Hot or Cold water to Boil water question

[NZDoug]

When doing the dishes by hand in the kitchen sink, with our single faucet tap expelling hot water from the mixer, my wife decides to fill the electric kettle to boil water for a coffee or pot of tea or whatever.
She insists on running the tap until cold water comes out then proceeds to fill the kettle.
Then I have to run the tap again to get hot to come out so I can finish the dishes.
I tell her that shes wasting heat energy and water by doing this.
She claims that there is a valid reason to use cold water for the kettle.
Whos right?

 

[SRL]

Every manufacturer of coffee, tea or just about any piece of equipment associated with making coffee or tea, will give you a reason why you should use cold water. Ooooo, more scary impurities might be dissolved in the hot water. They're all bunk, in my opinion.

Hehe, on my coffee maker (Bunn) it has a hot water reservoir. I have to put in cold water to push the hot water up and out through the filter basket. So I have to use cold water! Ironic. LOL

 

[kitchenelf]

Is it really worth being right if the autopsy reveals an electric coffee pot there?????

 

[Alix]

Many cities still have some lead pipes and that is the reason to use cold water. If you use hot water it can leach some lead from the pipes and carry it to the water you are about to ingest. You can use hot water for washing etc because you are not going to be drinking your dishwater.

If your municipality has completed removed all lead pipes you can tell your wife to fill with hot water, but until you know that for a fact, she is right.

 

[attie]

Many cities still have some lead pipes and that is the reason to use cold water. If you use hot water it can leach some lead from the pipes and carry it to the water you are about to ingest. You can use hot water for washing etc because you are not going to be drinking your dishwater.

If your municipality has completed removed all lead pipes you can tell your wife to fill with hot water, but until you know that for a fact, she is right.

All of our hidden in the wall pipework here is copper mostly soldered with lead in our older homes so we also use the cold water only to fill the jug method, mind you, I feel it's a bit of an old wifes tale but that's what we do.

 

[mike in brooklyn]

might your problem be solved by keeping a jar
of cold water in the fridge?
yes you are right - you are wasting energy as you described
and you are wasting water too.

 

[SRL]

Hmmm ... lead. That explains the why I've gained weight over the years!

 

[msmofet]

Is it really worth being right if the autopsy reveals an electric coffee pot there?????

 

[NZDoug]

Thanks all, for your informative replies.
I wont tell her Im right, just, Im not wrong.
Our water pipes are blue plasticky hose and its sometimes above ground, as it doesnt freeze here.
So one has to watch out for hoons, drunks and louts trashing it.
Also, our crappy city council patches one bit then the next bit blows under the road next to it, so one can always see the new big plasticky pipes going in,as the roads rip up in sequence.
I think the council workers enjoy working in my area.....

 

[justplainbill]

Hot tap water is generally considered to be less potable than cold tap water.

 

[NZDoug]

Hot tap water is generally considered to be less potable than cold tap water.

They both came from the same tap cold, only one a minute or 3 after the other.
Same source, in udder voidz.

 

[jet]

Many cities still have some lead pipes and that is the reason to use cold water. If you use hot water it can leach some lead from the pipes and carry it to the water you are about to ingest. You can use hot water for washing etc because you are not going to be drinking your dishwater.

If your municipality has completed removed all lead pipes you can tell your wife to fill with hot water, but until you know that for a fact, she is right.

Can you cite any references to back up that claim?

 

[tropical cooker]

Hot water heaters have things in the tank called anodes. The elevated temperature of the hot water pipes speeds up the oxidation/reduction reaction of the pipes. (They rust or corrode faster.) The anodes put and/or take ions from the water to reduce the corrosion on the pipes. So hot water from the tap has yummy ions from the anode and from the pipes themselves as they rust. Ions are dissolved elemental chemicals in water. The cold side of the tap will have less of these dissolved elements.

 

[Lizannd]

Have you ever tasted the hot water from your faucet?

That just might end the debate.

 

[SRL]

Oh! That's how I explained the "mystery of life" to my daughter!

Once upon a time, there were two molecules who loved each other verrry much. One was named Na and the other was named Cl. Now Na was very positive, because he was a cation with a lot of potential. On the other hand, Cl was a little negative because she was an anion, but still, they were quite attracted to each other. So Na gave Cl an electron as a gift and asked her to bond with him. She thought about it and decided that, for her, a proper bond consisted of 1 cation and 1 anion and let no man put asunder. So she accepted the electron and before long, a new molecule was born: NaCl. Then we put NaCl on our eggs and ate it.

Wait, that wasn't the "mystery of life". It was her chemistry class.

 

[Alix]

Can you cite any references to back up that claim?

Why would I need to do that? If you doubt the veracity of the statement you can look it up. I won't be offended. I'm not trying to defend a position, just to answer a question. I would guess your municipality is different from mine, but I am speaking of my own experience. I don't really see any need to go look up newspaper articles that may or may not have been archived on the internet to prove anything. Believe it or not as you will. Scroll through this thread and see the other post about copper piping with lead welds. It happened all the time a few decades ago.

 

[justplainbill]

Plenty of info out there if hot water leaching is googled

 

[the cookie monster]

If I'm just filling a pot or kettle or what ever to boil water, it doesn't really matter. If ingesting hot water straight from the tap was that dangerous to our health, I don't think we'd be allowed to use it (or there would at least be a warning)! I use warm water to fill pots, but sometimes when I want a cup of tea really quick I turn it to hot and fill my cup with the hot water straight from the tap. I haven't gotten ill or died yet. :P

 

[JohnL]

I always use cold water because it's fresher!
Think about it, you use at least twice the amount of cold water to hot. I really haven't done a taste test though.

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

If you live in a place where water is provided by a city source, all that comes into your house is cold water and runs through the same pipes, be they lead, plastic, or cast iron. Once the water reaches your house, half goes to your water heater, which if electric, uses a carbide heating element (not metalic), and if its a gas powered unit, uses gas-fed flame to heat a reservoir of water. The pipes in your home may be made from a couple of things. Depending on the pipe, you may or may not have metalic leaching to worry about. My potable water pipes are copper, soldered with silver solder so I don't have to worry about lead. And my water comes from a well, but that's a moot point for this discussion. The hot water will save time as it will come to temperature more quickly than will its cold cousin. And, the only time you will need to worry is if you have pipes with lead solder in your home. And those, my friend, should be replaced as soon as possible.

Hot water doe not flow through city water pipes to your home. Your home hot water heater does the heating of your hot water.

Seeeeeeeya; Goodweed of the North