# hot tap water **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 14, 2003, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-tap-water/148621 "2003-01-14T23:00:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2003, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-tap-water/148621/21 "2003-01-18T09:01:11Z")
mmmiiikkkeee, you’ve totally stuffed up this thread by inserting actual facts and experiments. How dare you 🙂 Great post, not a moment of ramble as far as I’m concerned. ---
**Author:** ![hammerbach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/73ab20/32.png) [@hammerbach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hammerbach)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2003, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-tap-water/148621/22 "2003-01-18T14:37:30Z")
Well done, **mmmiiikkkeee**. ---
**Author:** ![Coffeeguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/958977/32.png) [@Coffeeguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coffeeguy)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2003, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-tap-water/148621/23 "2003-01-18T16:06:10Z")
Here here! ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2003, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-tap-water/148621/24 "2003-01-18T18:43:14Z")
Yeah, thanks. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![akrako1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@akrako1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/akrako1)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2003, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-tap-water/148621/25 "2003-01-18T22:02:18Z")
Regarding showering (since everybody else has ignored that part of the OP): Just something to keep in mind - I’ve heard that the body absorbs LOTS of water through the skin. All those people that drink purified water and take showers in the tap water are diluding themselves (forgive the pun). That’s why many water filtration companies offer whole-house filtering systems. So a partial answer to your question, yes, if the water is already contaminated, it is dangerous to shower or bathe in it. ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2003, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-tap-water/148621/26 "2003-01-19T00:41:12Z")
Is that a fact **akrako1** , or are you just assuming? ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2003, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-tap-water/148621/27 "2003-01-19T11:38:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by akrako1 \* > \*\*Regarding showering (since everybody else has ignored that part of the OP): Just something to keep in mind - I’ve heard that the body absorbs LOTS of water through the skin. \*\* I’ve heard that it doesn’t. \*\* > [@](#): > > All those people that drink purified water and take showers in the tap water are diluding themselves (forgive the pun). That’s why many water filtration companies offer whole-house filtering systems.\*\* No, they offer those systems because people are silly enough to buy them. The same salesmen do a roaring trade in whole of igloo snow making systems for Inuits. ---
**Author:** ![Jervoise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d2c977/32.png) [@Jervoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jervoise)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2003, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-tap-water/148621/28 "2003-01-19T11:56:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by akrako1 \* > **Just something to keep in mind - I’ve heard that the body absorbs LOTS of water through the skin.** No, it [doesn’t](http://newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/chem00/chem00546.htm). ---
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2003, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-tap-water/148621/29 "2003-01-19T16:34:35Z")
mmmiiikkkeee - That was awseome, can you do that again? ---
**Author:** ![threeorange](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@threeorange](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/threeorange)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2003, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-tap-water/148621/30 "2003-01-24T17:03:07Z")
I would like to thank you all (especially mmmiiikkkeee) for your input. I now believe my skepticism of the severity of Dr. Weil’s warnings about hot tap water was justified. ---
**Author:** ![mmmiiikkkeee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/edb3f5/32.png) [@mmmiiikkkeee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mmmiiikkkeee)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-tap-water/148621/31 "2003-01-25T08:08:24Z")
🙂 ---
**Author:** ![LordVor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/90ced4/32.png) [@LordVor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LordVor)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-tap-water/148621/32 "2003-01-25T17:37:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Princhester \* > \*\*No, they offer those systems because people are silly enough to buy them. The same salesmen do a roaring trade in whole of igloo snow making systems for Inuits. \*\* Or, could it possibly be that the unfiltered tap water in their area has a noticable odor, undrinkable taste, and an amazing amount of clorine dumped into it, and the person buying the whole-house filtration system wants to be able to drink from any faucet and take a bath without having to deal with the odor? BTW, good job mike. -lv ---
**Author:** ![3.885AM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/58956e/32.png) [@3.885AM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3.885AM)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2003, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-tap-water/148621/33 "2003-07-13T02:34:13Z")
akrako1 What do you mean by “a lot” of water. Water weighs 1 kg/l (2.2 lb) if you did absorb a significant quantity you should expect to see some gain in weight after a shower. I just performed a rather simple experiment where Iweighed myself before and after a shower. Our scale is accurate to .1 lb and thus should be able to detect an absorption of 0.045 l of water yet after showering and drying I have not detected any measureable gain, or am I missing something here. ---
**Author:** ![istara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e79b87/32.png) [@istara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/istara)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2003, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-tap-water/148621/34 "2003-07-13T10:48:49Z")
Here, now it’s summer, the cold water tap produces HOT water. I shit you not - it’s not just warm, it’s HOT. So one leaves the immersion heater off, and the unheated but insulated water in the hot tank becomes the cool (if not actually cold) water. ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2003, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-tap-water/148621/35 "2003-07-13T12:02:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by kniz \* > \*\*For some strange reason many people have the idea that the tap water in their area is an exception to the above and that the bottled water they drink is equally an exception. 😕 \*\* I saw a program in the UK that showed that tap water was way more pure than bottled water, certainly in terms of bacteria. As I recall, the number of bacteria per some volume was about 20 in tap water and in some bottled water as high as 80,000. However, I buy bottled water to drink in the US because the tap-water (why don’t you call it faucet-water?) tastes so bad because of all the chlorine. Florida has to be an exception to the “tap-water is pure” statement - the water tastes so disgusting (decaying mud about sums it up), that it has to be impure in some way, surely? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-tap-water/148621.md?page=1)