We love some good old trivia here at Legacy Mechanical. Want to brush up on your plumbing, heating and cooling knowledge?
Here are some fun facts! Did you know…
Albert Einstein was inducted as an honorary member of the Plumbers and Steamfitter Union after he announced that he would become a plumber if he had to live his life over again.
The toilet is flushed more times during the Super Bowl halftime show than any other time during the year.
The word furnace comes from “Formax”, the Greek word for oven.
Over $100,000 was spent on a study to determine how most people hang their toilet paper on the holder—over or under. Turns out, three out of four people prefer the flap on the top. And according to the US Patent Office, the original patent outlined the appropriate way to hang toilet paper on the roll was flap on top.
There are actually two common types of plungers—a toilet plunger and a sink/shower plunger. Toilet plungers narrow at the bottom to fit the toilet drain, while sink and shower plungers have a flat rim.
In 1929, a series of sewer explosions occurred in Ottawa, Canada. Contrary to initial reactions, it likely wasn’t caused by methane gas, but rather by shop owners pouring flammable oils down drains as the still-unregulated automobile industry took off.
The most recognized video game character in the world is… a plumber! Nintendo’s Mario, of Super Mario Brother’s fame, was created by Shigeru Miyamoto and has appeared in more than 200 games.
Hot water heat recycling is the process of recovering heat from used water, primarily from sinks, showers, dishwashers and washing machines. Heat exchanger systems can systems can recover as much as 60% of the heat that normally goes down the drain.
There are more than 10 different types of common end-user plumbed-in fixtures. Can you name them? They include toilets, urinals, drinking fountains, sinks, bathtubs, showers, ice makers, humidifiers, plumbed-in coffee pots, eye wash stations, washers, dishwashers and fountains. (And we install them all!)
At 140 degrees, it takes 5 seconds for water to burn skin. At 160 degrees, it takes only 1/2 of a second. Home hot water systems should be set no hotter than 125 degrees. Make sure to keep your family safe!
Pipes haven’t always been made of metal. In the 1800s, both Boston and Montreal used wooden pipes; they were logs that were hollowed out and tapered at the ends.
In Japan, some urinals have voice-activated flush mechanisms. According to online resources, these urinals respond to as many as 30 different languages and several terms, including “fire”.
The Chicago Water Tower was one of the only buildings to survive the Great Chicago fire of 1871. Now a historical site, it is the only building from this time still standing in the area.
A leak can prevent a leak. The cast iron piping systems used for early heating systems used hub and spigot joints that were made tight with a “rust joint”. Jute or cotton packing was tamped into the hub around the pipe, then a mixture of iron filings, sal ammoniac and sulfur was puttied into the joint. This would harden into a cold weld, making the joint leakproof. Variations of the joint compound were used, one person using urine in the mix. It was found, by on-the-job experiments that human urine made superior joints.
Hand me that Stillson! That familiar pipe wrench originated in 1869 when a former steamboat fireman, Daniel Stillson, suggested that the heating and piping firm Walworth manufacture a radical new ratcheting design of wrench for screwing pipes together. Before that, serrated blacksmith tongs were used. A skeptical James Walworth told Stillson to make up a sample and “either twist off the pipe or break the wrench”. After a piece of twisted off wrought iron pipe was displayed to the company’s astounded officers, they ordered Stillson to patent the design. Walworth manufactured the wrench and Stillson was paid $80,000 in royalties during his lifetime. The Stillson pipe wrench continues to be manufactured and used today with no change in design.
Australians rate plumbers as the fifth most desirable profession to go on a date with, accordingg to career networking site Linkme. What do Canadians think?
The English opinion of American heating. Although most of the early advances in heating took place in Great Britain, English practice was to maintain very cool rooms, with inside temperatures rarely exceeding the 50s. A 19th century English visitor, experiencing our warm buildings, noted that our systems were “…a terrible grievance to the persons not accustomed to it and a fatal misfortune to those who are. Casual visitors are nearly suffocated and constant occupiers killed.”
Did you know that in 2004, there was over 91,000 miles of water distribution piping (4”+ pipe) in Canada. 78% of those pipes are made of PVC.
Did you know that snow, sponges on a stick and The Old Farmers Almanac were all previously used as toilet paper?
When A/C systems were first introduced, the output settings were measured in “Ice Power”—in other words, how many blocks of ice it would take to produce the same amount of cooling power.
The first sink was invented in 1820 and through 1900 evolved to become the sinks we know and use today.
Ever wondered why manhole covers are round instead of square? A round manhole cover cannot fall through it’s circular opening, whereas a square manhole cover could be turned diagonally and fall through. Circular manhole covers are also easier to place back into the original position and do not need to be rotated for alignment.
Contrary to popular belief, the direction of the swirling water in a toilet bowl does not depend on whether the toilet is located in the northern or Southern Hemisphere. Instead, the direction the water takes depends on the direction that the bowl’s rim jets are pointed. The water can be made to flush in either direction regardless of location.
The first showers were invented by the Greeks around 300 B.C. Ancient Greek athletes would freshen up within the stadiums using a piped in water supply that would spray down through shower heads shaped like the faces of boars and lions.
Do you know the most common item dropped down bathroom sinks? According to research—it’s jewelry! Any type of jewelry, from earrings to rings, tumble their way down drains every year more than any other object.
In a typical household, flushing the toilet accounts for 38% of all water usage. A low flow toilet can save you up to 18,000 gallons of water in one year.
Washing machine hoses are typically made of reinforced rubber, which can lose resilience and burst as it gets older. A hose failure at 70 PSI will expel 625 galloons of water per hour. It is recommended to have your washing machine hoses replaced every 3-5 years.
Before finding music, Ozzy Osborne was a plumbing apprentice. When asked about it, the famous musician stated that he had formerly wanted to pursue his plumbing passion!
Willis Carrier was responsible for inventing the air conditioner. He originally created the air conditioner for the publishing company he worked for in Brooklyn, to keep the temperature and humidity low enough for paper to refrain from expanding and contracting.
The average water consumption of an average person amounts to 33 gallons when taking a shower. Actually, the value really depends on the water pressure of your shower. While high water pressure feels great, it comes at a price. These shower heads can release about 5 gallons per minute. A 10 minutes shower would use up almost 50 gallons of water!
Industrial workers were sluggish in hot buildings during the summer, slowing or even stopping production during the sweltering summer months. Even the government shut down during parts of the summer for that very same reason!
With the development of effective temperature control, refrigeration has revolutionized almost every aspect of modern industry. Without air conditioning, the following things would be virtually impossible: the manufacturing of computers and chipsets, data storage centres, the production, delivery and storage of food, pharmaceutical manufacturing and chemical manufacturing.
The terms faucet and spigot were once used only in the Northern and Southern US, respectively. The terms have come to be used interchangeably, although spigot is more commonly used for outdoor connections.
The fire sprinkler was invented in 1864 by Henry Par Melee to protect his piano factory. He patented the idea, but by 1883 had only successfully had the system installed in 10 factories.
Great Britain’s King George II died as a result of falling off a toilet on October 25, 1760. Careful out there!
In 1939, the American luxury car company Packard invents the first automobile with air-conditioning. A welcome addition, right? Not exactly. In order to activate the air conditioning, the driver had to stop the engine, open the hood and disconnect a compressor belt. It wasn’t the most consumer-friendly design, but it worked. I suppose you have to start somewhere.
Keeping Garfield on ice. In 1881, a wounded James Garfield is tended by doctors in the White House after being shot by an assassin. In order to keep Garfield comfortable in the Washington summer heat, Navy engineers rigged up a makeshift air conditioner that dropped the temperature in the room by 20 degrees, Even though the device worked, it used a massive amount of ice in the process. Despite these best efforts, Garfield succumbed to his wounds months later.
One in ten homeowners is guilty of turning a blind eye on leaks that waste at least 90 gallons of water a day. (Don’t be one of them!)
On average, people spend a full three years of their life sitting on the toilet. Don’t forget to get up and stretch once in a while!
Clothing for pipes? The necessity for pipe insulation was recognized after the Civil War. Such insulation was referred to as “clothing” and was usually made of plaster, felt or even lam-black, a find carbon powder. These “modern” insulating materials had replaced “hair felt”, a covering made from cattle hair. “It was found to have one serious defect — under the action of heat, vermin bred rapidly in this material."“
There is a one in 10,000 chance that during your lifetime, you will be injured by a toilet.
Who is John Harington and how is he related to plumbing anyway? Sir John “The John” Harington is credited with inventing the flushable toilet in 1596. He called it the “Ajax” a shortened version of “a jakes”. "At the time, common slang for the toilet was “Jakes”. Unfortunately, Sir John’s designation for the flushable toilet didn’t stick, but his name sure did!
Many famous people have died on toilets. Elvis Presley is the most famous example often trotted out, but other noteworthy bathroom deaths include film legend Judy Garland, comedian Lenny Bruce, Don Simpson, the producer of blockbusters like Beverley Hills Cop and Top Gun, and the King George II of England.
Steam heating with no boiler? One attempt to lower the cost of heating systems was the introduction of the “gas steam radiator” in 1897. The Idea was to place a small gas burner under the radiator and directly heat it. These were made by a number of manufacturers in the 1920s.
Some early heating systems in large buildings used a combination of radiators on the outside walls and a forced warm-air system. This was referred to as a “split system”.
Mushrooms in the theatre. About 1890, George Knowles invented a register consisting of a short tube with a bell-shaped cap, designed to be placed on the floor below a theatre seat so warm air flowed up, warming the patron. These “mushroom ventilators” were popular into the 1930s, but did have on drawback: “…sub the air comes up from around the feet, it carried with it the dust and doors from the feet.” Yuck!
The earliest known toilet is two thousand years old and is located in China.
The ancient Romans called the bathroom the necissarium, the ancient Egyptians called it the house of horror and in France, it is sometimes called ‘le chambre sent’ which means the smelly house.
Summer vacation exists because at the near the turn of the century, hot, stuffy schools were intolerable. Although air conditioning has made it possible for students to be comfortable year-round, the vacation schedule never changed.
The earliest ventilation system had Ivy League status. In 1899, a ventilation system was installed in the dissecting room at Cornell University—that way, the students could dissect cadavers without the smell.
You can thank your air conditioner for modern medicine. Did you know that a lot of the medications we use today were developed in laboratories with temperature-sensitive tools and equipment? In other words, we wouldn’t have medications that fight everything from the common cold to cancer treatments if it weren’t for our cooling systems. Now that’s a scary thought!
Herbert Hoover was the first president to have the luxury of AC. Can you imagine running a country during a hot summer in DC? Hoover sure couldn’t! In fact, he spent $30,000 on the system not too long after the stock market crash in 1929.
Movie theaters used to be the coolest—literally. When air conditioning technology became more prevalent in the early 1900s, movie theater owners invested in AC systems in order to fill seats during the stickiest and hottest days of the year. It worked—most people didn’t have home air conditioning, so the movie theater was the perfect escape.
Allergies and air conditioners go together like peanut butter and jelly. Okay, they won’t taste as good as a PB&J, but air conditioners have proven to have a positive effect on people who suffer from asthma. Why? Air conditioners are able to remove allergens and other smaller particles from indoor air—that means less sneezing and more relaxing.
Americans love their air conditioners. Okay, this one may be a given, but did you know that each year, people in the US consume more energy to power their AC units than the whole continent of Africa uses entirely? Now that’s dedication to cooling.
What Happens In Vegas Would Have Happened Elsewhere. Without the invention of air conditioning, chances are Las Vegas would be in a northeastern part of America due to the high heat the city and surrounding states experience, particularly in the summer. Populations in southern states like Nevada and Arizona didn’t spike until after the invention of AC, because then people were able to live there without having to combat the heat.
The First Fully Air Conditioned Home. Charles Gates, heir to the barbed wire fortune, was the first person to have a home that was fully air conditioned. It was built in Minneapolis in 1913. Unfortunately, due to his untimely death on a hunting trip before the house was completed, he never got to enjoy it.
The New York Stock Exchange Building in NYC was one of the first buildings to use air conditioning in 1903.
The Romans did not invent the concept of plumbing and drainage systems. As early as 3000 B.C., the idea of plumbing was already used by the people of the Indus River Valley in India. They used pipes made of clay and earth to have access to clean water and to dispose of wastewater.
According to an article in the New York Times, lightning has traveled through plumbing before due to metal pipes being excellent conductors.
The World's Most Expensive Toilet. You might think that the world’s most expensive toilet is covered in gold (like the Hang Fung toilet), or comes from Japan (where toilets can warm your bum and talk to you), but you would be wrong. The most expensive toilet in the world lives on the International Space Station. Costing a cool $19 million, this toilet not only straps astronauts in place, it sucks waste away into a tank where it is then converted into drinking water.