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

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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[-] ArsonButCute@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 1 month ago

Growing up in the US I learned this exact thing was why there were two taps in the UK instead of a shared tap. That and Legionnaires growing in the hot tanks.

[-] gwl@lemmy.blahaj.zone 9 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Yeah that's not been true for about 50 years.

We replaced all our lead, and it's a legal requirement to if you find a lead pipe in a system, replace it no matter what (even in listed buildings) or disable the outputs entirely (the latter is more common in VERY OLD buildings, with people then adding a new system somewhere else, sometimes with exposed pipework rather than having to potentially damage walls.)

We also just don't do hot water tanks any more usually, instead doing on-demand boilers.

Does mean that the hot runs cold for about a minute, but it balances out

[-] pelespirit@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 month ago

The hot runs cold for a minute with a tank too. It takes awhile for it to reach the tap.

this post was submitted on 10 Nov 2025
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