SURPRISING Differences between British & American Houses! // Toilet Buttons?! 

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Reasons to use a washing up bowl: 1, it stops breaking glasses and plates on the metal sink. 2,It keeps water hot for longer. 3,when in the middle of washing up you can still use the sink without emptying the water out, you just remove the bowl. 4, it's better for the environment as you can reuse when water, like watering plants for example.

Who's setting fire to something on a uk water filled radiator? It's warm water, not lava. Perplexed.

One reason we are much more careful with electricty in the bathroom is that the supply is at twice the voltage used in the US.

“I can confirm that a bungalow is NOT a tropical paradise getaway” LOL 😂

There is absolutely no chance whatsoever if you hang anything over a British central heating system that you are going to cause a fire.

One thing to add to the "toilet flush" debate is when you talk about pulling a cord from the ceiling, it will be a chain that is attached to the cistern. I've never seen just a rope/fabric cord used for that. But what you might see in toilets in public places is a red cord having from the ceiling ... don't pull that! That's the disabled alarm, eg for people who have fallen and can't get back up.

You've been in UK for ten years and never seen a cooker? Yes, the modern kitchen has separate hobs and ovens as an option but equally popular is the cooker all in one, we have a range cooker with two ovens, a separate grill, five gas burners and a warming pad, all in one unit. And, my microwave is built into the kitchen cupboards, its above the dishwasher!

Reasons for kitchen bowl: a) means you don’t scratch your sink, b) you can pour stuff down the sink drain when your sink is full of dishes (you can also use the half sink), c) save water - my grandparents always used the soapy dishwater to water their garden (soapy dishwater is accordingly good for getting rid of aphids)

Your washing up bowl anxiety is so funny. 😂

I couldn't deal with the microwave OVER the cooker. I'm five foot tall, if I have to pull a hot bowl of soup out of the microwave, I just know, one slip/tip & it's going to be all down my face /head /front... 😩. In Australia they're installed in our kitchen the same as in Britain - on the bench top or built in somewhere, usually at waist height or a little higher. Not head or face height.

I love that Americans go on and on about the push button. The last one I fitted was made in America. Most have been handles and have been British made.

How about u put a plug in the sink and fill it up wiv hot and cold till it’s just right

Setting a fire with a radiator good look with that we dry our clothes on ours

Sinks and bowls Like lots of things here the explanation for why things “are” is cultural inertia. If you imagine a 1920s/30s house of a working or middle class household the kitchen sink was porcelain construct holding about 5+ gallons of water. These are often now called “Butlers sinks”. This was used for multiple purposes including part of the weekly wash and bathing the children. This was often the only HOT TAP in the home, The bath supply being generated from a separate gas appliance (the geyser) as an American don’t go there unless you want to be gobsmacked, they were the device of the devil and common in UK households until the 1970’s. So to get a reasonable depth of hot water in which to do the washing up whilst not spending a fortune a bowl was used (enamel not plastic). Like everything else from 1939 till 1952 the war brought a halt to easy availability of household goods so the status quo held on. As prosperity gradually came in the 1950’s the shiny stainless steel sink became a highly desired item. In the 1950’s this was not seen as a utility item but as a luxury. So having acquired one you didn’t want to scratch it so you used a plastic bowl. I well remember being told off by my mother and her step mother for not being “careful” with the sink. Even now approaching 80 I would not dream of risking scratching the sink or draining board and so also use a plastic draining rack; pointless perhaps but guilt lingers.

You will NEVER set anything on fire by hanging it on a radiator.

When I lived in the UK whilst at school, the washing-up bowl was used by us boys to keep the soapy water, and we used the hot water tap over the other space in the sink to rinse the dishes before stacking them.

The word bungalow has it's origins in India (from the times of Empire) essentially from Bengal

Just to confirm the flush buttons on Toilets are actually the way you thought. Small button for smaller flush and large for larger flush

I'm with you on washing up bowls. I never use them at home. Useful for when you go camping, or for soaking your feet in if they're sore.

As a Brit living in America, I miss draining boards. They are so useful and sinks with boards are unobtainable here. I have an enamelled cast iron sink. The slightest bump into the side chips or cracks china and glassware. Stainless steel or resin sinks have more "give" and do much less damage. I would only use a bowl in a porcelain or cast iron sink. The bathroom electrical thing is because of the higher voltage. There are many small homes in America too, its where the poorer people live.

Oh wow, your point about the washing up bowl is absolutely hilarious!! I never thought about it before. I always thought that a washing bowl stops the sink from scratching and reduces breakages of glasses etc.

Not all houses in the UK (especially older houses) have the height for ceiling fans which is why they probably aren't more common

If it gets hot in England we open a window

We use 240v over here so don't bring your own electrical appliances. Electrical switches and outlets are not permitted in bathrooms because electricity at that voltage will jump gaps so if they get wet or your hands are wet and you touch them you will get a shock and a shock at 240v will very often prove fatal.

I use my radiators a lot in the winter to dry clothes, it does not set ur clothes on fire lol

Re Bowls. If you accidently leave a tap running the Bowl fills up overflows into the sink and drains, you never get a sink overflowing.

The bowl thing is for the soapy water and before and after going in the soapy water you can rinse the dishes with the tap in the gap between bowl and sink. You then soap them in the hot soapy water in the bowl. Rinse off and done. Without the bowl, there’s no where to rinse off the excess dirt at the beginning or suds after. Fine if you have a second sink or a waste disposal but as you know, a lot of houses don’t have that. Thats the reason behind the bowls as far as I’m aware.

I’ve never in my life seen someone so angry about the washing up bowl before... I love mine

Great fun, so many differences. Well done for adapting.👌

Ahhh, young Padawan . . . you will begin to learn a great many things as you grow older here, eventually! 1) Bathroom electrical sockets . . . yes, any moisture getting inside any of the 3 holes can indeed cause problems to an open uncovered socket. However, if you're that desperate and can't be bothered to do your hair in the bedroom or whatever - then just take an extension lead into the bathroom with you - and good luck! 2) Radiators . . . they have always been an quintessential requirement over here really. On rainy or misty damp days outside, you cannot hang clothes out on the line to dry. So just bung them on to your radiators instead. Plus, on cold or wintry days, you can warm most of your clothes up on them ready for when you get out of bed in the morning . . . as you can't beat pre-warmed clothes, or a nice pair of warmed up socks going on your feet! 3) Hot & Cold taps . . . just depends what you want to use them for really. And that large thing below the taps is called a sink or basin . . . invented to mix said water to your preferred temperature in it, and long before those modern mixer taps things were ever thought of . . . 4) House prices . . . you could likely buy a 3/4 bed detached house up here for the price of a 1 bedroom flat in London. If you want to live where everything is so expensive, then you end up paying the price for doing it . . . Flats, Terraced, Semi-Detached & Detached are their usual names. . . until you get all the way up to Mansions & Palaces . . . 5) Washing up bowls . . . Sometimes metal sinks can get scratches from the likes of knives and forks, etc, unless you only eat with plastic utensils? So it saves that from happening . . . Or, the old farmhouse style sinks were a lot larger, but made from porcelain usually, hard to scratch, but drop something heavy into it and it could get a crack. Hence using a bowl for both reasons. 5A) The smaller side option sink a lot of people use as a rinser . . . so you take the newly washed item out from the washing-up bowl, and then rinse it there before stacking it on the drainer. One reason why your "mixer" tap actually swivels that way . . . 5B) There will come a time as you get older when your tired feet might really require a good long soak. And then in comes that same washing-up bowl you now don't have to use. This is so you can just sit and read, or watch the TV, etc, and just steep your feet in the prepared warm/hot water at the same time. 6) Toilet Flushing . . . the flushing option various everywhere really. Mine has an attached push down handle. A slow full push offers a short flush, a heavier push down offers a harder flush on it. Again, different styles of toilets will vary. Just be thankful we haven't started using any Japanese ones over here, or you may need to an instructional manual just so you don't press the wrong one! 7) Microwaves, washers, dryers, and so on are classed as white goods - meaning they usually go into our kitchens here. Most houses built from from back in the day, unless you were rich enough and could afford better, were small in size, so space was at a premium. With no extra rooms available they had to go somewhere, so in the kitchen they went . . . 8) Ovens . . . again, there are various options available. Split-Level and built-in = usually means one above the other. Their placement simply depends upon space in your kitchen and what can go in it, and where. As you showed, you can have the oven hidden beneath the counter and the burners or electric hobs on the top. You can also just buy an over that will push into the gap between counters. I have, and still prefer my older style type of the single unit push-in oven, along with the raised grill above it for ease of use. So, there ya go, bonny lass, your former questions and worries have now been answered in a concise and, I hope, coherent way for you . . .

Most hot taps today (in my experience and because of old plumbing/old hot water systems) do not instantly give hot hot water straight away; so usually you can at least get your hands washed before the actually-hot water comes through.

Lots of toilets have lever flushes.

The kitchen bowl is made of plastic where as the sink is made of ceramic or metal. The idea of the bowl is to stop people chipping either the plates in the metal sink or chipping the ceramic sink when cleaning metal pots and pans.

The name " Bungalow " originated in the 1800's in India .

Hang on a minute, I'm British and I'm pretty sure that the smaller button on the 3 loos in the house IS for a pee, and the bigger one is for the other. If that's not the case, that freaks me out!

A combo washer drier is ok only faulty ones will not work right. And combos need filters cleaning out. With regards to taps that’s why you have a plug for the sink

When I was little I asked a relative why his house was called a bungalow and he said 'well, when the builder was building it he ran out of bricks so his boss said just bung a low roof on'!!

Another amazing video and epic comments!! I wonder if you have been converted to the washing up bowl yet!! 😂😂😂

I used to use a washing up bowl in secondary school because they said it stops food waste blocking pipes

Thank you for these videos, you are covering things that others are not. Will make our move easier from the US.

I am a baby-boomer. It was common to have a "dishpan" to wash dishes in. It was commonly stored under the sink. If a dishpan wasn't available, we used the "macaroni" pan (being Italian), which was deep. The dishes, etc. were scrapped and rinsed and then washed. The separate pan was used to save on water, as opposed to having the faucet/tap constantly running. As an avid Brit tv watcher (RU-vid), The Brits do have a good idea in having a switch for the outlet. That should happen here in the U.S. On that same subject, wouldn't it be a good idea for those same type of outlets (with switches) be used in bathrooms over there? That would eliminate the risk of a short circuit/fire. Anyway, great chennel. I'm enjoying it.

Okay. Here’s a question for you. How do you water your plants with the used washing up water when it’s in the sink? It’s all about water conservation. Something the British have been doing for hundreds of years.

haha! love your grandma. There are lot of townhouses in America in and near cities. But yes, equally, there are a lot of suburbs and, of course, rural areas where there are little to no townhouses

I too am from Florida but have lived in the UK many years. You gave a good account of the main differences but I have a few more. It took me a long time to get used to no screens on the windows or doors. True, there aren't as many mosquitoes here but there are flies. You can't cook in a British kitchen without scales or scissors handy. Most people hang their washing outside. The indoor walls are solid, you don't have to find the studs to hang a picture but you have to use those funny Rawl plugs.

Laughed so much and your explainations which were spot on, as a 50+ year old Brit I never knew the toilet button thing, always thought it was the other way round (like you first thought). Great video!

A washing up bowl is to stop breakages and also makes it easy to still use the sink as you can move the bowl with the items

The washing up bowl in the U.S. is called a dish pan. My mother when I was growing up in the 60's always used one. She never put the dishes directly in the sink.

The washing up bowl is simply the best….you can soak things in the bowl separately, you can take the bowl with water in, to clean up a problem….or even to soak your feet…lol

Your rant about the washing up bowls really made me laugh :)

Re hot and cold taps. The idea is that you put the plug in the plug - hole and mix the water in the basin.

The washing up bowl thing started before we had double sinks. The bowl provides the same thing as the half sink. You can pour stuff, rinse etc into the main sink while keeping the water clean in your washing up bowl. As a 40 year old woman I've no idea why people still use them if their homes have split sinks, I think its almost a habit for some now. They are a pain in arse, you have to constantly clean the things and they just look naff. Im fortunate enough to have a dishwasher so I dont even have a dish drainer on my draining board

One option is a portable A/C, widely available in the UK. Not hugely expensive. I have friends in the US who have exactly the same kind of units who used it on an as needed basis. We used ours last summer when it was hot. Gets pushed into a corner in the winter

The dish pan is something I remember growing here in the US. My grandmother’s used it. It’s still something that you can purchase here but not used like it use to be.

The "Washing up Bowl", is used like this, put dishes in and fill with warm soapy water. You then have space to pour fluid down the side and still run the tap. You can also remove the bowl and use the sink.

The plug thing made me laugh. I can imagine not thinking to turn on the socket has caused plenty of frustration. The washing up bowl thing probably has multiple explanations. One would be that it protects fine china and glassware from collisions with a stone or metal sink, at least to some degree. Also it gives you somewhere to soak stuff without tying up the sink. Sone people have multiple bowls - one for washing, one for food prep. Oh and the microwave thing - it always looks so awkward to me on US shows when people have to reach up over the hob or oven to get stuff out of the microwave. Hot liquids, potentially superheated and you have to reach and lean over to take this thing out of the microwave and head level. I'm sure that never goes wrong :-)

I lkve it over there and miss it so much I wish I could visit again 💗

During my childhood most sinks were made of stone. They were large, sometimes shallow, sometimes deep. In the 50s/60s plastic came in and washing-up bowls became popular. Less water was required and breakages were reduced.

I lived in Massachusetts and we had water radiators in each house we lived. i loved them. The only thing was to check the furnace regularly to make sure there was enough water in it.

You make me laugh!🤣 A washing up bowl gives you the opportunity to take everything out of the sink safely and easily, all in one go. Example: your sink is full of dishes and you suddenly need to clean your baking tray or frying pan. You can take all the dishes out from the sink easily in one go, clean the other item, then return the washing up bowl with the dishes in to be cleaned later by a nephew or niece who wants to earn some pocket money! Hope this helps!

The bowl in the sink comes from the days when we used to compose the potato and veg peelings when we had allotments gardens or just growing vegetables in your garden and so the bowl is so we didn’t need to pick out all of the vegetable peelings after draining the sink and just simply took the bowl out side an threw the vegetable peelings on the compost heap/mound. That isn’t done anymore unless you have a compost bin but the bowl just stuck and that’s the reason also it has the added benefit of not damaging the edges on knives as metal on metal will damage edges on knives and the plastic bowl is less likely to damage cups, plates and glasses. Hope this answers your question. Also hot water radiators will not damage or set your clothes on fire lol.

the washing up basin helps you take out basin if it has dishes in it, to gain access to our single sinks. or you can pre treat clothes in it without taking out counter space without taking away of the abity to use the sink when its needed. or use it as a portable sink for when cleaning stuff with soapy water around the house easier to get into than a bucket if your cleaning stuff at the same level your basin is at

You southerner with your fancy new-fangled double sinks, mixer taps, shaving outlets, and push-button flushes; not to mention your warm summers. :-)

Washing up bowl - originally used when homes used metal sinks. If you use a metal sink in an unheated house the hot water goes cold really quickly. The bowl also allowed housewives to soak dishes but have access to a sink in the mean time because the bowl can be left on the side to soak but also keeps their sink shiny.

Random but ceiling fans scare me. I was on holiday In Spain & I swear the fan was hanging on by a thread & swinging all over. I felt like I was In Final Destination 😂😭

I’m from Maine and grew up with “dish pan” and still use one about half of the time and I’m in my 60’s! It keeps your glasses and dishes from banging around on the metal sink and I use it all the time when I’m baking and cooking so I can continually wash my hands and wash out my pots and pans as I go. That way you’ve got hot soapy water to wash in but you can rinse them without filling your sink full of water every time you try to rinse. Your rents water can just go down the side of your dish pan. If you’ve got some cookware that needs to soak you can do it in the dish pan and still be able to run water etc. again without filling up your sink. I’m totally enjoying your videos by the way, I love anything British.

Back in the days befor Stainless steel sinks we had "Belfast sinks" pot/porcelain, bowls were used to stop it chipping or the crockery breaking. My Cousin moved to an old house 30 years ago that had a stone slab wilth a hollow an inch deep carved in it, they got a proper sink when they fitted a new kitchen, the first job on moving in.

I put the washing up bowl to the side of my single sink when I am doing the washing up. I use it to chuck any cold tea left in the mugs after I have already filled the sink. You can also use them to rinse the soap off dishes before putting them on the draining board but I tend to put water in it then and not rinse the dishes with cold tea...... Hope that makes sense! Long live the washing up bowl, hozah! 🤣

The oven you talk about is a modern version of an oven. The main difference you didn't touch on - our ovens have grills. They used to be at eye level on the old style cookers, but now they are inside the oven. I decided against renting a flat, a little while ago, based on the fact that it had a microwave above the oven. I thought it was the most dangerous set up! It could be to do with the fact that I'm only 5 feet tall, but if I'm cooking pasta on the hob, I don't want to reach over the pan up to the microwave and take out a dish of boiling hot sauce. That's an accident waiting to happen!

Air conditioning. We call them windows 😁

I use a Washing bowl at work to clean up tea mugs and dishes in the canteen away from my office, I use it at home as I can chuck it in the dishwasher so I don't have to clean it :)

Depending on what type of radiator you have you can put things to dry/heat on the radiators here in uk. Some bungalows in uk can be 2 stories if they have had a loft conversation or they were built with the second floor in the loft. Regarding flushing the loo here are still toilets with handles you push down but they are usually in older buildings. As for the 2 butting not all button toilets have 2 some just have 1. And last no not all the time is the smaller button Giving more of a flush sometimes it does once a smaller flush it depends on the manufacture. In my old house the smaller button was indeed a smaller flush. However I usually just pressed the larger own.

I grew up in South Africa and we used a washing up bowl as well. It's usually to easily dispose of any food or oil that may come off the things you are cleaning, to then easily dump in the loo or drain as supposed to clogging up the kitchen drain. Food disposals aren't as popular here as in the USA. Although they do seem to be a thing now.

U just put the plug in the sink and put both taps on, let the sink fill and there u go you have perfect temperature for the water. With regards to the washing up bowl it stops the sink getting too dirty causing lines and just destroying the shine on the sink so we use a bowl it makes sense

I am a Brit that just uses the sink for washing up. A bowl is just extra annoyance so I'm with you there. Microwaves are more commonly built-in now with newer kitchens just not above the hob. I always think that looks a bit odd. Also I much prefer our built in ovens when halfway up the unit as you can see what you are cooking more easily. I definitely agree with you Americans thought that the washing machine in the kitchen is not ideal. In every flat I've lived in I've always had it re-plumbed in a hallway cupboard. Enjoyed your video!

Ovens with hobs as one were common place with the older generations but you're right many are separate now in the UK.

Lol. As a Scot I love holidaying/vacationing in Florida.so I can appreciate most of your "differences". The only one that I will comment on for now is taps/faucets/lack of mixer tap. Here in the UK houses are fed with a pressurised water supply which is fit for drinking straight from the tap/faucet and still through lead pipes but that is a different story. But. For centuries ( I think we might be able to blame this on the Romans) houses have had water storage tanks in the attic/loft aka static tank to ensure a minimum water pressure. This attic/loft storage tank is what holds the water used to flush the toilet or feed the water boiler for hot water/central heating. The problem is that these water tanks were often uncovered and so over time accumulated dead spiders, pigeons, the occasional squirrel or anything else that failed to escape the tank making it less popular to drink... what's not to like about spider pigeon squirrel soup? The problem was, particularly in tenement flats, (I'll let you explain what a tenement is) the water pressure of the static tank could be greater than the incoming fresh water supply and so could contaminate the drinking water with the spider pigeon soup so the 2 taps were kept separate. Super modern houses now sometimes have only one water supply - no tank but the mixer taps sold / installed should have a non return valve to make sure that the "soup" remains separate from what you drink. So it's ok to shower or bathe in the soup but you wouldn't want to make soup with it . You don't want to know about the eels...

The washing up bowl conundrum... being a lazy single person, I usually soak my dishes I’ve used throughout the day (as we all know, porridge has adhesive properties) in the plastic bowl. I stick my cutlery in one of those IKEA metal drainers and that goes in there too. When I’m ready to do my dishes after my evening meal, I hoik the plastic bowl onto the worktop beside, and run fresh water to clean them directly into the sink. Got one of those plastic trivet thingies to stop chipping my china (which makes it sound like I’ve got wall-to-wall Wedgewood....I haven’t). Then rinse them in my half sink , as I don’t like leaving traces of detergent on them. Et voila! As per the lazy person situation, I leave them on my drainer to dry overnight so no buggering about with dish towels etc.

A second bowl in the sink protects the stainless steel bowl from puncture damage from a knife, I have seen a few sinks punctured by a sharp knife, requiring the sink to be replaced. It is also sometimes useful to wash vegetables.

The washing up bowl has many uses. You can fill it with water to take elsewhere in the house and garden to prepare vegetables, or wash things. It can be used on the drainer top or worktop to soak stubborn deposits on dishes, whilst you use the sink for something else. Some people also use the sink to wash dishes in soapy water, put clean water in the washing up bowl to rinse off the soap suds before stacking on the drainer to dry. Most newer, and many older houses now have a water meter, so you pay for your water, metered by the cubic metre. Rinsing dishes and washing anything under a running tap wastes more water than using a sink or bowl.

Concerning washing up bowls, we have two, the one that’s normally in the sink for washing crockery, pans etc, and another one for hand washing clothes that are sensitive and need hand washing. It means that you don’t contaminate your food preparation equipment with the dirty clothes that you’re washing.

We have old school air conditioning in the UK. It's called a window.

As for the microwave and the oven our houses as you stated tend to be small with small kitchens so space is at a premium

Haha very funny - as a Brit that’s all highly amusing. And no, I won’t be changing my beautiful taps for an ugly mixer-tap nor getting rid of my washing up bowl!

We like to water our rose bushes with the washing up water in the summer.Hence the washing up bowl.

Never wondered why we use a washing up bowl before!

It’s the other way round with toilets. In my house I have push button toilets and the small button is a short flush and the bigger one is for a full flush.

We have a washing up bowl that's slightly smaller than our sink because we only have a single sink. I only wash up once a day, having the washing up in a bowl means we can remove the washing up from the sink and have better access to the sink (filling pots & stuff) ! Also means we can still pour stuff into the sink around the bowl, without contaminating the washing up water! Say you started washing up & you realise you didn't pour out that half left glass of drink (not water), bam! You can pour it down between the bowl & sink! Literally just more convenient!

Ref washing up bowl I would suggest it's due to many houses having only one small sink. Having a bowl allows you to lift it out of the sink if you need the sink for some other purposes while you are doing the washing. However we have two sinks in our kitchen but still use a bowl. We just like it that way!

in France we call that houses which share walls with the neighbor house "maisons mitoyennes" (lit. terraced houses). it's common in cities, and in a cold country, it can be more economic to warm in winter.

That was amusing :) I went the other way from the UK to California. I live in a Bungalow here only it's called a single storey Ranch House. When I first came here I had no idea what a duplex was, It seems to be what we called a semi detached house back home. With the plugs, one unusual thing that seperates British to most other plugs is that British plugs have fuses in them. The fuses are rated to the device that they are powering and can be anything from say 0.5 amps to 13 amps. Just one more level of protection if something goes wrong and one of the reasons why they are quite big and chunky. Lol on the bowl. You wash stuff in the bowl of soapy water and rinse off on the side. In older houses back home, the cold water in the bathroom used to often come from a water tank in the roof where rain water is collected, so you weren't really supposed to drink it. Just made me realise that I brushed my teeth in that water for almost 3 decades lol.

I noticed in America that the shower heads seem to be fixed to the wall whereas in the UK (and anywhere in Europe) you can take them down and hold them in your hand to wash all over.

I don't like washing up bowls either, I put it on the counter top then put the washed washing up in it ready to be rinsed off and put on the drainer.

Oh the ever present washing bowl! I am an in student and I have been told that the washing bowl is there to collect the food scraps that result from washing the dishes because it's not safe to allow them down the drain. It doesn't make much sense to me but well, UK is pretty different

Only ever used a washing bowl when I lived at my parents . We used it to soak plates and pots to get the oil and fat off the plates .or for washing vegetables off to get the soil off them in both cases that dirty water would be used to water plants in the garden and never put down the drain so as to not block the drains . The washing basin would then be washed and put away . Like other people have said if you were soak dishes and needed to wash dirty hands or excessively dirty clothes before they go in the washing machine you can just lift the basin out and use the sink . These were just the reasons my parents used a wash basin

I'm in the u.s. and yes I use a dish pan lol. I also hate microwaves over the oven but I'm weak and short.

The reason for two taps was originally because there could easily be two different supply systems. The hot water circuit could not originally be fed from mains water at mains water pressure because the thin copper cylinders used to heat the water with an electric immersion heater were not robust enough to cope with the pressure. A header tank (cold) located in the loft space and with a fill-stop device like the one in the toilet cystern was used to feed the hot water cylinder. This tank (as-well-as the hot tank) would contain standing water and all manner of bacteria could grow in these tanks which would make the water a poor choice for drinking water. Often the cold feed to the three or four (Toilet, Sink, Bath, Shower) in the bathroom were fed from these header tanks and thus the water could not be used for drinking. However, some areas chose to install mains pressure cold to the bath, shower and sink thus allowing the water from them to be resonably safe to drink while at the same time making it impossible to fit a mixer tap because the pressures were not the same and mixing the high pressure from the mains with the low pressure on the hot would allow back-flow and possible rupture of the hot water cylinder. Nowadays, many homes have modern, highly insulated, pressurised cylinders made of stainless steel that can function on pressure derived (but not always at) mains water pressure, allowing mixers to be used. The lower pressure of the old water system also made it somewhat less messy if a tap washer (seal) or burst pipe scenario as there would be far less pressure and less flow to deal with until the water could be turned off.

Hi, you can use your radiator, to dry clothes on and they won't do any damage. It's just the electric heating that gives of hot air do not cover these types of heating...

It is usually one or three degrees warmer in London, due to all the Hot air, and your radiator, (Rad.) being up too high.

Couple of gripes. 1) that "mini sink" is called a waste disposal unit and 2) we have integrated oven and stove tops here too. We also have things called double ovens where the bottom oven basically just cooks, whereas the top oven cooks, Grills and microwaves.