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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 month 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 18 points 1 month ago

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 5 points 1 month ago

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 month ago

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

this post was submitted on 10 Nov 2025

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