Hotel room coffee makers

Have you ever noticed how often hotels place the coffee maker in the bathroom? Have you ever had reservations about using them? If you do use them and you want to keep using them, you might want to stop reading now, because this may change your mind.




Here are some statistics I dug up:

-when a toilet is flushed, particles from the toilet can spray up to 20 feet, contaminating flat surfaces, the sink, even your toothbrush! (YouTube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6nGgS6ADoI) (side bar note: this really is an argument for everyone to put the lid down...the big lid/cover, not just the seat, unless maybe you have a separate "throne" room off your bathroom)

-in addition to the above potential contaminants, coffee makers often stay wet inside, which is a breeding area for bacteria.

-hotel cleaning staff have been observed "cleaning" coffee pots (regardless of location) with cleaning cloths previously used on the toilet, bathroom sink and even the bathroom floor.

-I was surprised to read some observations about coffee pots testing positive for methamphetamines (apparently people go to hotels to make the stuff??)

So what to do. Personally, I never use a coffee maker that is housed in a hotel bathroom. ( I can't get past the vision of thousands of flushes and the subsequent 20 ft sprays containing particles of whatever was in the toilet!) I do use the ones that are outside the bathroom, but I always run at least one pot of water through them first, throw that out and then repeat.



One last note - one article suggested the following "experiment" for kids to teach them the importance of putting down the toilet lid before flushing (note this isn't about the seat, its about the lid!) Put a few drops of food coloring in the toilet bowl. Lift the lid and apply plastic wrap (the clingy stuff) over the toilet bowl. Flush the toilet and check out what is on the plastic wrap. Note: I haven't done this but I may give it a try with Garrett, age 4, who doesn't quite get the concept of putting down the lid!