The vital importance of a tap.

Imagine the fun of getting up in the morning and facing a long walk with a bucket down to the nearest river or artesian well to get the days, or at least morning’s, water supply. This is for drinking, washing and cooking so it needs to be a considerable amount. When you also consider that the average UK household uses 400 litres a day that’s a lot of trips back and forth. Thank heavens then for a plumbing system and most importantly the Tap to deliver it. We all like a decent tap especially as we spend a large amount of time washing our hands each day. This is where a Washroom supplier Gloucestershire company can help you out with the products that you may be looking for in your office and workplace.

A brief history of taps and plumbing

Taps and plumbing are not the modern miracle that you would first expect. There is evidence of the use of them since 1700BC. The Greeks, Romans and Egyptians all had a good understand of the use of gravity fed plumbing systems. Rome itself was able to accommodate public and private baths plus fountains and cisterns dotted throughout the city for public use. They also developed the faucet or tap. This pressure based release system allowed users to regulate the flow of water out of the aqueduct and into the receptacle to carry it, such as a bucket.

Modern taps and the electronic sensor tap

The world of water management took a back seat after the end of the Roman Empire and it wasn’t until the late 1700’s that we started to use taps and plumbing again with any regularity. Most homes were, and still are to some degree, given a washroom/bathroom suite where there were two taps. One specifically for cold and one for hot. Early twentieth century home owners became very adept at getting the balance of the water right to create a nice median temperature. In 1937 Al Moen burned his hand on the very hot water coming out of the tap. He reasoned that there had to be a way to incorporate both cold and hot. The Single tap was conceived and now homeowners could adjust the tap to deliver a mix of cold and hot water avoiding burning and getting the balance right straight away.

The tap has had many such upgrades throughout the twentieth century. One of the best is the use of the electronic sensor tap. This is operated by a sensor so that no contact with the handle is required. This avoids germs, makes it easier for disabled people to use and it cuts out so water isn’t wasted.

Summary

This article traces the history of the tap, from carrying water by bucket to the gravity-fed plumbing systems used by the Greeks, Romans and Egyptians as early as 1700BC. It explains that plumbing knowledge was largely lost after the fall of Rome and only returned in the late 1700s, before covering modern upgrades such as the electronic sensor tap, which reduces germs and water waste.

Questions this article raises

• How did Roman plumbing systems actually distribute water across a city?
• Why did plumbing knowledge decline for so long after the Roman Empire?
• How much water do sensor taps typically save compared with manual ones?