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Vintage Telephony and Telecomms Vintage Telephones, Telephony and Telecomms Equipment |
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21st May 2021, 5:57 pm | #1 |
Heptode
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK.
Posts: 597
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Telephones suitable for bathroom installation ?
Do, or did, any of these exist specifically with the idea of putting them in a bathroom or any other steamy or damp location ? The reason I ask is I've recently bought a BT Minstrel and it looks the same model as those I remember in the bathrooms of the Forte Crest Hotel (as it was then) at Manchester Airport in the mid-1990s. Strange place to see a telephone and I haven't seen a bathroom phone since but that's the history!
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21st May 2021, 8:23 pm | #2 |
Heptode
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Edinburgh, UK.
Posts: 805
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Re: Telephones suitable for bathroom installation ?
I think Minstrel was Hyacinth Bucket's white slim-line push-button telephone with last number redial.
I think there was a version of the bakelite handset 164 with a leather-covered cord suitable for fish markets and open cab ranks, but I can't find the reference right now. |
21st May 2021, 8:31 pm | #3 |
Octode
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Saltburn-East, Cleveland, UK.
Posts: 1,786
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Re: Telephones suitable for bathroom installation ?
Hi, for what it's worth I have always had a telephone in the bathroom. Originally a Conso Convi, which was one of the many "non approved" models that appeared in the early 1980's and latterly an Answercall Dash, which are marketed under other manufacturers guises - the Answercall Dash can be identified by the green light up keypad.
To answer your question I don't think that there were any telephones that were exclusively designed for use in a humid atmosphere, such as a bathroom, unless you include the "tropical' variants that some manufacturers produced however I suspect that "tropical' just meant that there was a mesh inserted behind the ventilation holes to prevent insects crawling inside. One thing I can say is that the BT Vangaurd range of telephones would not be suitable for use in a bathroom as the instruction manual states that they are unsuitable for use in a Kitchen, so I would guess that, similarly, they wouldn't last long in a bathroom either. Regards Andrew |
21st May 2021, 8:49 pm | #4 |
Heptode
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK.
Posts: 597
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Re: Telephones suitable for bathroom installation ?
Thankyou all. I might put the Minstrel in the bathroom and see how long it survives. It appears to be the UK equivalent of the American Trimline - I wonder if they were bathroom compatible?
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22nd May 2021, 6:31 am | #5 |
Octode
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: Yorkshire, England.
Posts: 1,301
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Re: Telephones suitable for bathroom installation ?
In "Friends" Joey has a phone in his bathroom, next to the toilet, and Rachel says "Don't ever call me from THAT phone"!
I echo that sentiment.
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22nd May 2021, 11:58 am | #6 |
Dekatron
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Greater Manchester, UK.
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Re: Telephones suitable for bathroom installation ?
In American sit-coms of that era the handset curly coards were often ridiculously long, which gave the characters the ability to move about more on the set, but I never quite worked out if they were commonly as long in real life.
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22nd May 2021, 12:36 pm | #7 |
Dekatron
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Location: Brentwood, Essex, UK.
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Re: Telephones suitable for bathroom installation ?
On a business trip to Korea more than a decade ago, my hotel room in Seoul had three phones: one at the desk, one by the bed, and one in the shower room, next to the W.C.
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22nd May 2021, 1:17 pm | #8 |
Heptode
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK.
Posts: 597
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Re: Telephones suitable for bathroom installation ?
Really long curly handset cords are a genuine option and not just for television programmes. My red 2500 in the kitchen has one such cord. The Minstrel I've bought (not got it yet) looks fairly standard so it might not reach all corners of my bathroom.
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22nd May 2021, 2:18 pm | #9 |
Guest
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Re: Telephones suitable for bathroom installation ?
One of my Trimphones has a very long lead, most of it is not curly.
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22nd May 2021, 2:23 pm | #10 |
Octode
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: Yorkshire, England.
Posts: 1,301
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Re: Telephones suitable for bathroom installation ?
Good!
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22nd May 2021, 2:44 pm | #11 |
Dekatron
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Derby, UK.
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Re: Telephones suitable for bathroom installation ?
My thoughts also, Ken. If I'm in the bathroom, then I'm probably either in the shower, or already answering a more important call .....
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22nd May 2021, 3:14 pm | #12 |
Dekatron
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Location: Leominster, Herefordshire, UK.
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Re: Telephones suitable for bathroom installation ?
If you really want to use a phone whilst on the throne I would suggest a small shelf upon which can be placed a mobile or cordless phone, taken in as required rather than installed.
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22nd May 2021, 7:08 pm | #13 |
Moderator
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Re: Telephones suitable for bathroom installation ?
Indeed!
Would I really want to be holding something wet and connected to miles of wire beyond the house while I happened to be rather "well earthed"? Besides there is the matter of the transmission of unintentional 'noises off' David
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22nd May 2021, 8:57 pm | #14 |
Heptode
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK.
Posts: 597
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Re: Telephones suitable for bathroom installation ?
It's just an idea and not a very serious one. Evidently at least one hotelier was more committed.
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22nd May 2021, 9:37 pm | #15 |
Nonode
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: Cambridge, Cambs. UK.
Posts: 2,198
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Re: Telephones suitable for bathroom installation ?
When first travelling on business to the USA in the 1970s, I was mightily impressed with the standard fitment of the bathroom phone. It spoke of the uninterruptible character of the American business world!
It now seems to be disappearing, no doubt superseded by the mobile. Martin
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22nd May 2021, 9:44 pm | #16 |
Dekatron
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Location: Penrith, Cumbria, UK.
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Re: Telephones suitable for bathroom installation ?
I used a wall-mounted BT Statesman in my bathroom for years and never had a problem with it. I couldn't reach it from the bath or shower - just the 'throne'.
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23rd May 2021, 1:31 am | #17 | |
Dekatron
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Greater Manchester, UK.
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Re: Telephones suitable for bathroom installation ?
Quote:
Back on topic, it seems there was a time, in some parts of the world, where a phone in the bathroom might just be enough to get your hotel that coveted fifth star. https://www.express.co.uk/travel/art...hotel-bathroom Personally, I don't need to answer the phone in hotel bathrooms, that's what ones entourage is paid to do ;-)
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23rd May 2021, 6:18 am | #18 |
Hexode
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Ryde, Isle of Wight, UK.
Posts: 419
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Re: Telephones suitable for bathroom installation ?
Just a thought, and I have no BT experience, but I have experienced a few nasty tingles, when installing extension phone sockets in the past, so personally, I don't think I would really fancy using a corded phone, while wallowing in the Tub, the words water, Earth and Co Op spring to mind.
Also is it not the case that any electrical equipment installed in a Bathroom that operates on more that 36 Volts, has to be compliant with Wiring Regs BS7671 ? Ken G6HZG.
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23rd May 2021, 9:30 am | #19 |
Heptode
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK.
Posts: 597
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Re: Telephones suitable for bathroom installation ?
I confess I have never tried to use a bathroom telephone; never even picked one up. Maybe they're not wired in, for the reasons Ken has given, and are dummy units for show. Or to attain the fifth star, as Rambo suggests.
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23rd May 2021, 8:14 pm | #20 | |
Dekatron
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Re: Telephones suitable for bathroom installation ?
Quote:
The later 700-series instruments had a modified earpiece with small holes in a continuous plastic face, rather than a larger hole allowing the three holes in the metal of the rocking-armature receiver insert to be touched. But I think this modification was to mitigate against static-induced charges.
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