Water Story

[rose2008-2008]

I have to ask this. Is there anyone on here who always fills their kettle from the Hot tap rather than from the cold because of the cold water tasting funny?. My friend said it was Fluoride the other day but im not sure about that. The Hot tap never tastes ;like that too me when you make a cuppa or just drink the water. Its not just me being crazy, im sure there must be others who do this?. Or no?.

[chickengrandma-2008]

I wouldn't drink water from any other tap in the house (that's 23) because all but the cold tap in the kitchen give softened water so it tastes slightly salty!  The cold water tastes fine.

[ilove2patch]

My cold water tastes a bit chemical sometimes. I wouldn't use the hot water myself as it runs through the boiler.

[stroppy*cow]

We have a filtered supply for drinking, filling the kettle, and cooking as the tap water tastes foul - the smell of chlorine is noticable.

Would not fill the kettle from the hot tap as it tastes just as bad as the cold..

[cookiecookuk]

We fill ours from either and never noticed the difference.

[bitsnknots]

We just use water from the cold water tap in the kitchen.

[ed_blackadder_1]

We were told not to drink from the hot tap as the water comes from an immersion heater in our old house and you could get all sorts of sediment coming through.  Here we arn't on a tank, but I usually use the cold tap,  not too keen on the taste of the water either, but son drinks gallons of it and it hasn't done him any harm.  We don't have flouride added here, and the levels are low so I don't think it is that, but they obviously clean the water before we can drink it, so there are loads of things added I am sure.

[chickengrandma-2008]

It's a good job it is 'cleaned' seeing as it's recycled wee! Plus river water where cows have fallen in and drowned etc.etc!

I thought not drinking water from the hot tap was something to do with the water tank in the loft  (that goes to the boiler)  not having a lid on and birds and mice falling in and drowning.   Or was that just our really old, old house?

[ilove2patch]

When you turn on the hot tap the boiled fires up. Surely that is counter productive?

[peteryola]

Patch, if the boiler comes on when you use the hot water then you have a direct hot water system - that's much more efficient than having any kind of hot water storage tank - it's also perfectly safe for consumption as it has remained in a closed system with no tanks.

As to water itself, we live in a hard water area and the water tastes very good straight out of the tap; I'm not so keen on the taste of soft water myself.

[rose2008-2008]

The cold is so noticable to me anyway in our area,,,,its horrible. I fill it from cold to take it with my medication as i want freezing cold to take them with but i cannot even stand the taste when i do this.

I had a fit at work yesterday when i have told my friend to fill from the hot if shes making our tea,,but when i sat down to drink the tea i nearly spat it out it was obvious she had not done what i said and it made me really cross. I think she was trying to think i was going to drink it then she was going to say "there you are i filled it from the cold and you drank it". I had a few mouthfuls and poured it down the sink in front of her as i was cross that she could have been trying to make aT*T out of me!!. Its one of those funny things i suppose ,maybe my taste buds are more sensitive.

[ilove2patch]

Yes I know it's safe to use if you have a combi boiler Peter but why pay for the boiler to kick in by running the hot water. Just boil cold in the kettle. If you don't like the taste Rose why not get a filter jug. They are very good. You can get a filter kettle too.

[lhasa.two]

rose, you might find this a useful read. 

http://www.thameswater.co.uk/cycles/accessible/water_treatment.html

I fill the kettle with cold water.

[cee-dee]

Home water filters can store bacteria unless replaced regularly.

Clorine evaporates so you could fill the kettle after use and the smell/taste might be gone when you eventually come to use/boil it.

[rose2008-2008]

Thanks everyone for your input

[peteryola]

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@ilove2patch wrote:

Yes I know it's safe to use if you have a combi boiler Peter but why pay for the boiler to kick in by running the hot water. Just boil cold in the kettle.

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Ah, I didn't spot that the reference was to making tea from the hot tap; yes - in that instance the kettle will be more efficient, especially if you only have enough water in it for the number of cups you are about to make.

[captainbovine]

what do you make of those taps you can make a cuppa from? I've often wondered about getting one of those.

I've used both hot and cold water to make tea....it just tastes the same, horrible!

[aernethril]

I use a water filter not just because of the horrible taste of whatever chemicals they chuck in the stuff (can even smell it sometimes), but because it helps stop the kettle furring up - or rather creating hard scaly bits in the water which also clog up the mesh filter in the kettle spout.

The other issue that is often not mentioned is that for many folk the water comes through old iron pipes and can contain rust particles - can find the sink with little pitted bits and have to use Shiny Sinks to remove them.

In a very hard water area, letting the water stand can very quickly build up rings in the container which then become very hard to remove.

Also, I thought it was not a good idea to dring any water that has gone through a water softener at all because of the salts that are added.

Some houses that still have the old type of boilers may still have the issue with the unsafe water from the tank in the loft and there are still many houses out there that are not that old with that set-up.