Today I Learned (TIL)

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TIL why you're not supposed to cook or drink hot tap water - it's the lead (and other heavy metals) (www.epa.gov)

submitted 1 week ago by pelespirit@sh.itjust.works to c/til@lemmy.ca

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Hot water dissolves lead more quickly than cold water and is therefore more likely to contain greater amounts of lead. Never use water from the hot water tap for drinking, cooking, or making baby formula.

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[–] YiddishMcSquidish@lemmy.today 17 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Even without lead pipes, if you have an electric water heater, the sacrificial anode rod leaches all sorts of shit. Seriously, just use cool water in a kettle. Mine usually takes less time than my pipes do to warm up when washing dishes.

[–] purplemonkeymad@programming.dev 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

If you have a high pressure hot water system, then the heater doesn't touch what comes out of the tap. In those you have a closed system from the heating to a tank. That tank contains fresh water, but the heating loop only interacts with it via a heat exchanger.

[–] YiddishMcSquidish@lemmy.today 3 points 1 week ago

As I'm not in the industry, what would you estimate the percentage of systems that is?