Lead in hot Tap water ?

Question

Its been some months since I came to US.
My friend told that intake of Hot water from the taps here in Apartments is risky because it has Lead.
is this really true ?
I dont drink from it. but of course use hot water to Wash vessels and even Take bath.
1) Can someone please tell if this is True
2) If so, Is there any easily available filter to solve this.

Answer 1

Apparently it is TRUE that more lead is found in the hot water side of plumbing. The link below gives recommendations as to avoiding intake. There is no danger of lead contamination listed for bathing in, or washing of utensils with hot water. Lead is not absorbed through your skin. Click on "Basic Information" (left side of page), then on "How does lead get into tap water?" to see that lead comes primarily from the corrosion of soldered copper pipe joints in your home's plumbing. Acidic water is more likely to cause this corrosion.

You should not worry that your municipal tap water is contaminated with lead. Every municipal water source must test for lead (and other dangerous contaminants) regularly, and to take actions to lower excessive levels. If you have well water you may want to filter it, but you could probably buy REVERSE OSMOSIS filtered water cheaper.

Answer 2

Lead comes from soldering of the copper water pipes. there is 50/50 solder which cant be used on pottable water if they still make it.50/50 is 50 percent lead and 50 percent tin. we now use 95/5 which is 95 percent tin and 5 percent lead. if the plumbing was was done before about 1985 it could have 50/50 in it.hope this helps you.I may be wrong about the year but you should be able to look it up.

Answer 3

Energy Savings – from heating water only when you need it. You can reduce your hot water heating costs by approximately 30%. Please note: approximately 20% of your total heating costs are from your water heater.

Convenience – Provides over 4 gallons per minute with no recovery time.

Comfort – continuous supply of hot water throughout your home. Tankless water heaters heat water on demand so you’re not limited by a fixed pre-heated supply as with a conventional tank.

Safety – digital temperature control at the touch of a button can be set to exact user-specified temperatures using a digital controller.

Answer 4

There isn't that much lead in the water supply in the US which would harm an adult or child(especially if you allow the source from which the water is coming from to run at a good flow for 30 seconds or so) . Don't worry about it !

Answer 5

Most faucets in this country contain lead and brass.The lead is minimal.Run the faucet for at least 30 seconds before getting water to drink.Copper pipes were soldered with lead based solder for years.Main lines also contain lead.You could always drink bottled water.

Answer 6

Are you in Washington DC? http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2004/02/10/DI2005040306813_pf.html

I did a Google search on "Lead in hot Tap water " and it came back with 4 entries: http://www.google.com/search?as_q=&hl=en&num=10&btnG=Google+Search&as_epq=Lead+in+hot+Tap+water+&as_oq=&as_eq=&lr=&as_ft=i&as_filetype=&as_qdr=all&as_nlo=&as_nhi=&as_occt=any&as_dt=i&as_sitesearch=&as_rights=&safe=images

With HOT removed the search found a lot more, 10,400: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&as_qdr=all&q=+%22Lead+in+Tap+water+%22

TMD

Answer 7

older homes have a lead service (pre-1950's), you can get a free lead check from you municiple supplier. lead services usually get coated from salt's and solid's found naturally in water, get the test done, it's free !

Answer 8

most normal people don,t drink hot water, out of the hot water heater, if the pipes are copper, there may be a slight chance that traces of lead may be in it, BUT i doubt it,
nothing to worry about,
your freind is misinformed

Answer 9

if you really knew what we drank and ate you would stop both,its ok to do both

Answer 10

Your friend is an uninformed idiot.