How does...?

Question

When you run the tap in the kitchen how does the water get cold? I thought the further down you dug the warmer it got? Sensible answers please.

Thanks

Answer 1

Well, remember that the water you're getting usually isn't from the ground, it's from pipes in your house, and before that from the city water distribution system.

There are separate pipes for hot and cold water. Cold water is usually the raw clean waterfrom the city system, whereas the hot water forst goes to your "water heater" which is a large appx 10-20 or more gallon container of water that gets heated by either an electrical heater, or by gas. This is the water that is used for "hot" water. It will usually have a thermostat that is set to a specific temperature range. If it's set too high, the water may come out of the tap at scalding temperatures. If it's set too low, it may come out only lukewarm (if mixed with cold water, it will generally get even colder than lukewarm; I think we have that problem at our rental house, adding any cold water at all generally makes the water too cold for showers or doing the laundry, etc.).

They terminate generally near the back of the wall under the sink, or somewhere just under the sink. When you turn on the cold water, water flows from the "cold" pipe, when you turn on the warm water, it flows from the "warm" pipe. However, there may be a delay in he water turning from hot to cold or back again due to the fact that past the termination point for the TWO pipes there is a single pipe that actually runs to your spigot or faucet. So, in that one pipe there may still be left over hot or cold water from the last time it was turned on. It takes a little while for the everage temperature in that section of pipe to reach the maximum or minimum temperature for the hot and cold pipes respectively. So there will be a heat gradient. If you turn both hot and cold water on, the temperature will be averaged out based on the proportion of hot to cold water. If mostly cold water is turned on and just a tiny bit of hot water, it will be only slightly warmer than cold water, or "lukewarm." If mostly hot water and only a little bit of cold water are used, then the water will be "warm." If only hot water is used (depending what temperature your water heater is set to) it may come out "scalding" so be careful.

Also, some faucets dont' have two separate handles for hot and cold water, but use one adjustable lever. By adjusting the lever you're simultaneously adjusting how much water flows from each pipe. When you lean it toward hot, you open the hot pipe more and constrict the cold pipe. And vice versa. So, you can vary the temperature more easily and get it "just right."

Answer 2

Bore holes in Britain aren't that deep so the water isn't very hot to start with. In between the bore holes or treatment works and the tap, the water could spend days in the pipe by which time it would have cooled down to just above air temperature. Also, copper pipes are used so the heat gets conducted away quite quickly. In winter the water is colder because the air temperature is colder and whatever surrounding the pipe is colder.

Answer 3

what do you mean the further down you dug?

To tell you the truth the water in your house does not just come from down in the ground, usually they come through pipes from a resevoir and that water is cold when it is in the pipes and that goes to a boiler, which heats up the water so when you turn the hot water tap on you get hot water, when the hot water coming through has finished it re-fills with cold water and will take time for the boiler to heat it up again.

Answer 4

Tap water comes from a reservoir somewhere. From there, it will travel through pipes buried in the ground. The depth the pipes are buried in is too near the surface for the natural heat in the earth to heat the water up. In fact, one of the reasons pipes are put there is fir the ground to act as insulation for the pipes (and water), thereby keeping the water from getting too hot or too cold.

Answer 5

Heat rises, up to a point. The water nearer the surface has been warmed by the sun. Further down, it's cooler. Like caves and mines.

Just looking at my answer. Lol. What a typically female answer to a female question!

Answer 6

i think its to do with running water. The water thats in the thinner pipes in the home will absorb more heat whereas water further down in the main pipes out under the streets are less likely to heat up and are constantly running due to other households using the same supply.

Answer 7

The warm water that comes out first is simply the water that has been sitting in the pipes inside the house. It's at room temperature. The cooler water that comes out later is from the main which is generally underground so is slightly cooler than room temp.

Answer 8

Ground water and water from wells reflects the average temperature of the environment. Cold water is dense and is always near the bottom

Answer 9

there is a layer where the water table exists that is void of sunlight therefore cold, you'd have to dig alot deeper to get to the core which is supected of being made up of molten iron, even in the depths of the deep blue sea the further you down the colder it gets.

Answer 10

its cold when it comes throw the tap don't you no that you need a boiler to heat the water to get it warm when it runs out the tap