Safe to drink boiled water from hot tap?

[Andy Hall]

Such as those who add chlorine, fluorides, chemicals to kill invertebrates,......

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Iron? Pretty well all domestic plumbing in the UK is copper plastic or lead. Iron barrel is virtually unheard of. Header tanks were steel, but galvanised. If the zinc has gone the tank won't last much longer.

[David P]

What about chemicals/metals/minerals getting into the water from parts of the hot water system?

Perhaps the heat makes difference or perhaps the types of metal used in boilers and their pipe joints makes a difference?

Do micro-leaks occur from the heating circuit (which passes through the boiler's heat exchanger) into the hot water used for washing?

[David P]

Seems that there is some debate out there about the period to boil for.

This makes a reference to 5 minutes and 1 minute.

seesm to back it up others disagree need to be careful about "sterilise" which is killing all germs and is not needed here and "disinfect" which is killing sufficient germs so that the remainder is not a problem.

[David P]

ISTR from my schooldays that altitude may mean that 100 C may not be achievable.

Is this a factor at typical UK altitudes? (Without going hald way up some buge hill.)

[David P]

I think amino-acids/proteins get denatured (and becoma deformed beyond use) at about 62 degrees.

I thought that was the basis for saying that food (eggs, meat, etc) must be cooked over approx 62 C.

But what is the extra 20 degrees to 84 C for?

[David P]

I don't I judge the safety of drinking water from the hot system by death or not.

If I go partly blind then that is bad enough, thank you.

As you rightly say "illness" is also a factor.

[Dave Fawthrop]

|> The germs would do low harm than the rust that might be coming from |> the tank or the hot water cylinder. Chances of "toxic" mineral are |> perhaps low since the main water supply is supposed to be quite |> clean. | | |What about chemicals/metals/minerals getting into the water from |parts of the hot water system?

The risks are very low

|Perhaps the heat makes difference or perhaps the types of metal used |in boilers and their pipe joints makes a difference?

The amount of lead is very low even in old joints. Worth the government thinking about in trying to improve public health in general, by no way is an individual going to notice anything

|Do micro-leaks occur from the heating circuit (which passes through |the boiler's heat exchanger) into the hot water used for washing?

Probably but they are not worth bothering about.

Life is all about taking risks, doing anything about them would cost more than any possible benefit you gain.

[David P]

Yes, this is a good comparison. And would add the extra wait to boil the hot water to be safe seems such that I could have boiled half a litre of fresh water in the kettle!

However there are some who say that 1 minute of boing is enough.

This makes a reference to 5 minutes and 1 minute.

seesm to back it up others disagree

[Dave Fawthrop]

|On Sat, 06 May 2006 00:28:51 +0100, The Natural Philosopher |wrote: | |>David P wrote: |>> I am in the UK. Is it generally safe to drink BOILED water from the |>> hot tap? |>> |>> My hot water comes from a tank or cistern in the loft and this feeds |>> into a hot water cylinder which is in the house. It doesn't look |>> wonderful inside that tank in the loft but I reckon if I BOILED the |>> water then presumably I will kill the germs. |>> |>> Is there another reason why I should not drink boiled water from the |>> hot tap? |>

|>Its generally safe to drink boiled water from anywhere, apart from the |>outflow of a chemical company. | | |Such as those who add chlorine, fluorides, chemicals to kill |invertebrates,......

Ingestion of chemicals is all about the dose, We can happily ingest a tiny amount of those without *any* ill effects.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

From copper?

After all these years I'd have thought the evidence would be there if it happened.

Ah. Perhaps a good idea to avoid a combi, then?

[Dave Fawthrop]

|In article , | Mxsmanic wrote: |> Germs, yes, but there might be other inorganic substances in the water |> that wouldn't be good for you, such as very high levels of iron from |> the plumbing. | |Iron? Pretty well all domestic plumbing in the UK is copper plastic or |lead. Iron barrel is virtually unheard of. Header tanks were steel, but |galvanised. If the zinc has gone the tank won't last much longer.

We still have lots of Victorian cast iron pipes under the roads, but small amounts of iron in water causes no problems whatsoever. Look down holes in the road, you will soon see them.

[Andy Hall]

I would prefer not to though, and would also prefer to select the chemical content of what I drink rather than allowing a water company to do it for me.

[David P]

Hoi you!

Mine certainly is. And I am the OP.

[David P]

I don't know what iron barrel is but some of the feed pipes from the rising main into the roofspace look as if they might be made of steel.

The building is about 40 years old.

[nightjar]

As I said earlier, five minutes at boiling point is the minimum recommended by the WHO guide to disinfection techniques.

A simplistic view, as water borne diseases are generally much more infectious than those you will meet by simply walking outside.

Colin Bignell

[Dave Fawthrop]

|On 06 May 2006, Dave Fawthrop |wrote: | |> On Sat, 06 May 2006 00:34:13 +0100, The Natural Philosopher |> wrote: |> |> |>|Raising the water to 60 C kills about 95% of the bugs in seconds. |> |> That temperature is actually *82* deg C to kill food poisoning bugs |> Some food poisoning bugs breed nicely below 64 deg C |> | |I think amino-acids/proteins get denatured (and becoma deformed beyond |use) at about 62 degrees. | |I thought that was the basis for saying that food (eggs, meat, etc) must |be cooked over approx 62 C. | |But what is the extra 20 degrees to 84 C for?

Actually 82 deg C.

That is the recommended temperature for killing food poisoning bugs for food served to the public. Some bacteria found in hot springs will survive more than 100 deg C (water laden with salts) but these do no harm.

[Dave Fawthrop]

|On 06 May 2006, Dave Plowman (News) wrote: | |> In article , |> Dave Fawthrop wrote: |>> > FFS, how often do people have to be told the tank should have an |>> > approved cover and venting to prevent this? |> |>> How about tanks which were fitted before this regulation was |>> introduced, which was in ????. Was the regulation retrospective? |>> Who went round providing and fitting said covers? |> |> If you are worried about drinking water from a graveyard, it's up |> to you to make the tank safe. And I'll bet there are very few old |> galvanised domestic tanks left in service - they'd be 30+ years |> old. | | | |Hoi you! | |Mine certainly is. And I am the OP.

Then put replacing the tank of the "to do sometime list"

[nightjar]

minutes.

Even sterilisation does not guarantee to kill all germs. It only gives a known probability of doing so, if the initial bioburden is below a set level.

Colin Bignell

[Dave Fawthrop]

|On Sat, 06 May 2006 10:42:23 +0100, Dave Fawthrop | wrote: | |>On Sat, 06 May 2006 09:40:58 +0100, Andy Hall wrote: |>

|>|On Sat, 06 May 2006 00:28:51 +0100, The Natural Philosopher |>|wrote: |>| |>|>David P wrote: |>|>> I am in the UK. Is it generally safe to drink BOILED water from the |>|>> hot tap? |>|>> |>|>> My hot water comes from a tank or cistern in the loft and this feeds |>|>> into a hot water cylinder which is in the house. It doesn't look |>|>> wonderful inside that tank in the loft but I reckon if I BOILED the |>|>> water then presumably I will kill the germs. |>|>> |>|>> Is there another reason why I should not drink boiled water from the |>|>> hot tap? |>|>

|>|>Its generally safe to drink boiled water from anywhere, apart from the |>|>outflow of a chemical company. |>| |>| |>|Such as those who add chlorine, fluorides, chemicals to kill |>|invertebrates,...... |>

|>Ingestion of chemicals is all about the dose, We can happily ingest a |>tiny amount of those without *any* ill effects. | |I would prefer not to though, and would also prefer to select the |chemical content of what I drink rather than allowing a water company |to do it for me.

You prefer to drink bottle water complete with bacteria, and leachate from the plastic bottle. Bottled water *usually* contains fewer bacteria than the legal limit.

The only Life without risk is death.