Posted on 01/29/2008 2:21:05 AM PST by neverdem
Edited on 01/29/2008 7:03:01 AM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]
The claim has the ring of a myth. But environmental scientists say it is real.
On the other hand, maybe water heaters could actually help filter some of the junk found in the city/well water. Who knows.
Of course my cat's been drinking toilet water for 15 years and she's still going strong.
Nanoparticles Generate Supersonic Shock Waves to Target Cancer
Microscope Sees with Nanoscale Resolution
FReepmail me if you want on or off my health and science ping list.
We had lead pipes in our house until several years ago. Growing up here, my mom told us to only use the cold water for drinking because of the lead pipes.
I have this mental picture of some Darwin Award candidate with his mouth on the faucet, turning it on to full hot. Too early, too much coffee ......
Interesting that the article is using the word "plumbing" in the classic sense, which is to mean "solder". Of course, modern "plumbing", which takes into account the piping and associated fixtures, is not up to 8% lead.
And I'm assuming you made that coffee with hot water...uh oh (just kidding.)
In Panajachel, Guatemala the cold water is hotter than the hot water. And, boy does it smell.
The wells that supply the town's water yield volcanically heated, sulfurous water that is hot when it comes out of the tap.
On a cold morning the toilet steams after you flush.
I know this because I spent an entire Christmas day with my head in the toilet. But that's another story...
we have older copper pipes sweated with lead. I have and do use hot water in cooking or to make a quicker cup of instant coffee or tea.....
....1 years ago I had my doctor, during my annual physical, test me for lead and mercury as I reload my own ammo with lead (and shoot a lot) and sometimes come in contact with mercury at work.
Zip, Zero, Nadda. Nothing, not even a trace.
I was bummed when I couldn’t get 60/40 lead tin solder anymore for doing plumbing repairs around the house....it works so much better.
Lead is something you don’t want to consume (or have lodged in your body;). The article skipped what you should actually do about lead in drinking water (from EPA website):
-—begin excerpt-—
Quick Tips to Reduce Your Family’s Exposure to Lead
Use cold water for drinking or cooking. Never cook or mix infant formula using hot water from the tap.
Make it a practice to run the water at each tap before use.
Do not consume water that has sat in your home’s plumbing for more than six hours. First, make sure to run the water until you feel the temperature change before cooking, drinking, or brushing your teeth, unless otherwise instructed by your utility.
Some faucet and pitcher filters can remove lead from drinking water. If you use a filter, be sure you get one that is certified to remove lead by the NSF International.
-—end excerpt-—
Running the water until temp change is something that isn’t taught enough, and of course runs counter to conservation. However, human internal consumption is a pretty small source of water use. Filtration, including the filtered pitchers, works.
“Of course my cat’s been drinking toilet water for 15 years and she’s still going strong.”
LOL
I can’t go to the bathroom without being accompanied by my cat who hops up on the bathroom sink and waits for me to turn on the cold water faucet so she can get a drink of fresh running water.
I was always taught to only cook with cold faucet water. The hot water sits and sits in the water heater, being heated and reheated. It is stale and has the sediment and rust from the water heater in it.
That’s exactly what my cat does!
My dad taught me not to use the hot water for cooking or drinking, but he said he didn’t really know why. He’d never noticed any taste difference, but he supposed things were supposed to get into it from sitting in the water heater. He never said anything about LEAD being in the water.
I’m not sure I believe any of this. The way they’ve gone after asbestos and lead paint, the trial lawyers would be on lead plumbing like a dog on a bone.
But I STILL don’t use the hot water for coffee making or other consumption. Just wasn’t taught that way, doesn’t feel right.
Operative word = could.
Thermodynamics 101, but there is no real nexus to say that by its mere presence in the micro amounts found that it will either be absorbed or accumulated in the person drinking the water. It doesn’t even show that the potential accumulated amounts have any effect.
(SPSPIC)Science for the purpose of scaring people into compliance.
“I have and do use hot water in cooking or to make a quicker cup of instant coffee or tea.....”
Get yourself one of those electric water kettles (like the Cuisine Art or Hamilton Beach brand), they work great and are very fast.
Have you looked into the PEX plumbing and water lines, etc?
I wouldn’t say “never” drink hot water from the tap, but I try to avoid it.
I’ve changed a few hot water tanks in my day. The sludge and crud in those things is more than a little distasteful.
I have ZERO lead in my body. did you read my post?
Another great argument for replumbing my whole house. I have a total mish-mash of plumbing that has been added to, rearranged, and changes from copper to galvanized, to pvc, and to cpvc for the hot water. The water to my kitchen takes over twenty seconds to get hot due to all the diversions, while the water to my self-installed upstairs bathroom is hot in around 5 seconds though farther from the hot water heater.
pvc is great for plumbing, and eliminates this lead risk, while adding an extra insulation factor.
Hot tap water just tasts worse, that’s all I need to know.
Any non-polar organic compound would be more likely to boil off.
Ya know, it’s amazing we’re not all dead with so many dangers in the world - there’s lead in tap water, there’s cancer cells in mother’s milk so don’t breast feed, and of course a nice grilled hamburger will also give you cancer.
Bring back clackers!
My grandfather was a plumber, and everyone in the family runs the cold tap long enough to fill and discard three glasses of water before filling the glass to drink.
He always said it was to get the dirty water out of the pipes and get the clean water flowing through.
From old news stories, I’ve read that old plumbing is safe because mineral deposits in the pipes keep water away from lead. About 20 years ago they took the lead out of the solder used for copper pipes. Recently they have taken the lead out of faucets and the old ones were safe because they had mineral deposits in them.
I have drained hot water heaters and the stuff that comes out of them looks like Tofu. I’ve replaced a lot of water pipes and they are coated with thick mineral deposits.
It should also be noted that bottled water has less stringent standards than tap water (something about EPA vs. FDA). The water you buy from a vending machine to fill up you own container is just filtered water and has a higher amount of bacteria than tap water.
Calcium Carbonate is less soluble in hot water. In other words, the light milky film on glassware after you remove it from the dishwasher in areas where your water is considered “hard”-—150 mg/l or more of calcium carbonate. The calcium carbonate is harmless, in fact, a little beneficial in terms of human consumption, but a pain in the rear in regards to clogging up hot water heaters, shower stalls, plumbing fixtures, etc.
How about cold wine from a lead goblet?
Gasses become less soluble as temperature increases. Liquids and more solids become more soluble.
Higher temperature also increases the vapor pressure of volatile organic chemicals, but that's a different subject.
Any more questions?
That's our government for you. This is kind of like vaccinations that they tell you are mercury free. They're not either.
Do the filters (Britta for example) remove any of this?
If the water has sulfur, then you don't have to worry about lead. Lead sulfide is probably one of the LEAST soluble compounds known to man.
Gasses like CO2 are less soluable in hot water.
Type "lead solder" into the search box.
Grab wallet and hold on. It is there.
Having an electric kettle as well, I believe his point was that it’s still quicker than your method of starting out with hot tap water and boiling it normally. Those electric kettles really are fast.
You know, sometimes water collects in these things called “lakes” and people drink right out of them. Don’t tell anyone I told you this, but the bottom of lakes are dirt and mud - not just a thin layer but many, many feet of it.
Hell, for that matter, there are still plenty of places, at least in the South, I believe, where kids eat dirt.
“I’ve changed a few hot water tanks in my day. The sludge and crud in those things is more than a little distasteful”
I did not realize until I replaced mine that you are supposed to drain a water heater once a year to flush out all that sludge and rust.
You know, sometimes smart asses know nothing about water filtration and chlorination.
Yes, “Plumbing” means, literally, “lead-works.” Plumb is an ancient word for “lead,” and is why the atomic symbol for lead is Pb, not Le or Ld.
>> Hell, for that matter, there are still plenty of places, at least in the South, I believe, where kids eat dirt. <<
What makes you think only Southerners did that?
That’s a good way of destroying any re-sale value your house may have.
>> Gasses like CO2 are less soluable in hot water. <<
Yes, that’s why hot water often looks foggy: all them gasses are coming out of solution.
Gee, guess they will next say that drinking from a garden hose isn’t safe.
what will? the fact that every house in the neigborhood has the same old plumbing will not affect it anymore than any other house in the neigborhood.
No one re-plumbs their houses around here except for additions or home improvements and only at the point of the addition and home improvements..... and it is NOT an issue. the price of houses are DOWN.. a good time to buy. Shortly I hope the prices will be up and my older(1960’s) but functional plumbing will NOT affect the price...
Water heaters have some kind of ablative anode in it to lengthen the tank's life. I think it's magnesium, and that alone may account for the bad flavor.
I've been exposed to 60+ years of lead-soldered pipe, and nothing's wrong with me nothing's wrong with me.
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