Reason #1: Historical

Most British housing dates back to the 19th and early

20th centuries, before water mixers and modern
valves appeared. Some dwellings are much older,
one of the consequences of living in a part of the
world with few earthquakes.

When internal plumbing was introduced, it began with

a simple system sending cold water directly from the
network to the kitchen. Hot water was added later,
separately. Thus, a dual system was created.

Reason #2: Respect for the law

© retromixer

In the UK, there’s a law that prohibits mixing cold

water and hot water from a boiler. The fact is that
there’s no central heating in the country, and there’s
a gas column in each house (which British people call