I start off with warm water. I have a filtering system, so don't worry about minerals, etc.

I also start off with warm water. We have a well and a filtering system...and no lead pipes.

When I lived in the city, I started with cold water--my mother taught me to do that.

As a retired plumber I can assure you, they use exactly the same pipe to make the cold water lines as they do the hot water lines and there is no lead in the water heater.

If your house was originally plumbed before 1940 there is about a 5% chance that you have some lead pipes, but as a rule they used galvanized iron pipe in those days and the pipe was connected with threaded joints into galvanized iron fittings.

In the late 30's to early 40's they began using copper pipe which was soldered with 60% tin 40% lead solder. In 1983 lead solder was outlawed so now all copper pipe used on the potable water supply must be soldered with certified "Lead Free" solder or brazed, which is a welding process that uses a bronze filler metal or sometimes a bronze-silver alloy filler metal.

Now consider that there is a .002" clearance between the interior of a copper fitting and the exterior of the pipe so each solder joint on your pipe run contains a dab of solder about the size of two chocolate chips and only the interior end of that little dab is exposed to the water.

Now I am sure that some enviromental activist will argue that there is lead in the water, but if the truth was told, the actual amount of lead is so small that it cannot even be detected unless the water is sent to a research university lab. In fact, there is more lead naturally present in the water than what is leaching out of your plumbing joints.

Now I suppose if you were to drink 5 gallons of water directly from the hot water tap per day for 20 or 30 years it would make a difference, but short of that, I certainly wouldn't worry about it.

I start off with cold water,even though we have filtered water. Just an extra precaution, I guess.

Thanks, lazypup! Good to know.

I start with water as warm/hot as I can get it.

sooey

Lazypup, my dad always said it was foolish to use water from the hot water tank because we would have to reheat all the water in the tank just to save a few minutes on the stove, which would be more expensive because it costs more in natural gas to heat the whole tank. Was he right, or can I use hot tap water?

It always seemed silly because we use so much hot water for hand washing, dish washing, etc., but, still, it kinda makes sense. I still use cold water, though, because Daddy said!

The lead issue aside, I've always heard that previously heated water has a different taste, that using cold water is preferable for taste. So, whether or not that's true, I don't know, but I use cold.

Depends on what I am cooking.....boiling potatoes for instance, I would start with cold. Pasta, I would start with hot.....

My house has a big design flaw, which is that the water heater is far away from the kitchen. I have always used cold water to bring to a boil, and if I were to use hot water, I would have to waste an awful lot of water waiting for the tap to finally deliver hot.

Cover your large pasta pot when you are trying to bring the water to a boil. It will speed things up.

The water heater is full of water at all times and as you draw hot water an equal amount of cold water goes in the water heater.

The water line to your sink is a 1/2" line and a 1/2" line contains 1 gallon of water per every 98'. Now assuming the water in the hot water line is cold you would then run the tap until you get hot water + the amount of water you need to fill the pot to the desired level so if its a long way from the water heater to the kitchen and your filling a big pot, you may draw 2 to 2.5gal of water, which would barely be enough to even trip a 50gal water heaters thermostat on, and even if it does come on, it only has to heat a couple gallons, not the whole tank.

Now it is true that hot water has a flat taste because in the heating process some of the entrained oxygen is released out of the water, but as the water passes through the aerator tip on your faucett it collects the oxygen again from the air in the room. That is why there is an areator on your kitchen and bathroom faucetts but not on the tub faucett, because we normally do not drink the bath water.

Now in regards to energy, it takes 1btu to raise one pound of water one degree of fahrenheit and one gallon weighs 8.34 lbs and it doesn't matter if you heat that water in the water heater or on the stove.

I use cold water 'cause that's what my mama told me to do.

I just use whatever comes out of the faucet, makes no difference to me.

And there are no lead pipes in this house.

I've enjoyed your posts on this, lazypup. You DO learn something every day...or, at least, "I" did...

I don't usually use hot water as I use water from the RO facet and it is just cold.

Sue

When the water that was hot comes out of the tap ... for a while, it's cold (unless someone drew some within the last ten mins. or so) ... then for a while, it's warm (gotta heat the pipe that carries it, you know)...

... and then it comes out - hot.

Here's an idea - carry your pot to the water heater and run some out of the tap at the bottom of the heater ...

... but, problem is, that it's likely that it'll be a bit cooler than the really hot stuff that comes out of the pipe that exits the top of the tank.

Also ... I hope that you've run some water out of that tap at the bottom occasionally, to have cleared at least part of the residue that gathers at the bottom.

Unless you don't mind slightly cloudy water to boil your pasta.

ole joyfuelled

I read that you should use cold water not because of lead in hot water but because no telling how long the water has been sitting in the hot water heater and the cold water is fresher. Perhaps Lazypup could enlighten us on that, because personally, for pasta, I would just as soon speed up the process.

I've read the same thing so always start with cold

Thanks, lazypup. I'm glad to learn this. I think I will start with hot tap water next time, maybe time it to find out how long each way takes to boil. Or...do you know that, too?

Ed, I will not be running downstairs for my hot water. Not even if it did save me a nickel or two.

I've always started with cold...

It was mentioned that the water stays in the water heater for a long time, but is that true? Consider this, the Plumbing code limits a shower head to 2.5gal/min and typical shower is 8 to 10 min so a typical shower consumes 20 to 25gal of water. (Assuming you only have one shower head and not the new fangled shower head, rain head & body sprays).

The census bureau tells us there is an average of 3.5ppl per household, and I imagine even that 1/2 size character takes a shower every day, so thats four showers at 20-25gal per shower, or 80 to 100gals just for the showers.

The plumbing code also limits the temperature of the domestic hot water supply to 125degF, yet most ppl like their showers at 95 to 115degF so for the sake of discussion let us say the shower is approximately an 85% hot & 15% cold mix, so the showers are consuming 68 to 85gals of hot water and a typical single family home has a 60gal water heater, so just for the showers alone, all the water in the water heater is being exchanged at least once every day. Of course we have not even considered how much hot water is used at the bathroom lavatories, the kitchen sink, dishwasher and the laundry. The bottom line, the length of time that the water sits in the water heater would be about the same as if you went away overnight, then came back and ran water out of the cold water pipe....and who knows how many days that water has sat in the municipal water storage tank or the municipal water mains before it reaches your house....LOL,,I'll give you a hint, generally the municipal water tanks are sized so they can provide up to three days water supply in the event of a power failure.

Now let us examine the cost of the water. I just checked my water bill (an here in Massachusetts all our utilities are above the national average).

The water company charges $2.70 per 100cubic feet of water, which would then be $0.027 cu/ft and one cubic foot of water is 7.5gallons. We now divide $0.027per gallon by 7.5gallon and we find that we pay $0.0036 per gallon, or approximately 3 gallon for a penny.

Now, your kitchen faucett is connected to a 1/2" pipe and a 1/2" pipe holds 1 gal for every 98' of pipe. Now lets say you have a very large house and your water heater is located on the opposite end from your kitchen. It is still doubtful if the hot water pipe is over 100 feet long, but again, just for the sake of discussion, let us assume the pipe twists and turns through the house and its 150' long. That is still approximately 2gal of water maximum at a cost of $0.0072 or in simple terms 2/3 of a penny.

In conclusion, you can probably find enough change under the couch cushions to offset what your loosing at the kitchen faucett per annum.....LOL