Can I drink my hot water from the tap?

unitedwestand

I live in a new build house.

Like most new houses I believe the water is heated directly from the cold water mains by the gas combination boiler, there are no storage tanks and most of the pipes are PVC.

If you drink out of the kitchen hot water tap, which is the closet to the mains supply is it safe?

The hot water is boiling, I dropped a tea bag in a cup & tried it & to my surprise it was actually nice, but is it safe?

I know kettles use loads of electricity.

If it is safe, would you actually cut some costs out doing this & is it greener?

ariba10

If it is direct from the mains --yes.

If it is fed from a storage tank -- no

AdrianW2

My initial reaction is that to get water from your boiler along 5m of 22mm pipework is going to involve shifting 1.5 litres of lukewarm water before you get hot water and then leave another 1.5 litres of hot water in the pipes to go cold. So you'd need to be making lots of cups of tea for it to be worthwhile.

zzzLazyDaisy

Interesting. I have a combi boiler and it has never occured to me to use water from the hot tap! I come from the days when no-one would drink out of the hot tap, so I've never thought about it.

I keep the temp on my hot water down so I only heat it to the temp I need to use it at - so it wouldnt be any good for making tea, but I could use it to fill the kettle and speed up the time it takes to boil.

Canucklehead

AdrianW2 wrote: »

My initial reaction is that to get water from your boiler along 5m of 22mm pipework is going to involve shifting 1.5 litres of lukewarm water before you get hot water and then leave another 1.5 litres of hot water in the pipes to go cold. So you'd need to be making lots of cups of tea for it to be worthwhile.

Hi...excellent point...inefficient use of resources and a poor cup of tea to boot.

To the OP: Boil only what you need in your kettle and turn down that boiler stat. (see your boiler manual for further details).

Canucklehead

catt_2

Hello Canucklehead


I see you're back!


I've sent you a PM...did you get it?;)


Catt

Canucklehead

catt wrote: »

Hello Canucklehead


I see you're back!


I've sent you a PM...did you get it?;)


Catt

Good morning: Didn't get your PM How goes the boiler battle?

Canucklehead

dander

Just adding the thought that you are probably on a water meter in a new house, and you have to run a tap a bit to get the hot water with a combi boiler, so you'd have to add the cost of the extra water that goes down the drain to the is it cheaper/is it greener calculation.