The are like the command chair of the Enterprise. There will be a control panel on the wall (or on the toilet itself) to control all sorts of things. Like, adjustable bidet controls - front and back, intensity, the temperature of the water. The seat will be heated for sure. Some will have a warm drying fan air blower thing. Some public toilets play the sound of running water while you're sitting to avoid embarrassment. Many will have sink over the cistern. The seat lid will raise automatically as you enter the room. It is wonderful. I even went on a tv game show once (Who Wants to be a Millionaire) and we were asked to list what we'd do with the money. I jokingly said "buy a Japanese toilet". So as you can imagine when we were in the introduce the contestant phase of the show the host just wanted to talk about Japanese toilets. 😂😂 The unfortunate thing in most bathrooms, toilets, powder rooms, here in Oz there is no power point next to the toilet. Japanese toilets need power so it would be a big job to install one 😂😂 Even now people still ask, did I buy a Japanese toilet. 🤣 PS When I was a kid we grew up (for the first 7 or 8 years of my life) with good old fashioned outhouse drop dunny. Wooden seat and a stinky deep hole in the ground. I had nightmares about falling in. 😂😂
How fun that you were on Millionaire! Did you win anything? I worked for a Japanese ice cream company... the toilet at the headquarters was great! haha Thanks for sharing all the fun facts about the dunny! Cheers! Dara
95% of the sanitary installations I have specified have operated the ventilation fan with a detector rather than the lightswitch because you cannot guarantee that the light switch will be used especially if the bathroom has a window. In UK and most of Europe the WC cubicle door in public and commercial premises is designed to fall open and has to be purposefully closed and locked so at a glance if a cubicle is vacant the door will be open - no need for lights. Small wash basins (not sinks - they are in kitchens and utility rooms) are used in small spaces and are really only for hand rinsing and are invariably only found in single cubicle toilets. The wash basin in the bathroom will be full size. Shower curtains are the cheap solution to protect from splashing when using a bath for showers. The issue with curtains is that when wet they cling uncomfortably to the skin especially if you are of a large frame. At my home we have (two) separate showers, ones with a glass cubicle and the other with a glass deflector screen to the flush entry shower. The hand held shower unit is for incidental use and for cleaning Electric shower units are a cheap installation that doesn't require additional hot water circuits and will be of use where the static pressure head of the HW/CW is too low to give adequate flow. Electric showers often rely on mains cold water pressure to function. The water delivery is usually pathetic and to get a half decent flow requires a very large power supply ~13+Kw. Pull cord light switches are a safety feature where the switching is in the bathroom. The pull cord switch is mounted on the ceiling so is out of the way of wet hands and splashes. Access to concealed toilet cisterns is not a problem. If the access is not noticeable it is well designed. As you said previously, UK toilets are very reliable. We have one concealed toilet in our bathroom that has been insitu for 30+years and has never been inspected in all that time as it functions perfectly. I also doubt that the loo brush is ever used, we always use bleach that does the job without handling anything. Also, the latest WCs are super slippery so nothing sticks to the side for long. Separate taps were a Water Council requirement as the cold tap will be mains fed because it is potable i.e. drinking water and the hot water was tank fed and there was a fear of cross contamination from the less sanitary hot into the cold. Currently, due to EU standardisation we can and do specify regularly single block mixer taps. Also, the latest Regs require the hot hap to be a blended supply that is no hotter than 40degC so as not to scald the user, so is perfect for hand washing. The hot water stored in the tank will be 60-65degC to prevent Legionella.
Ah, this is the first time I've seen the separate taps properly explained, that being that the water coming from the tank wouldn't necessarily be potable and so it was a safety issue. Doesn't make the separate taps any less annoying but at least I now understand the reasoning behind them. I do think concealed toilet cisterns look much nicer and it's good to hear they are usually very reliable. Nice to hear from an expert on all these issues.
Thank you so much for your detailed response Mr Williams! I sure learnt a LOT about toilets! And yet another language difference... sink vs. basin. We almost bought a home in Fairford that was a converted police station. The master bathroom had one of those tiny basins in the en suite. It had a shower, a toilet and a tiny basin. It would NOT have worked well for daily face washing and teeth brushing and the like! But there were a number of issues with that place, as cool as it was conceptually. I'm going to do a video about it one of these days!! Cheers! XX Dara
@@MagentaOtterTravels I don't think the sinks/basin understanding is a language thing as in the UK we also often call the wash hand basin a sink its just that the inaccuracy has been perpetuated. It seems that the Fairford en-suite is a design failure and I would never consider a hand rinse basin being suitable as an installation in an en-suite, it would not be suitable for a caravan, where space is definitely at a premium. I look forward to the video.
@@Poliss95 Shower mixers have to have balanced pressures so that both the hot and the cold are fed from the same cold water storage tank therefore, one side cannot contaminate the other.. The separate taps are for mains cold water that is potable i.e. drinking water and hot water that is fed from tank storage, which should not be drunk. You cannot use mains cold water on a shower mixer as the pressure in the mains will fluctuate and therefore so will the temperature of the shower that could lead to scalding even if it is thermostatic.
Great vid. Informative, and fun. Think I'll stick with UK toilets though. I could live with most things toilet wise in the US, but for the door situation. What designer/architect, thought that a good idea, my mind boggles. One thing you forgot though re UK toilets... They kick stated about 90% of British comedy 🙂
John!!! So good to hear from you! I've missed you! Yes, I agree... Britons do enjoy some toilet humour. Which is why I'm hoping this video gets some clicks and revives my "clogged" channel ... gets some views flowing again ;-) Thanks so much for watching and commenting! Cheers! XX Dara
Not enough paper in the world for you,huh? 😂 I thought all the signs in that Scottish bathroom were hilarious! Thanks for watching, Tenisha! It’s so funny that you just made this comment because I was just sitting here thinking about you! Have a great day! ☀️ Dara
When you have a new flushing toilet fitted in the uk tell the plumber that you want access to the flushing mechanism, because they will often seal in your mechanism if you dont give them specific instructions…i think they box you in so that when it goes kaput ,you need professional help and its not just a quick B andQ visit for you..its a £50 call out fee and then charge for the fix on top..
@@MagentaOtterTravels if there’s a super duper bog on the market I.e. say a Japanese washer and dryer model you’ve been gagging for and your current bog is over 10 years old..now could be the time to call up your latrine guy, and save yourself a bunch of fifty’s as well..
@@MagentaOtterTravels I requested from my plumber guy..my design subway map of the pipes, gate valves on every pipe ,good access to hidden frozen pipes with fitted box lids,and a freely opening cistern lid..then if I get problems I can do something about it immediately instead of waiting a month and getting flooded out..some Milwaukee pipe grips in the emergency kit box.
The reasoning behind electric showers is you don't need a tank full of hot water, just heat as you use, also if the water pressure is low and the water tank is not located near the shower, other users will influence the temperature you shower at hot then cold then hot 😬
That is a good point. There are definitely advantages to having the water heated at source. We have an old valve in our bathroom wall and as a result you can't run water anywhere in the house while someone is showering. If you do you will freeze or scald them. It would take breaking into the wall to fix it so we've been living with it for awhile.
Another reason for the apparently low pressure is because the temperature of the water is controlled by varying the speed at which the water flows over the heating elements: the faster the water, the cooler it is. Most, if not all, power showers have a supposedly "economy" or "ecological" button that turns off one of the two heating elements to save power when the ambient temperature of the water in the mains is higher during the warmer months, but this means that you have to turn down the heat dial to get the same heat that you want, and this in turn means lower pressure. Power showers are a useful way of putting shower facilities in a traditional British home without incurring major works to the hot water system, but they have their disadvantages! Any demand on the mains water elsewhere in the building (eg other showers, washing machines, etc) is likely to lower the pressure and so make the shower water hotter.
@@MagentaOtterTravels I like those motels around the Albert dock in Liverpool..they’re very pleasant..but Southport front hotels have that beach vibe and the town is so sweet..
Oh that's great! Thanks for letting me know. Welcome to my channel! Here is a recent video you might want to check out: ua-cam.com/video/K4-QipQFzX8/v-deo.htmlsi=Wm7dgHi20q64y8wo Cheers! Dara
@@MagentaOtterTravels this is the "bathroom" / toilet thing, bathroom ( with bath/shower ) must Not have accessible electric points in reach of the bath/shower just to protect the young and stupid, the Toilet/WC/Cloakroom ect. can have a light switch wall mounted, but not within 600mm 2ft of a sink or "splash zone" , of course the circuits in these rooms should be protected by a Residual Current Device offering protection to no greater than 30mA ( milli Amps ) ( you probably know this as GFI in the US ) Hope your bathroom remodeling goes well with all this free information 😉👍
@@MagentaOtterTravels Steam condenses into water, it can condense on light switches and into the switch fitting itself, so having dry hands wouldn't make any difference.
I’ve just had a fan light installed in my bathroom in the uk…but I’ve inserted an isolator switch on the fan..so i can have fan auto operation or i can override it..and just have the light.. But our electricians avoid the extra work of putting an isolator switch in if the customer doesn’t mention it… Do you really want that whirring sound going on if you just want to brush your teeth? And incurring electric wastage.. Electricity is a valuable commodity now…times 60 million homes is a massive waste..worldwide i rest my case.
I hear you. But we have pretty bad issues with damp in our hall "bathroom" (shower room)... I wondered if forcing the fan was a good idea? But there's a kill switch above the door that tenants can switch off if they hate the perpetual fan ;-)
@@MagentaOtterTravels then I would hide the kill switch , in the loft, so that the tenants don’t get a choice.. my piece de resistance would then be a flush wall fitted de humidifier..to eradicate the moist conditions..
Push button toilets are something that has only become common in Britain for the last 20 or 30 years. Personally I think that the older toilets with flush handles give a far better flush. You can still buy quality older toilets with handles. Pull cord light switches are very common and have been all of my life, for safety purposes. Personally I have no problem with them You can have any length cord you want. Not a problem to me. I have not lived in a house where the light switch is outside of the bathroom. Only Hotels. I am mystified, like most Brits, why Americans find that two taps on sinks are a problem. No problem at all. I grew up with them. No Brit would even think about it. Shower curtains are now a little outdated and most baths have screens over the side where there is a shower. Full stand up showers are much more common now. Shower curtains are not now thought of as very hygienic. They get dirty and tatty. Glass is better and cleaner. Toilets do not often get blocked unless something bad has been put down there. I have not used a plunger for 40 years!
As a landlord who has to deal with a lot of toilets, I agree. When a tenant calls me about a blocked toilet it's inevitably because they've put something down it that doesn't belong. That's why I've recently added in bold to the lease that tenants are responsible for the cost of clearing blocked toilets unless some malfunction of the plumbing is to blame.
I agree about the better flushing. I also agree that curtains get tatty... BUT if I have to shower with a tiny little wall (which I guess some Britons call "screens"?) I would much prefer a curtain. But really best of all is a fully enclosed door. Otherwise I make a mess getting water everywhere!!! Thanks so much for watching and commenting on my crazy little video, Valerie! Cheers! XX Dara P.S. Ian forgot to mention in his comment here that one of his tenants once called about a blocked toilet and their son had put a toy car down the loo!!!
Interesting video, for info some observations and feedback bullet point style. We call stalls cubicles, which suits the privacy you have. I would always install Silent fill toilet cisterns. I hate Fans in hotel rooms they are noisy often continue running on a timer, so I don’t turn the light on, some extractors switch on and work as a humidistat. Privy is what an outside toilet was called, older houses did not have a bathroom at all, and only an outside wc in a shed, next to the coal cupboard, hence chamber pots in the bedrooms and a bedroom wash stand with jug of water and gas mantle for lighting, the term ‘we are being gas lit’ has been heard more recently. Americans have civilised bathrooms with socket outlets and switches, the voltage excuse thing is nonsense, most of Europe/Africa/NZ/Aus use the same 240 voltage they don’t have an issue with this, also that electric shower you showed is 240volts just 6 inches from your shoulders while you stand in water. Shower curtains get mouldy and cling to your body, fully enclosed screen is better. Toilet cisterns are concealed in fitted bathrooms, (like integrated appliances in the kitchen) the cabinet cistern housing cover can be removed easily with the right knowledge, clips on/off. Taps I agree, I’ve been fitting mono mixer taps for 30 years, i think low budget accommodation and rental properties get cheaper basic sanitary products, especially if the owner doesn’t live there.
Thank you very much for your thorough and thoughtful comment! All very good points. One more observation is that Britons call a shower enclosure wall a screen, which is not a term any American would use 🤔
@@MagentaOtterTravels A shower screen is the glass piece that is usually hinged sometimes fixed instead of a curtain, also instead of ceramic wall tiles with grout the modern trend in kitchens as well are laminate panels.
I recommend you skip the last two minutes of the video. But the first 90% of it is not about taps! And the bathroom in Scotland I show you will hopefully make you laugh 😂
@@MagentaOtterTravels ...true, I remember the old days when you had slam doors on the trains and everyone opened them as they entered the station jumping out as the train was still moving and knocking out a few tourists stood on the platform not aware the doors opened out!! 🤔🤦😱
Clearly I have spent WAY too much time contemplating this topic!!! LOL Thank you SO much for joining the premiere. I really appreciated your support! Cheers! XX Dara
The electric in a bathroom is divided into zones, but basically touching distances so if you have a large enough bathroom you could have a socket but it would need to be + 3 metres away from the bath tub
You sound like an electrician.
@@ians3586 yes I'm superman, I save the World's people from their own stupidity
I've always thought shower curtains were pretty standard in most British bathrooms, especially when it's the shower head in the bath scenario. Had one in the houses I grew up in and the last house my wife and I were in. The only reason I don't have one now is because I have a shower cubicle with an electric power shower as shown in the video. The water pressure actually pins you to the wall though so I can't agree with you about the dribbling flow I'm afraid.
Not even going to touch on the taps because the subject has been done to death and goes round in circles that neither side agrees on. Personally I've not had separate taps in a house for over 30 years and when I do have to encounter them I have never found an issue with them.
Good video 👍🏻
Yes, let's NOT talk about taps! Good to know about the shower curtains. I bet a lot of places don't want to have them because they get moldy (mouldy?).
Very happy to hear that YOUR electric shower is powerful. Clearly I have had the misfortune to encounter too many wimpy electric showers ;-) Thanks so much for watching and commenting! XX Dara
Woooo nice sharing dear friend
Most of the observations on British water systems originated from the need to prevent water wastage, particularly in big cities. Many years ago most buildings, including houses, had to have cold water storage tanks to reduce overloading the water mains, only 'drinking water' taps were connected directly to the mains supply. This is why toilet flushing now has dual flush and electric showers are seen as a method of reducing water usage. The concealed flushing cistern is very common in continental Europe. The 'vintage' style bathroom is fashionable in restoration of older houses.
I have heard that the vintage bathrooms are popular and people install the sinks with separate taps so they have twee little sinks... but I just think they are very inconvenient.
I heard about the separate hot and cold water thing a while ago... and have tried to avoid drinking hot water from the tap ever since!
I do think dual flush toilets and electric showers are a good idea to reduce water usage. I just really do like powerful showers!
Thanks so much for your comment! Cheers! XX Dara
I rent from a housing association, recently they decided the bathroom needed renovating.
I now have a more powerful shower, a two flush toilet, new shower curtains, a new heater which turns off if I forget it's on and a sophisticated extractor fan which senses the humidity, turning itself on when needed.
Perfect! Extractor fans which automatically turn on with the switch and then turn off several minutes after the light is switched off are brill! And having a more powerful shower is the biggest blessing! Enjoy your new amenities! (Said in an American accent that sounds like aMENities not aMEANities... hahaha) Cheers! XX Dara
Lol! We had quite the adventures with the plumbing…….😂🤣😅😂🤣❤️
That sounds like a good story 😉
Oh it’s always an adventure for sure!! 😆
@@MagentaOtterTravels We got so many laughs from our experiences. Expect the unexpected!
I think the two taps thing is an old-fashioned historical feature, and is gradually being replaced by single mixer taps in newer homes, which is ...A Good Thing! I agree with you. My own home has mixer taps only. Also I truly loath the shower/bath combo, whether it's a shower curtain (my pet hate, since who wants a wet shower curtain trying to hug you), or a shower door. I understand that it's a small British bathroom space issue, I have recently replaced my tub entirely with a walk-in wet-room, since we prefer showers to baths. They are more energy efficient too.
Yes, our flat only has showers no baths. It is more practical for us. Your wet shower curtain comment made me smile... haha!
I am gobsmacked that when I visit a bathroom fixtures and fittings store in the UK you will still see brand new basins with separate taps! They are trying to be all vintage and twee and it's just silly and impractical!!!
Oooh I like the light/occupation method
In terms of toilet names, we more or less say the same thing but differently. The word toilet comes from the French and means to wash, similarly, the word lavatory comes from the Latin (lavabo) meaning, to wash. So lavatory and toilet are essentially the same as wash room/bathroom. The word, "heads" is a naval term, the toilets on old sailing vessels were located on the outside of ships near the bow (ie head of the ship) so that the bow waves would wash away offending matter.
Thank you for that interesting bit of naval information!
The first time I used an American toilet, I thought I flooded it because of the high water level! Also flushing the fresh water pushes up, lower water level toilets the fresh water pushes down. Seeing the water going up in the bowl, I was horrified and thought there was something wrong!
Oh yes, I know what you mean. In my home growing up the water would sometimes come WAY up the side of the toilet bowl but then magically get pulled down with a huge vortex before overflowing all over the floor. I can imagine that made you panic the first time!
Thanks for all your comments on my crazy video! Cheers! XX Dara
A sensitive subject, sensitively handled, I learned a lot. In Ireland they call it 'the jacks' - similar to the US 'john'. Virgin Trains had talking toilets on their trains, a recorded female voice said something like 'I used to be a public toilet, then I got this job, it was a come up in the world.' I think she went on to list the objects you may not put down the toilet on a train. Virgin lost the West Coast franchise, Avanti took over, I don't think they have Virgin's quirky sense of humour. I don't think you would find a talking toilet on an Amtrak train. :)
Thanks for your comment, Aidan... that is hilarious! I think Virgin trains have the same sense of humour as Soutwest Airlines in the US. I also did not know about John converting to Jack in Ireland... that is interesting!
@@MagentaOtterTravels That’s interesting! Ryanair can also be funny in their social media posts. And on the subject of toilets, there was a rumour Ryanair were going to charge for using the toilet in flight, but it was just a hoax! The historical comedy drama Blackadder has humorous references to ‘the privy’
You are spot on with certain things... And yeah, some funny bits here in the UK. Nicely done and informative. Thanks for the upload. Take it easy 🙂
Cheers mate!
@@MagentaOtterTravels no worries at all. Keep it up 😊👍
Without further a-doo-doo 😉, I must say I loved this video. Soooo much great info. The two water faucets at the sink would drive me bonkers, for sure!! ❤️❤️❤️
It was a goofy vid, but thanks for washing! Honestly, the worst thing about the separate faucets is when you are washing your face... it is not convenient! But thankfully my flat has "mixer taps" as they are called ;-)
We used to have shower curtains a very long time ago,we usually have separate shower cubicles and baths room permitting.
Yes, that really is the best way. In our flat in Cheltenham, we don’t have any bathtubs because there isn’t space. But we definitely prefer shower cubicles if we just have to choose one! Thanks so much for watching and commenting! Cheers! XX Dara
Shower curtains used to be more standard years ago. These days though most British bathrooms have the glass shower screen where it’s a shower above the bath. It’s seen as more modern, but I agree. The seals on the screens could be better!!
Taps wise, again it’s an old legacy now. I hate separate taps!! I’m British and totally agree with you. It’s horrible. But I haven’t had separate taps for years. No new homes in the U.K. have separate taps. It’ll always be a mixer tap only.
I am shocked that American bathrooms don’t have heated towel rails. It’s only recently I’ve realised how much a British thing heated towel rails are…
We really should have heated towel rails in the USA... they are fabulous! I would have LOVED that when I lived in Michigan or Illinois... truly cold places where in the winter you DREAD getting out of the shower!
Separate taps are something I still see in really old public toilets and hotels and B&B's. But when makes me shake my head is when I NEWLY refurbished bathroom that has a basin with separate taps installed because they want it to look vintage. No thank you! Thanks so much for your comment! I hope you subscribe and stick around for more quirky commentaries on Britain and travel adventures through American eyes. Cheers! XX Dara
In the USA, any and all electrical outlets by water must be protected by GFCIs to prevent shocks. It cuts off power faster than you can blink. Furthetmore, any device that is used in a bathroom must also have a GFCI at the plug end of the power cord, just in case one isn't provded in the wall power wiring. Just because it's 120V doesn't mean the electric shock is less nasty. It's quite nasty...!
Yes, definitely want to avoid that!!
We loved your footage in Massachusetts, Dara and Ian. How appropriate to include the H school in your toilet video trailer! (Just kidding!) We love Massachusetts except the traffic of Boston. Loved how you showed some of the public transport available. It's beautiful all along the coast! We need to be checking out some of your other New England footage and are looking forward to tomorrows premier!
Thanks so much! And yes Boston drivers are blood thirsty! 😂
As a British Citizen living in the UK the British Bathroom has many advantages but also some major disadvantages over the US equivalents - the advantages is the concealed toilet stalls in public toilet/restrooms, the vintage toilets still in use in some areas like the High Tank Chain Operated ones (also the new replicas you can also buy to do a bathroom up in the old Victorian/Edwardian 1880-1910's style), the dual flush controls on modern toilets (as long as the valve mechanism is a good quality one - the Fluidmasters (which is a US company making parts for our toilets in this country) are the best) and that we still use 6 Litres (1.6 Gallons in US terms) for the full flush (I still like the traditional flush handle for replica vintage style Tank Top toilets (we call them CC Toilets = Coupled Cistern "Cistern is another word for a toilet tank here in the UK") which now can be used on a Dual Flush System). other advantages include not having electrical outlets in the bathroom (for safety reasons as our voltage is higher) and having the light switch outside. The disadvantages is that our sinks/basins are smaller (especially the new modern ones which are so tiny they are very impractical - I will keep my older larger basin/sinks in use even when I renovate my 2 bathrooms in the coming years), the electric showers I don't like myself (my old house had one which was rather useless), the modern minimalist square shaped toilet bowls (I hate them - very uncomfortable to sit on - round bowls are best which the US toilets have an advantage being round or oval/elongated) and also the low water level in the toilet bowl (common feature on our Washdown Toilets here and in Europe) which means you have to brush the toilet bowl after every other use (the US Siphonic Type does have a major advantage over ours and I do kind of prefer the Siphonic Type especially for commercial toilets working on a Flushometer Valve as our modern commercial toilets are prone to clogging with their rather weak flushes - why I like the older more vintage ones (the High Tanks) still in use as they don't). *We used to have a UK Spec Siphonic Toilet pre 2000 which had a higher water level in bowl and was very quiet with powerful siphonic suction (called a Twin Trap Or Double Trap as they had two trapways in the bowl which used a Aspirator Device between the tank and bowl to start the siphoning upon flushing) - it's a shame that they are no longer made but they should be brought back so UK consumers have a choice between Washdown & Siphonic again but improved/redesigned (maybe using a US style Siphon Jet instead of the Aspirator) so they work using the modern Dual Flush Controls which the originals don't!
You know a lot about plumbing! Very interesting! Thanks for your comment.
I agree about the size of the basins in the bathrooms... the current thing in British homes seems to be putting TINY basins in the cloak rooms (powder rooms) which are the size of the basin you'd find in an airplane lavatory. They are so small you cannot wash your hands without getting water everywhere!
Thanks again for your thorough comment! Cheers! Dara
I have done a few bathroom renovations (in previous house and parents) using some help from my father who has taught me plumbing and by doing research on fixtures like the two types of flush toilet, so yes I do know a lot about the subject with the pros and cons with certain types of fixture - as well as my own personal preference of what works for me (certainly NOT minimalist as I loathe those square toilet fixtures as I cannot get on with them of experience of using them in some ultra modern hotels in the UK and Europe). Yes those tiny sink/basins are a real pain (I have stayed round friends which have them - which you cannot wash your hands or anything else in fact) it is lucky that I have a larger one in my cloakroom (powder room - half/semi bathroom) as well as in my main bathroom and master bedroom ensuite - they will be retained when I renovate these rooms in my current home over the next year or two!
The residential double trap syphonic terlit (southern slang) has made it's appearance in the US now. It's the Niagara Conservation 0.8 gpf terlit. Nice powerful suction and quiet! But terrible bowl rinse. What do you expect when most of the water goes towards creating the suction and flush?
True as the suction is excellent but bowl rinse is not but the old British versions did have larger 2 to 3 Gallon tanks so at least there was some bowl rinse but quite weak!
I do appreciate a heated towel rack, but my all time favourite, having lived in Japan is the heated toilet seat. It's just the best on a cold winter's night and you can find heated toilet seats in public toilets as well. The Japanese were the inventors of that sink in the cistern, I found lots of old toilets with them. The first few times I was confused as they didn't have a tap, you flushed and water came out automatically, I wasn't sure if you washed your hands or just looked at it! The bathroom sink was in the other room so I always used that! The dual flush system was invented in Australia as a water saving feature, years ago people would put a brick in the cistern to reduce the amount of water being used. It's interesting that it has spread around the world now. I find it stranger to find a toilet which doesn't have a dual flush system.
Dual flush is brilliant. And so are Japanese toilets! I haven't been to Japan, but I worked for a Japanese ice cream company in Los Angeles for a year. They had a Japanese toilet and it was quite the thing!
I'm British and I sell bathrooms for a living, so I have plenty of opinions on this!
Toilet cistern in the wall: the fittings are accessed either via a removable top on the shelf that contains the cistern, or by taking off the flush button plate, which is deliberately big enough to get a hand inside for maintenance.
Handshower on the bath: It's pretty rare and strange to have a bathroom with only a bath and no proper stand-up shower (whether over the bath or separate). Not unheard of, but a bit odd. People don't sit in the bath and shower, they have a bath, and just use the handshower to rinse their hair after shampooing etc.
Short shower screens: This is a European thing that we've taken on, traditionally shower curtains were much more common. You're right, they are inadequate.
Electric showers: Yes, I HATE these. Not only is the water pressure atrocious, but they're also incredibly expensive to run. I'm not sure exactly why they exist, I think some people buy them because they're cheap up-front, but that minor initial saving is immediately obliterated by the extremely high cost of running them. It's a false economy.
Separate hot and cold taps: This is a very old fashioned thing, to do with cross-contamination in older British domestic water systems. You're absolutely right, it's awful. Fortunately, new bathrooms practically always have mixer taps; I've been selling bathrooms for 20 years and I can count on one hand the number of times I've sold new separate hot and cold taps (literally! The total number of sets of hot and cold basin taps I've sold in two decades is exactly two, both to extremely elderly customers who'd had them all their lives and didn't want to change).
It's good to hear from an expert. As someone who's usually responsible for the repairs in our flat, it's nice to know that the toilet cistern is easily accessible. It's also a relief to know that most people remodeling their bathrooms aren't sticking with separate taps. I have noticed that over the years their prevalence is slowly decreasing. My wife is so particular about it that if we're looking to book a B&B she insists on asking about whether they have separate taps and if they do, she usually won't stay there. It's not as big of an issue to me but I can understand that a woman washing makeup off her face wouldn't want to deal with them.
Yay! I love hearing from experts! I'm just an opinionated American gal! haha
I'm VERY glad to hear that cisterns in the wall can be accessed, and I also heard from someone else that the systems are reliable and we probably won't need to fix ours!
Thanks for explaining all the other points. Very logical... and very good to know! It was good to learn some things!
Cheers! XX Dara
Yes we love towel rails too, and installed one on our US bathroom because we love it so much- and a two flush toilet
Yay! Best of both worlds in the Pacific Northwest 😉🇺🇸❤️🇬🇧
Hello my sister 🙋🤝🙋🇨🇭🇨🇭
Very beautiful video 👍👍
Big like 💯💯⚘🔔⚘❤❤💕💕💕
Thanks for stopping by. We are going to the alps this September!
This was excellent! Your two years of research & prep really showed! Light-hearted and fun, but also factual and interesting. You must be so relieved to finally have the video out in the world! Sleep well tonight. 😊
Yes, it's a load off my ... mind ;-) To have it finally over! haha
THANKS SO MUCH for making time today to watch! Love you both!
Shower curtains are very common, I have one at home and every Premier Inn I've ever visited (and that's a lot!) have them as standard, but they seem to be regarded as "old fashioned" these days and bathroom companies always want to sell you a piece of toughened glass instead. As far as electric showers go, these are very variable. There are some really good models, and some pretty poor, but a lot depends upon the mains water pressure available. I've stayed in some older hotels where my room was the last one on the main and the flow was pathetic.
Yes, apparently not ALL electric showers are bad, but I've definitely used some weak ones!
And same here, the hotel chains often use shower curtains because they are less expensive to install and replace than glass doors. They do get moldy (mouldy?) but they are usually white and they bleach them. Or replace them. Glass is expensive!
We like Premier Inns as well... we booked a stay at one in Newcastle this summer, and Travelodge in London!
Thanks for your comment! Cheers! XX Dara
The performance of electric showers has less to do with the pressure of the water going in (mains cold water pressure is generally pretty good), and more to do with the wattage of the shower itself, and thus the power of its heating element.
A bad electric shower has a weak heating element, so can only heat water very slowly as it passes through. Result: Horribly poor water flow. A "better" electric shower has a higher-powered element, so can heat water faster and deliver more water flow.
This leads on to another, less obvious disadvantage of electric showers though, which is how obscenely expensive they are to run. The electric meter seriously starts spinning like the wheels on a slot machine when you switch on an electric shower. I can't think of anything that eats electricity like it.
My favorite name for bathroom is the Australian "dunny", I just love it.
That is a funny name! It actually rhymes with funny. And honey!
I’ve just logged on now. I hope I’d have caught the live!!! So sad I’ve missed it!! I’m going to watch now x
The potty talk is ready for you to enjoy on the replay! How are the toddlers doing using the loo today?
@@MagentaOtterTravels it was a busy one, that’s why I couldn’t get online!!
I have a shower curtain in my shower room. Electric showers work great but you need it hooked up to the mains supply directly otherwise the pressure can eb and flow if other users within the building are using water!
You aren't allowed a light switch inside the bathroom as it's considered a safety issue for people that could have wet hands. It must be either outside or a pull cord inside I'm afraid. Tanks built into the wall are not normal. A cistern behind the toilet that you can lift the top off for emergencies is more normal. The seperate taps are a throw back to when water tanks with hot water in lofts /attics gained foriegn objects that made a lot of people ill with lysteria! So they seperated the cold water that is pure from the mains water supply and the stored hot water in the tank. No longer an issue today but many places keep the tradition!
Ever since I heard about the lifesteria thing, I have been careful to not drink hot tap water 😉
Thanks so much for watching and taking the time to comment! Cheers! XX Dara
🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣 I love the two tap shuffle!!!!!!
LOL! I suspect you have done the same a time or two?
@@MagentaOtterTravels I did ask kieron and we both think we had a shower curtain in our flat bathroom
@@JimsKitschKitchen several people said they have them, so they must be more popular than I thought!
That's quite a lot of bathroom research haha! So the separate taps is the most noticeable and inconvenient to me for sure. My Ian's older UK home has separate taps and to wash my face in the sink, I make a quick dash to fill my hands up with cold water first and then add some hot and then quickly wash my face with the water that I hope I was able to mix to the perfect temperature. It is quite the ordeal and something I definitely side with America on lol.
Yes, it is an art when it comes to face washing! When you move there, you'll have to be a good English woman and put the plug in and mix the water in the basin. I still don't see how that works for clean water though after you've washed your face??
Loved the bathroom views Dara and Ian. Thanks so much for sharing the thoughts you come up with while spending time in there! We just read the paper.
LOL that made me laugh! Thanks so much for joining our potty party today!
I've spent 30+ years (unsuccessfully) defending British showers to visiting Americans. Hot and cold supplies are at different pressures (for boring, historic reasons) so a shower mixer doesn't work. The wall mounted electric showers you mention are a complete joke. The only half decent solution is to fit a shower pump, which takes hot and cold water and delivers both separately at high pressure to a regular shower mixer and then everything is fine......apart that is from the noise the shower pump makes. The only other solution is to completely re-plumb the property to have the hot water system at mains pressure like the cold. Modern houses are now mostly being plumbed that way.
That's so interesting! Thanks for explaining that. Our Cheltenham flat was probably re-plumbed when they converted the Victorian home into flats and added a shower room in our bedroom. All I know is that it gets hot water fast and the pressure is good! Better than our shower in Texas for sure. Thanks for your comment! Dara
I'm with you Dara... those pull-chain lights are a no-go for me. But wow oh wow would I ever love a towel warming rack! This was fantastic to see! Thank you my friend!
I agree! Give me a normal light switch... and a nice hot towel in a warm bathroom ;-) I bet you get some frosty days in the bathrooms in Toronto! THANK YOU SO MUCH for joining the premiere! That really meant a lot to me!
@@MagentaOtterTravels Oh boy oh boy does it ever get frosty here, haha. So glad to do Dara, had a great time checking it out!
The intention is there- I am keen to be present at the premier. Now hoping for no unexpected interruptions. Bring it on Dara and Ian. 💖
It's the thought that counts! Love you, Anita!
I do not like push button flush. For people with hand weakness the buttons are nearly imperceptible to push down. Then there ‘s the question of sanitation. Think- invisible fecal matter could be on finger tip, push button down, finger tip grazes side of flush mechanism. Button pops up into position, fecal bacteria proliferate, next person’s finger grazes side wall -- nasty. Simple flipper, push down with any body part , to sanitize - spray
I agree with you. We have a toilet in England where the push button is REALLY hard to push on, and when I was having wrist problems last year I hated that it was difficult just to flush the commode!
Another brilliant idea for a video! I had no idea there were so many differences. I totally agree about the silly doors with the gaps. Is that supposed to help ventilation? Ridiculous.
Do the Scottish have detailed instructions for all sorts of things, or just bathrooms?
I've never seen a sink on top of a toilet before!
I'm certain the person in charge of the Scottish bathroom is very "unique" and not the Scottish norm! I didn't see that anywhere else, LOL!
There is no excuse for the door gaps in the US! It's not ventilation. I think it is just being cheap. Sparing materials and scrimping on labour costs. At the expense of privacy!
Thanks for watching and commenting! Cheers! XX Dara
Great video Dara. Really enjoyed the chat too. best wishes Watto & Kim 👍🙏❤
Thank you for your kind support! Loved that you reminded people to boop the like button! 👍
@@MagentaOtterTravels Dara it is a pleasure. I am glad to have connected with you. You have a great channel and Kim and I would love to meet up for a natter. She has subbed you by the way. Kimspics 59
She is the photography branch of the outfit. 👍🏻. Take care and maybe catch you when you are back in Gloucestershire. 🙏🏻🚶🏻♂️🚶♀️
@@WanderingwithWatto yes, I just discovered Kim today and subbed to her channel too! Let's do try to meet up for a wander and a pub visit when we are in Gloucestershire! Cheers! XX Dara
@@MagentaOtterTravels sound good to me. 👍🏻
Hi Dara,
Another thing that I hate about British toilets is that when you flush it sounds as if a rocket has launched in your house. They are so loud. I think it is because they are older,but sometimes I think something is wrong with them
You're right. That's a good observation. The really old ones that have the raised tanks are particularly noisy. I think some of the new ones flush loudly but it's because they are designed to use very little water and therefore have to suck out the contents forcefully to properly clear.
Hi Norwegian! Yes, they can be loud! Just like the commercial toilets in public restrooms in the USA. I think it is just a more powerful flushing system. The public toilets in the states often scare young children!
I agree I don’t like shower doors unless they are on a shower cubicle. I have always had a shower curtain over the bath. With a lower water level in the toilet you don’t get splash back although yes it can be messier hence the toilet brush. British toilets rarely clog unless you use half a roll of loo paper, which happens in some public loos because there are some weird people out there. I don’t have any single taps in my house and most new houses don’t have them. I don’t mind them on the bath but don’t like them on the sink. I have an electric shower and the water pressure is good, in fact that is the reason I had it put in. Also the reason for having a hand held shower over the bath is just to wash your hair not to have a full shower.
Thank you so much for watching and taking the time to leave such a thorough comment! I think I've just had some wimpy electric showers... others have said that they can have good pressure.
I hope you check out some of my other videos, like this recent one about eating English food favourites with my friend. It's pretty fun ;-) ua-cam.com/video/oLRiqFRfyqY/v-deo.html Cheers! Dara
I love this topic, I've been obsessed with bathrooms in my travels for years! I've learnt to be bilingual when it comes to finding bathrooms in my travels. The UK really has the most terms with loo, public conveniences, WC and the general toilets. You can still find lavatory as well. The US I found that it was mainly bathroom (if in a private home) and restroom in public places. Canada I had to switch from restroom to washroom. Australia and NZ it's always toilet, I think that's mainly because the room with the toilet in most homes is a separate room, if you ask for the bathroom you'll get shown to the room with a shower, bath and sink, no toilet. That does lead to some confusion!
Wow, that would be confusing! I have found that I am most successful if I always say "restroom" in the US and always say "toilet" literally everywhere else in the world! Even if I don't know the language, many languages have a world for toilet that is close enough... or people in other countries at least know the English word ;-)
Oh yay, I thought I'd missed the premiere!! It's tomorrow!! 😅 I'm looking forward to seeing this bathroom comparison video that's been a full 2 years in the making! 🤗 Great trailer for your channel! 💖
Thanks love! 😊
BTW we have those taps in our bathroom ( the one with a bath )
Lol
the two tap thing stemmed from not cross contaminating the water as hot water came from a cistern usually located in the loft or ceiling space and the cold water straight from the mains for drinking , however as time has gone on all new builds and refurbishments tend to go with the mixer tap now
I do prefer a mixer tap... but knowing about the hot water thing has made me stop drinking hot water straight from the tap ;-)
@@MagentaOtterTravels 😉🤣🤣....keeps your lips magenta looking though!! 🤷🤣
@@glastonbury4304 I prefer lipstick to burning my lips off 🥵
this look so nice and nice video content. love it. thank your for sharing this. have a nice and great day take care
I absolutely LOVED this video, Dara! I had such fun at the Premiere! Well done - you nailed it! 👍💯
Thanks, love! I'm happy that a transplanted Brit in the states can understand my ridiculous opinions on this important topic ;-)
Sorry to miss your live premiere - stuck in heavy school traffic! What a great appraisal of American and British bathrooms; I laughed like a drain! Such fun! So worth watching!
OK: you get a double 'aaargh' for trailing your hairdrier flex over the handbasin; double ticks for loathing small handbasins (big enough only for three year olds); double ticks for preferring mixer taps (when do you need two taps?); treble ticks for shower enclosures (shower curtains soon get gucky and ought to be banned!); treble ticks also for electric showers (simply, they're a misnomer - electric dribbles would describe them better); and to access a tank in the wall, you have a battle to dislodge the white panels concealing the tank, only to find they refuse to go back again!
What will you compare next....?
I’m so happy to hear that you enjoyed the video! Thank you for your thoughtful comments!
There are two topics for which I have been compiling photos for two years. One was the bathroom thing, the other is a video about how much Britons love their dogs 🐶 ❤️… No idea when I will finally publish that one! I have two comparison videos coming up over the next two weeks in which I compare US and UK supermarkets! So, those are the next comparison videos 😉
@@MagentaOtterTravels Looking forward to them!
I was kicked out of the chat at the end, but just wanted to say this was such a fun video to watch and you nailed all the points perfectly! So true!! 😻😻
No worries. I purposely do abrupt endings to help my retention ;-) THANK YOU SO MUCH for joining the live chat. It was so great to have all the banter in the potty party this morning! And as a North American transplant to the UK, I'm glad you could relate to my observations ;-)
Can’t wait!
Thanks guys!
Dara, regarding the bad points, such as the curved bath with the tiny shower, I think this is just fashion, albeit daft fashion. You didn't mention the American way of having a clear glass big window usually behind the bath. I have seen these in many new-builds in the USA. A bjg clear window in the bathroom? Whg?
Yeah clear windows that don't open are silly in bathrooms!
Great premier there Dara, I’ve found a lot out about bathrooms. Thanks for sharing x 💕
Hi Kim! Are you Watto's wife? Nice to meet you! Hope to meet you IRL this summer! I appreciate you joining the chat... it was a silly topic that I clearly have thought about WAY too much! LOL
@@MagentaOtterTravels yes I am Wattos wife. It was fun, I know exactly what you mean about bathrooms x💕
Hello Dara. Another interesting video with delicate subject matter dealt with care. When I was young, a long time ago, our house had the really old fashioned high cisterns in the toilets. The pull cord was usually a chain and we still remind children to “Pull the chain” when they leave the toilet. The cistern being high also gave the flushing water more force, i.e. gravity assisted water pressure!
In Wales, typically the loo is called “Ty Bach” from when it used to be outside at the end of the garden, a very popular time for potties, or a Gazunder for “goes under”. Ty is Welsh for House, and Bach is Small, hence Small House!
P.S. You will sometimes hear people saying “I’m going too see a man about a dog” when they are off to the loo.
Thanks for your comment, Peter! Glad to know I haven't lost you ;-) I appreciate your comment about "seeing a man about a dog"... so curious that here we say HORSE! haha Cheers! XX Dara
The cottage I inherited years ago actually had a "Ty Bach" but it hadn't been lived in for a long time.
@@Poliss95 the cottage Ian inherited was literally falling down. But it was in a BEAUTIFUL location in Somerset. He sold it at auction because there was no way we could have renovated it.
Gazunder was a common term for a potty that went under the bed. You wouldn't want to go to the outside privy in the middle of the night.
@@jillhobson6128 that is a funny name. Yes, I always hated that part of camping in cold weather. Being there in my tent in a warm sleeping bag but needing to pee… and knowing it meant walking across the campground in the dark and cold to the toilets. I really appreciate indoor plumbing!
Interesting analysis of something that everyone has an opinion about but almost no one discusses :) thank you
Well, it is something EVERYONE uses... but yes, normal people don't talk about it as much as I just did! haha
Thank you very much for joining!! XX Dara
Hehe enjoyed this 😃 Loved the Dallas Airport idea, that was genius and I have to agree with you that tiny sinks and two taps are not good! Have a great weekend Dara 🙂💜
Thanks so much, Ana and Alf! I hope you appreciated the fact I included Wales in my analysis ❤️🏴. That Marriott we stayed at near Chepstow was fabulous!
American viewers .... please note that a Toilet Brush is not an alternative to wiping with paper. lol
Head is not a rude word, it is what the toilet is called in the Navy, both in the UK and America. John is not rude either, as it comes from the English inventor for the "U bend" John Crapper.
slang names in the UK are ... reading room, throne room, sh1tter, Crapper or outhouse.
the light switch is on the outside of bathrooms in the UK, as for you not to use them with wet hands. hence why we have string pullcords inside bathrooms, as they do not conduct electricity. if the cord is getting dirty. you may need to remind people to wash their hands after using the toilet. lol
you have a choice of 3 cisterns in the UK. there is the high level cistern (the one you called old fashioned), the close coupled cistern or concealed cistern. the high level one is better, as it has more force due to gravity (sounds like you need them in the good old U.S of A). the concealed cistern will always have a hidden access panel that can be removed to change the ball float or syphon. the ones you showed, the shelve above could be removed.
most modern British bathrooms are now "Tanked". which means the whole bathroom floor is just one big shower tray.
the thing you are calling a hand-held shower, is actually a hair-rinser. it is meant to be used while sat in the tub or you just lean over the side if you only want to wash your hair without showering. so it is a good idea really.
electric showers are no different to any instant water heater. but depending on the water pressure, a pump may be needed.
you can not scold your skin in boiling water, when using a basin's hot tap. as the max temperature is 78 degrees on all hot water cylinders in the UK.
sorry for knit picking, but I was a plumber for 30yrs. lol
@@Poliss95 sounds like you have a faulty thermostat or is your water coming directly from a boiler, rather than a hot water cylinder/instant water heater.
Can we just pause for a moment to marvel once again at the fact that the inventor of the toilet was named JOHN CRAPPER? I mean, that truly is a gem of a historical trivia fact. Always enjoyed that one.
I don't see why we can't have a light switch inside the bathroom and wash AND DRY our hands after using the loo... before turning off the light?
I have decided that next 1 April I'm going to be in Britain... and in the morning (since apparently you told me noon is the deadline for pranks) I'm going to run around and turn off the lights from the outside whilst everyone who is using the bathroom! hee hee
I'm so fascinated to hear that you were a plumber! I didn't know that! I don't mind people being knit pickers or pedants on my channel... I find it amusing!
Have you heard this euphemism after someone has spent all night on a pub crawl and is sick afterwards... that they are "praying to the porcelain gods"?
Clearly some public restrooms/toilets don't have the thermostat regulated correctly because I have seen many of those "DANGER" signs...
@@MagentaOtterTravels John Crapper didn't invent the toilet, just the U bend. as previously they was made with a S bend.
yes I had heard of that saying for being sick. we also have "pointing Percy at the porcelain" for a male having a wee. lol
2 buttons are catching on in the USA as water saving becomes a thing. The water saver toilets in the US are not as good as the ones that use more water.... more water means more head of water (pressure).
Fun video
Thanks so much! Yes, I'm glad that tankles water heaters and dual flush systems are catching on the US!
@@MagentaOtterTravels Yes you know we are slow over here!
It’s really weird how American public toilets have these huge gaps in the doors whilst the authorities deem the word Toilet to be too “offensive” to use ! In Costco you buy Bathroom Paper instead of Toilet Paper in the U.K. !
With a Bog being slang for Loo we also use Bog Paper or Bog Roll !
I've heard of loo roll and bog roll, but never bathroom paper! I'll have to look out for that one if I get to Costco in Bristol this summer!
Thanks for your comment, Philip! Cheers! XX Dara
That's interesting that Costco toilet paper in the UK is called "bathroom paper". That's something I haven't seen before.
@@ians3586 U.K. Costco imports nearly all its stuff from the US where it’s called bathroom paper; whether the U.K. sometimes stocks Toilet paper made here I’m not sure.
@@MagentaOtterTravels U.K. Costco imports a lot of stuff from the US where it’s called Bathroom paper; whether the U.K. Costco sometimes stocks Toilet paper made here I’m not sure.
@@philipmason9537 I was in a Costco in Leeds years ago. I was surprised to see that they had the exact same things as in the US! Not only American peanut butter, for example, but also the bakery had the exact same chocolate cakes, which were baked there obviously, not imported! ❤️😋
Don’t know if I should say I’m excited for this but…. I am 😜🤣😜🤣
Thanks Sueanne! It's a potty party!
The video is already in the can, and the premiere is loo-ming! We're so excited that we're doing a little dance in anticipation!
You are the best punster I know! Thanks for sharing your potty dance ;-)
I like light switches inside so no one can shut the lights off and leave me in the dark hahaha
Very good point!!! That would be a good April Fools Prank in England! haha
@@MagentaOtterTravels hahaha
Electric showers vary with cost. A good quality electric shower will give a good shower. UK toilets work much better than US version so to block one needs a rather unusual "event" 🙃
I think I've visited some homes and B&B's with the cheap electric showers ;-)
The UK bathrooms you show look mostly like holiday bathrooms/toilets. The only time I have encountered small sinks in UK households is in second toilets which are often fitted into a tight space like under the stairs. I'm very tall so I hate those little toilets. My current toilet is terrible for flushing. Five flushes on average to clear the morning's business. It's a bad design of toilet which doesn't flush the water in the right place. I will change it when I get around to it. Generally I don't have any bad flushing experiences in UK. Our free public toilets are being replaced with paid toilets. As a result there are more people using the local bus stops and trees instead in the evenings. I don't use them toilets. I think they are just trying to cash in on the holiday makers as we are in a holiday area. I would rather support local business by buying a coffee to use a toilet. What an interesting topic :-) Interesting to learn about the USA toilets. I found the toilets in France and Belgium to be cleaner than most of the UK toilets. Better coffee in their cafes, too ;-) I don't like mains power in a bathroom. I saw mains outlets, also 240V, in Belgium bathrooms.
Thanks so much for your comment! I hope you subscribe and stick around for more quirky observations from this American Anglophile! I totally understand what you mean about the tiny sinks, BUT... I have to tell you a story. We almost bought a flat in Fairford, a delightful town on the edge of the Cotswolds. The home was a disused police station! Online it looked beautiful, and we were THRILLED to discover it. Then we had some friends go see it in person for us (we were in Texas at the time). Though the master bedroom looked great on the floor plan, there was no way to fit even a double bed into the room and still have an adult human stand upright in the room and walk around the bed. It had a severely sloping ceiling. You would have hated it! And equally bad, the "master en suite" was a tiny room with a shower, a toilet and one of those wee little basins! There is NO WAY I could have washed my face in that every night. And us trying to brush our teeth would have also been tricky. Glad we avoided that purchase! Have a great week. Cheers! XX Dara
@@MagentaOtterTravels I've been a subscriber since you visited Imo in Wales some time ago. I'm in Wales but started following Imo a long time ago when I was looking into home education. I, too hate the tiny basins. I am over six foot tall and have large hands. I grew up in South Africa where living space and holiday space is a lot bigger. I have a king size bed in my bedroom with one large wardrobe along the only the only wall it will fit, and it happens to be in front of the radiator, so that is blocked from being inefficient. Just enough room to shuffle around the bed to the other side. Very small bedside cabinets. They do like to pack us in like sardines in UK! I miss having decent size storage, a dining room, a laundry room, and a study. All those were were pretty basic things to have in South Africa, plus the swimming pol and many friends had a bar as well. Also usually an outbuilding with its own bathroom for a maid or the retired parents. That sort of place would be a real luxury in UK. You also mentioned the taps, yes they are so old fashioned in UK, even in the new houses. Why don't the showers have a thermostat fitted to regulate the temperature of the water? It seems to be a luxury extra here. Anyway, must stop moaning ;-) Better not get on to the British kitchens...
Hi, personally , I find it weird that some baths have a shower head beside it or attached to the bath instead of a shower
Meaning there is no shower on the wall above the tub? I agree ;-)
Darn it missed the premiere, watching now! 👍
No worries! Thanks so much for joining. It was a potty party in the live chat, but I'm grateful to have you join now too ;-)
@@MagentaOtterTravels really was hoping to maybe catch at least the end of it. Positive we’ll finish by 4pm next week!
@@MagentaOtterTravels absolutely fantastic video! The two years of prep and research are so evident. Absolutely hilarious. We do see some very different bathrooms and signage. Will start cataloging them now. Brilliant idea! Huge like from us! ♥️
@@GENerationXplorers I don't do premieres very often. Too stressful! And I realise a lot of people aren't available at the time my videos drop. But it is a good way to get UA-cam to promote my videos a bit more. I was chuffed that this one was 1 of 10 after MANY WEEKS of every video being 10 of 10!!! thanks very much for your support! Cheers! XX Dara
@@GENerationXplorers yes, share your funny bathrooms and signs... at least on IG if not in a vid ;-)
Brilliant video, and I have to say shower curtains are way better 😁
Shower curtains or fully enclosed doors are what I need... otherwise it's water everywhere! haha
Thanks for watching and commenting, Cara! Cheers! XX Dara
It takes only a few seconds to wash your hands so why not use cold water? We have a large walk-in shower cubicle, so don't need curtains or door. There are two shower heads, a larger one near the ceiling and a smaller one that can be hand held.
When I am here in the summer, I don’t mind using cold water to wash my hands. But visiting in the dead of winter is another matter 🤣
Yes I have a shower curtain, covered in turtles. I have a wet room so not sure what the point of the curtain is but it looks cute so I use it.
Turtles are adorable, so I approve! Thanks so much for watching and leaving a comment! Cheers! XX Dara
Wet rooms are a great idea. I wish all bathrooms were built to withstand whatever water is present.
This should be fun! I do NOT miss the crazy shower Lake District flat that had that glass shield that only covers half the tub so water just goes everywhere 😱
No spoilers, but that may or may not be discussed in this video 😉
Sadly, most of our public toilets have disappeared in the last 30 years.
The last two years have been really bad! During the pandemic so many businesses and public locations just couldn’t or didn’t want to go to the extra work of keeping restrooms open during the pandemic.
I do hate the separate taps.
Most other things I can overlook.
Agree. That's the only thing we've found that's really an annoyance. Dara's gotten so particular about it that when we are looking for places to stay in the UK, the only question she asks proprietors before booking is whether they have separate taps or not.
Many Britons are VERY defensive about the separate taps... which is why I left that point till last. I hoping the trolls don't watch that much of my video LOL... they never do. They just click on the thumbnail and leave nastygrams ;-) Thanks for showing up for the potty party today, Christian!
The good, the bad, and the different! Now we'll have that music in our head all day -- not that we mind one bit. Had zero idea about the 2 button system, but that is FAR superior to our version! And who wouldn't want a warmed towel? Now we're super jealous! Those signs are freaking hilarious, especially the "no" part of flush, flush again. We'll never understand why a person would use a toilet this way -- they're afraid of cooties so the solution is to blast cooties everywhere for the next person? This video is even more epic than we expected, and we're loving every minute of it!
Thanks so much Drew and Jen!!! The signs WERE hilarious! I can't get over the picture of the bent over human spraying poo everywhere... how gross!!!
But yes, heated towels on a cold morning are the BEST!
Thanks so much for watching, I really appreciate it! XX Dara
Yes! Now I know what the 2 buttons on a toilet are for! As for tiny bathrooms, there is a very tiny one behind Burton’s Restaurant in the town of Battle. It also has a changing table and hot air dryer included. Very ingenious! Tub surrounds that don’t surround……we also experienced water everywhere. LOVE those towel racks!!! Great for traveling when one has to do a bit of laundry that will be dry by the next day. I noticed a lot of bathtubs had no grab bars, very high sides, and a very curved, slippery bottom. I used my wash cloth to stand on because I just did not want to fall. (I took my own washcloth because we were told hotels did not provide them). Our travel group of 8 were all over the age of 60 and we had to be so careful in those tubs with no grab bars. Oh yes, the water fixtures in the shower…..trying to figure out how to get the right temperature as well as adjusting the water flow let me with a few shocking, cold showers! ❤️
Yes, you have encountered many of the things I talked about! ;-)
Funny that you used your flannel (washcloth) as a non-stick mat in the shower. I bought non-slip stickers and applied them to the bottom of my shower in Cheltenham. It was slippery as well! Thankfully, I have a shower door that fully closes! haha
Thanks for your comments, Ruth! Have a great weekend!
I remember my first experience of a auto flush toilet!! JFK 1993 - scared the 💩 out of me!! Loved the video, loved the chat. Wills would have loved this, he has toilet gags for days!!! 🍻
Please tell Wills to watch when he has a minute... I'd love him to drop his crappy jokes in the comment section!
Thanks so much for watching, Rach! Cheers! XX Dara
We never say powder room. it's usually called a toilet, perhaps sometimes a cloakroom if it's downstairs. Americans seem to have thing about calling a room a toilet!
I think it came from a time when women would say they needed to "powder their nose" which may or may not have actually been the case.
@@ians3586 Yes, it an old fashioned term used a a euphemism for going to the toilet. Nobody uses it nowadays. It dates back decades.
Well, we Americans are so dainty and proper, we could never say the word "toilet"! haha *sarcasm*
@@MagentaOtterTravels lol!
Fun and interesting, Dara. Well worth ALL the effort and time you put into this one. I thought of another question for you regarding your experiences with public washrooms here and abroad: What about paper towels vs. the blower-type dryers for your hands? I have mixed feelings on this; each option has its pros and cons, but one of my pet peeves are the blower ones that turn off too quickly, because they aren't the motion-detecting type, and my hands are never dry enough, so I have to keep turning it back on! Just wondering what your findings have been in the US vs. the UK. 👋😄
I see more air dryers here in the US than the UK. Although in a REALLY old video I did in Cheltenham about a pizza restaurant in a church, I show that the hand dryer was an air dryer from ILLINOIS!!! That is unusual.
However, you do see Dyson dryers on occasion. I personally prefer the towels. I hate the paper waste, but I'm such a germaphobe, I want to have those paper towels for turning off taps and opening the bathroom door! Thanks so much for watching and commenting!
@@MagentaOtterTravels At one time, all the hand dryers were from Berkeley Illinois. so common that I remember the name and don't think you saw any other make.
@@jillhobson6128 Yes, I think they had a monopoly on the market at one point. Dyson and similar high powered dryers have given them a run for their money. BTW Dara grew up in Illinois and Bobby lives there.
I couldn't go past this one without commenting. 😁
It's a dunny or the bog in Australia 😁 Public toilets (as we call them most often) are a mixture of the US and UK facilities. I've never seen a US style dunny though (the high water thing). Most toilets are double flush these days. Same with in home bathrooms - light switches and power points everywhere - except right next to the toilet (I'll get back to that 😄). Most showers are fully enclosed cubicles. A combo show bath might have a curtain or one of those stupid half doors though.
If you want to use the very best toilets in the world go to Japan (although I have started seeing them appear here too). The are like the command chair of the Enterprise. There will be a control panel on the wall (or on the toilet itself) to control all sorts of things. Like, adjustable bidet controls - front and back, intensity, the temperature of the water. The seat will be heated for sure. Some will have a warm drying fan air blower thing. Some public toilets play the sound of running water while you're sitting to avoid embarrassment. Many will have sink over the cistern. The seat lid will raise automatically as you enter the room. It is wonderful.
I even went on a tv game show once (Who Wants to be a Millionaire) and we were asked to list what we'd do with the money. I jokingly said "buy a Japanese toilet". So as you can imagine when we were in the introduce the contestant phase of the show the host just wanted to talk about Japanese toilets. 😂😂 The unfortunate thing in most bathrooms, toilets, powder rooms, here in Oz there is no power point next to the toilet. Japanese toilets need power so it would be a big job to install one 😂😂 Even now people still ask, did I buy a Japanese toilet. 🤣
PS
When I was a kid we grew up (for the first 7 or 8 years of my life) with good old fashioned outhouse drop dunny. Wooden seat and a stinky deep hole in the ground. I had nightmares about falling in. 😂😂
How fun that you were on Millionaire! Did you win anything?
I worked for a Japanese ice cream company... the toilet at the headquarters was great! haha
Thanks for sharing all the fun facts about the dunny! Cheers! Dara
@@MagentaOtterTravels 😂
ua-cam.com/video/AK-aXoYpr3M/v-deo.html
@@MagentaOtterTravels Japanese ice cream company!? Oh my... Japanese ice cream is another of my great loves 😍
95% of the sanitary installations I have specified have operated the ventilation fan with a detector rather than the lightswitch because you cannot guarantee that the light switch will be used especially if the bathroom has a window.
In UK and most of Europe the WC cubicle door in public and commercial premises is designed to fall open and has to be purposefully closed and locked so at a glance if a cubicle is vacant the door will be open - no need for lights.
Small wash basins (not sinks - they are in kitchens and utility rooms) are used in small spaces and are really only for hand rinsing and are invariably only found in single cubicle toilets. The wash basin in the bathroom will be full size.
Shower curtains are the cheap solution to protect from splashing when using a bath for showers. The issue with curtains is that when wet they cling uncomfortably to the skin especially if you are of a large frame. At my home we have (two) separate showers, ones with a glass cubicle and the other with a glass deflector screen to the flush entry shower. The hand held shower unit is for incidental use and for cleaning
Electric shower units are a cheap installation that doesn't require additional hot water circuits and will be of use where the static pressure head of the HW/CW is too low to give adequate flow. Electric showers often rely on mains cold water pressure to function. The water delivery is usually pathetic and to get a half decent flow requires a very large power supply ~13+Kw.
Pull cord light switches are a safety feature where the switching is in the bathroom. The pull cord switch is mounted on the ceiling so is out of the way of wet hands and splashes.
Access to concealed toilet cisterns is not a problem. If the access is not noticeable it is well designed. As you said previously, UK toilets are very reliable. We have one concealed toilet in our bathroom that has been insitu for 30+years and has never been inspected in all that time as it functions perfectly. I also doubt that the loo brush is ever used, we always use bleach that does the job without handling anything. Also, the latest WCs are super slippery so nothing sticks to the side for long.
Separate taps were a Water Council requirement as the cold tap will be mains fed because it is potable i.e. drinking water and the hot water was tank fed and there was a fear of cross contamination from the less sanitary hot into the cold. Currently, due to EU standardisation we can and do specify regularly single block mixer taps. Also, the latest Regs require the hot hap to be a blended supply that is no hotter than 40degC so as not to scald the user, so is perfect for hand washing. The hot water stored in the tank will be 60-65degC to prevent Legionella.
Ah, this is the first time I've seen the separate taps properly explained, that being that the water coming from the tank wouldn't necessarily be potable and so it was a safety issue. Doesn't make the separate taps any less annoying but at least I now understand the reasoning behind them. I do think concealed toilet cisterns look much nicer and it's good to hear they are usually very reliable. Nice to hear from an expert on all these issues.
Buffalo... bwahahahaha!
Thank you so much for your detailed response Mr Williams! I sure learnt a LOT about toilets! And yet another language difference... sink vs. basin. We almost bought a home in Fairford that was a converted police station. The master bathroom had one of those tiny basins in the en suite. It had a shower, a toilet and a tiny basin. It would NOT have worked well for daily face washing and teeth brushing and the like! But there were a number of issues with that place, as cool as it was conceptually. I'm going to do a video about it one of these days!! Cheers! XX Dara
@@MagentaOtterTravels I don't think the sinks/basin understanding is a language thing as in the UK we also often call the wash hand basin a sink its just that the inaccuracy has been perpetuated. It seems that the Fairford en-suite is a design failure and I would never consider a hand rinse basin being suitable as an installation in an en-suite, it would not be suitable for a caravan, where space is definitely at a premium. I look forward to the video.
@@Poliss95 Shower mixers have to have balanced pressures so that both the hot and the cold are fed from the same cold water storage tank therefore, one side cannot contaminate the other.. The separate taps are for mains cold water that is potable i.e. drinking water and hot water that is fed from tank storage, which should not be drunk. You cannot use mains cold water on a shower mixer as the pressure in the mains will fluctuate and therefore so will the temperature of the shower that could lead to scalding even if it is thermostatic.
Nossa que vídeo incrível é meus parabéns amiga 👍👍😘😘👏👏
Great vid. Informative, and fun. Think I'll stick with UK toilets though. I could live with most things toilet wise in the US, but for the door situation. What designer/architect, thought that a good idea, my mind boggles. One thing you forgot though re UK toilets... They kick stated about 90% of British comedy 🙂
John!!! So good to hear from you! I've missed you! Yes, I agree... Britons do enjoy some toilet humour. Which is why I'm hoping this video gets some clicks and revives my "clogged" channel ... gets some views flowing again ;-) Thanks so much for watching and commenting! Cheers! XX Dara
Thanx for your upload & Love from Armenia 🇦🇲
Thanks for watching! I lived many years in Glendale California. The largest Armenian population outside the country of Armenia 🇦🇲
I must admit...I am a hovering - you can NOT make me sit on a public toilet seat - papered or not - LoL
Not enough paper in the world for you,huh? 😂 I thought all the signs in that Scottish bathroom were hilarious!
Thanks for watching, Tenisha! It’s so funny that you just made this comment because I was just sitting here thinking about you!
Have a great day! ☀️ Dara
Nice video!
Cheers!
When you have a new flushing toilet fitted in the uk tell the plumber that you want access to the flushing mechanism, because they will often seal in your mechanism if you dont give them specific instructions…i think they box you in so that when it goes kaput ,you need professional help and its not just a quick B andQ visit for you..its a £50 call out fee and then charge for the fix on top..
Yeah.... we didn't do the bathroom remodels in our house. I wish we had so we could have requested access! Hope our bogs don't break any time soon!
@@MagentaOtterTravels if there’s a super duper bog on the market I.e. say a Japanese washer and dryer model you’ve been gagging for and your current bog is over 10 years old..now could be the time to call up your latrine guy, and save yourself a bunch of fifty’s as well..
@@MagentaOtterTravels I requested from my plumber guy..my design subway map of the pipes, gate valves on every pipe ,good access to hidden frozen pipes with fitted box lids,and a freely opening cistern lid..then if I get problems I can do something about it immediately instead of waiting a month and getting flooded out..some Milwaukee pipe grips in the emergency kit box.
@@griswald7156 very clever!
@@griswald7156 the bathrooms were totally redone a couple months before we bought our flat…
The reasoning behind electric showers is you don't need a tank full of hot water, just heat as you use, also if the water pressure is low and the water tank is not located near the shower, other users will influence the temperature you shower at hot then cold then hot 😬
That is a good point. There are definitely advantages to having the water heated at source. We have an old valve in our bathroom wall and as a result you can't run water anywhere in the house while someone is showering. If you do you will freeze or scald them. It would take breaking into the wall to fix it so we've been living with it for awhile.
@@ians3586 yes, you have to tell everybody you're having a shower 🚿 and then pray 🙏
Ian is not allowed to wash the breakfast dishes whilst I am in the shower! haha
Another reason for the apparently low pressure is because the temperature of the water is controlled by varying the speed at which the water flows over the heating elements: the faster the water, the cooler it is. Most, if not all, power showers have a supposedly "economy" or "ecological" button that turns off one of the two heating elements to save power when the ambient temperature of the water in the mains is higher during the warmer months, but this means that you have to turn down the heat dial to get the same heat that you want, and this in turn means lower pressure.
Power showers are a useful way of putting shower facilities in a traditional British home without incurring major works to the hot water system, but they have their disadvantages! Any demand on the mains water elsewhere in the building (eg other showers, washing machines, etc) is likely to lower the pressure and so make the shower water hotter.
@@MagentaOtterTravels remember to be nice to each other or revenge will be HOT and/or COLD
Going to the toilet for a “Gypsy’s kiss”
Shower curtains are an economy solution to contain overspray in the uk..
I recently stayed in Liverpool in a hotel with a shower partition that was not nearly big enough! I thought of this video, LOL
@@MagentaOtterTravels I like those motels around the Albert dock in Liverpool..they’re very pleasant..but Southport front hotels have that beach vibe and the town is so sweet..
just came here from the Natasha and Debbie show thank you
Oh that's great! Thanks for letting me know. Welcome to my channel! Here is a recent video you might want to check out: ua-cam.com/video/K4-QipQFzX8/v-deo.htmlsi=Wm7dgHi20q64y8wo
Cheers! Dara
@@MagentaOtterTravels Thank you will do but now I see a Fruit cake one so I will take a big bite of that one as well :)
@@elizabethwilliams5686 ha ha, that fruitcake video was surprisingly popular! Who knew?
Could you imagine touching a light switch with wet hands ⚰ that's why there's a pull cord switch or light switch outside
Why not just dry your hands first?
@@MagentaOtterTravels but nobody's perfect, not even Mary Poppins
@@wencireone I am certain MP thoroughly dried her hands after using the loo!!!
@@MagentaOtterTravels this is the "bathroom" / toilet thing, bathroom ( with bath/shower ) must Not have accessible electric points in reach of the bath/shower just to protect the young and stupid, the Toilet/WC/Cloakroom ect. can have a light switch wall mounted, but not within 600mm 2ft of a sink or "splash zone" , of course the circuits in these rooms should be protected by a Residual Current Device offering protection to no greater than 30mA ( milli Amps ) ( you probably know this as GFI in the US )
Hope your bathroom remodeling goes well with all this free information 😉👍
@@MagentaOtterTravels Steam condenses into water, it can condense on light switches and into the switch fitting itself, so having dry hands wouldn't make any difference.
I’ve just had a fan light installed in my bathroom in the uk…but I’ve inserted an isolator switch on the fan..so i can have fan auto operation or i can override it..and just have the light..
But our electricians avoid the extra work of putting an isolator switch in if the customer doesn’t mention it…
Do you really want that whirring sound going on if you just want to brush your teeth? And incurring electric wastage..
Electricity is a valuable commodity now…times 60 million homes is a massive waste..worldwide i rest my case.
I hear you. But we have pretty bad issues with damp in our hall "bathroom" (shower room)... I wondered if forcing the fan was a good idea? But there's a kill switch above the door that tenants can switch off if they hate the perpetual fan ;-)
@@MagentaOtterTravels then I would hide the kill switch , in the loft, so that the tenants don’t get a choice.. my piece de resistance would then be a flush wall fitted de humidifier..to eradicate the moist conditions..
@@griswald7156 oh yeah, we DO need dehumidifiers 🙄
Push button toilets are something that has only become common in Britain for the last 20 or 30 years. Personally I think that the older toilets with flush handles give a far better flush. You can still buy quality older toilets with handles. Pull cord light switches are very common and have been all of my life, for safety purposes. Personally I have no problem with them You can have any length cord you want. Not a problem to me. I have not lived in a house where the light switch is outside of the bathroom. Only Hotels. I am mystified, like most Brits, why Americans find that two taps on sinks are a problem. No problem at all. I grew up with them. No Brit would even think about it. Shower curtains are now a little outdated and most baths have screens over the side where there is a shower. Full stand up showers are much more common now. Shower curtains are not now thought of as very hygienic. They get dirty and tatty. Glass is better and cleaner.
Toilets do not often get blocked unless something bad has been put down there. I have not used a plunger for 40 years!
As a landlord who has to deal with a lot of toilets, I agree. When a tenant calls me about a blocked toilet it's inevitably because they've put something down it that doesn't belong. That's why I've recently added in bold to the lease that tenants are responsible for the cost of clearing blocked toilets unless some malfunction of the plumbing is to blame.
I agree about the better flushing. I also agree that curtains get tatty... BUT if I have to shower with a tiny little wall (which I guess some Britons call "screens"?) I would much prefer a curtain. But really best of all is a fully enclosed door. Otherwise I make a mess getting water everywhere!!!
Thanks so much for watching and commenting on my crazy little video, Valerie! Cheers! XX Dara
P.S. Ian forgot to mention in his comment here that one of his tenants once called about a blocked toilet and their son had put a toy car down the loo!!!
Interesting video, for info some observations and feedback bullet point style.
We call stalls cubicles, which suits the privacy you have.
I would always install Silent fill toilet cisterns.
I hate Fans in hotel rooms they are noisy often continue running on a timer, so I don’t turn the light on, some extractors switch on and work as a humidistat.
Privy is what an outside toilet was called, older houses did not have a bathroom at all, and only an outside wc in a shed, next to the coal cupboard, hence chamber pots in the bedrooms and a bedroom wash stand with jug of water and gas mantle for lighting, the term ‘we are being gas lit’ has been heard more recently.
Americans have civilised bathrooms with socket outlets and switches, the voltage excuse thing is nonsense, most of Europe/Africa/NZ/Aus use the same 240 voltage they don’t have an issue with this, also that electric shower you showed is 240volts just 6 inches from your shoulders while you stand in water.
Shower curtains get mouldy and cling to your body, fully enclosed screen is better.
Toilet cisterns are concealed in fitted bathrooms, (like integrated appliances in the kitchen) the cabinet cistern housing cover can be removed easily with the right knowledge, clips on/off.
Taps I agree, I’ve been fitting mono mixer taps for 30 years, i think low budget accommodation and rental properties get cheaper basic sanitary products, especially if the owner doesn’t live there.
Thank you very much for your thorough and thoughtful comment! All very good points. One more observation is that Britons call a shower enclosure wall a screen, which is not a term any American would use 🤔
@@MagentaOtterTravels A shower screen is the glass piece that is usually hinged sometimes fixed instead of a curtain, also instead of ceramic wall tiles with grout the modern trend in kitchens as well are laminate panels.
@@john_smith1471 yes, I’ve heard everyone calling those screens in the UK. But an American would not call that a screen 😉
The loo is sometimes called the kazi
I've never heard that one!
Hello everyone!
Thanks for joining the fun today, Cara! Hope the painting is going well ;-)
Hello Dara , toilet block’s are really easy.A lot of plumbers will hate me! I’ll tell you next Friday.
Ok can’t wait! 😂
One of my childhood homes was a bungalow and my mother grew sweetpeas up the outside wall as a joke!
That’s funny 💚
Yes, my mother was very proud of herself!
@@lizbignell7813 I love that! It’s important to keep these family tales preserved ❤️
Please no more comments about our taps. We're fed up of hearing about them!!
I recommend you skip the last two minutes of the video. But the first 90% of it is not about taps! And the bathroom in Scotland I show you will hopefully make you laugh 😂
Very nice
Never gave bathroom in other places much thought. Checking you out from Xperiences or Xplorers can't remember which.
Hi there! Yes, I just finished watching your premiere ;-) Thanks for stopping by! ~ Dara
@@MagentaOtterTravels thanks for coming. I'll be watching more of yours tonight- Sue
But when US toilets block, things are floating around 😬 UK toilets just need a bit of a nudge
To be clear... how you are nudging this toilet? With a plunger?
@@MagentaOtterTravels brushes have many different uses 😬🤣
@@wencireone that is so gross! Eeeew!
I don't think I've ever seen a UK bathroom without a shower curtain around the bath, unless there's a seperate shower 🤔🤷
There's a lotta crazy stuff out there in the world, Jamie! LOL
@@MagentaOtterTravels ...true, I remember the old days when you had slam doors on the trains and everyone opened them as they entered the station jumping out as the train was still moving and knocking out a few tourists stood on the platform not aware the doors opened out!! 🤔🤦😱
@@glastonbury4304 yikes!
@@glastonbury4304 .
Those were the days when there were posters warning people not to open the doors until the train stopped.
@@grahvis ..but we all did anyway...lol
The stall is commonly called the trap
Haven't heard that one before!
Who knew so much stuff about loos :)
Clearly I have spent WAY too much time contemplating this topic!!! LOL
Thank you SO much for joining the premiere. I really appreciated your support! Cheers! XX Dara
Those electric uk showers are nasty in the uk…economy measures..
Yes, water saving = not enough pressure :-(
@@MagentaOtterTravels
Oh yes a Worcester Bosch furnace coupled with a Victorian plumbing drencher and you’re in delightful realms..