hot water

i'm by no means a know-it-all, far from it. i do carry a wealth of odds-and-ends information in my head, though. most likely i pick this information up from all the tv i watch, and all the internet reading i do (don't worry, only reputable sites). i remember bits and pieces of my info, but often times can't recall the details or some of the facts. last weekend, some friends and i were talking about house-hold stuff. major appliances, saving on utilities, and for some reason hot water. i informed them never to drink or cook with hot water. why? um, i can't remember why, but i know you aren't supposed to. somehow, it's bad for you. (great, thanks angie. that's super helpful!) well, i used the googles to find out why. my suspicions of my memory happened to be correct (but, i didn't want to offer incorrect information) - hot water comes from water heaters, which are a breading ground for bacteria to grow. the main concern with drinking or cooking with hot water, though, is lead. hot water corrodes metals. even pipes that are "lead-free" by industry standards can still contain up to 8% lead, or the soldering between the pipes could be lead solder (lead-free solder metal can be up to 20% lead). the hot water breaks down the metals and picks up fragments of the lead. it's perfectly safe to shower and clean and do other things with this water, but it can be harmful to drink or cook with, particularly to babies and young children.
the other day, my aunt said i was like cliff claven, that i knew a lot of odd and random facts. i don't think i have that much strange information floating around in my brain (at least not compared to my brother, who is ridiculous to play trivial pursuit with), but there's certainly a great number of granules wandering around my brain.