What Temperature Is Your Tap Hot Water?

[launderess]

Interesting comments,

Thanks guys!

Now you know me, I'm never one to speak out of turn, nor like to stir quiet pools. So unless someone else complains won't be first out of the gate.

Like many other places with steam or hot water heat our hot water isn't from a tank (stored), but a coil off the boiler. In winter when boiler is set hotter (to supply steam for heat) obviously that higher temp influences hot water. There probably is some sort of mixing/tempering valve somewhere, but given temps here haven't been that cold, neither is tap water. So even if there is some sort of tempering going on the cold water isn't bringing things down, or maybe it is within given set ratio, but that isn't enough.....

Over years have commented that in winter boilers give off very hot water. The Mobile Maid DW loves it, and of course when doing laundry by hand or with various semi-automatic (Hoover TT, Maytag wringer....) what could be better!

Haven't attempted doing a "hot" wash in either using this "boiling from tap water". In fact likely won't until can lay hands on a washer fill hose that will withstand such high temps. After today's earlier experiment obviously standard American "rubber" or whatever fill hoses aren't up to the task. European "hot" water fill hoses on my Miele, Lavamat and AEG/Electrolux are rated to 70 degrees Celsius, a temp that is still lower than what comes out of taps. So that's me for you....

Bit of background.....

 

[DADoES]

 
Super-hot incoming water has potential to damage inlet/mixing valves that involve plastic parts.

 

[launderess]

Yes, one was aware of that fact.

Which was one reason stopped the little experiment earlier with Miele washer. Indeed only use uber hot water temps when doing wash by hand (in tub) or filling same with either of two semi-automatics (the Hover TT and Maytag wringer).

 

[mattl]

My gas water heater is set as high as it will go. Temp at faucet depends on how much water I use, ranges from 150 to 165. Generally stays hotter in the winter as my whole house humidifier uses hot water, so there is a frequent draw that triggers the burner more often.

One advantage I see -for me - is that I have long runs to the dishwasher and with the low usage of new machines often the water is cool coming in. the very hot water tempers the cool water and means less heating needed. At some point I will add a recirculating system, gravity type, that will save water since the faucet will not have to run as long to get hot water. Water costs more here than the gas used for heating for some reason.

 

[petek]

MattL

Your water rates are probably high because it probably is sourced from Lake Huron as is Flints.  Every municipality in the US and Canada that sources their water from one of the great lakes was required to upgrade their sanitary sewers etc by separating them and basically have to bear the costs.  Port Huron rates skyrocketed, Sarnia's rates skyrocketed  .  How the municipality puts the cost onto the homeowner can vary.. Some initially jacked their usage rates up like Sarnia did, which caused people to stop using as much water, so they rejigged it , lowered the usage rates but jacked up the sewer rate and admin fees to compensate.  

 

[mattl]

Exactly. I'm paying $200ish every 3 months for 1 person with all new water efficient appliances. Just put in a new 1.25g toilet replacing the on 3-5g 55 year old original one. I long ago quit using my in ground sprinklers.

 

[sudsmaster]

Last time I check, the gas fired 50 gallon water heater measured out at 135-140 at the nearest tap. It seems to vary because, I guess, there's a range there.

It's plenty hot for the Neptune washer. The Miele washers sit in the workshop which has only cold water, but they heat it quite well on their own.

And the Bosch DW in the main house takes that 135 water to whatever it needs. Again, relatively efficiently. I usually run the nearest tap (kitchen sink) to make sure it gets tap hot water to begin with.

 

[tolivac]

When I lived in an apartment house building-the hot water was mixed with the cold water to get the temp down and stored in a large tank by the boiler.In one of the apartment buildings-they had two boilers-one for warmed water for heat-the other for hot tap water.The other apartment house had a boiler for hot water only.Your apartment had its own HVAC unit that heated or cooled-like in a regular house.The boiler was not used for heating water-only hot tap water.That place also mixed the heated water from the boiler water with cold water for the "hot" tap water so it was at a safe temp.Another reason for the lower hot temps-save energy and fuel for the landlord operating the building.And in the first place I described they could use fuel oil or natural gas to fire the boiler.They would use the fuel that was cheapest at that time.That place also had a Carrier chiller for AC in the spring-summer.

 

[launderess]

"And in the first place I described they could use fuel oil or natural gas to fire the boiler."

Duel fuel boilers are very common in north east as well, well in areas where buildings have access to natural gas supplies.

Beauty is that during or after a really bad storm a building doesn't have to worry if oil deliveries are delayed.

 

[jamiel]

In Michigan, the water rates increase in SEMI are coming from storm water charges--they're having to deal with under-investment in the storm sewer system so they charge for the "impermeable" area of your lot. As water here in SEMI is a municipal function, each city/twp can handle it how they wish. We live in a tiny city which is pretty transparent, and the old-guard city manager used the water department and billing as a bit of a "slush fund" to keep everything balanced. It was a several-year effort to get everything untangled. Everyone's water bill around here has three components--water usage (rates relatively linear based on distance from DWSD--Detroit). sewer usage (associated with water usage) and storm water handling. Flint's situation related to their distance from Detroit Water and Sewerage...i.e. expensive, but their water treatment was customized to water with that makeup. When they changed to a cheaper local source for water, they didn't alter their water treatment regime, which then etched the pipes and caused all the problems. Switching back doesn't help, because the oxide coating is depleted. Thus you have a mess---expensive, unsafe water the effects of which are going to redound for generations.

 

[jamiel]

The storm water aspects of things get really hairy, because the problem is the combined (storm and sanitary) sewer system here (and in many larger cities) which gets overwhelmed with the stronger/more localized rain patterns. When the rain is locally heavy, it overwhelms the combined system leading to flooded basements AND spillage of untreated sewage into the Detroit River/Lake St. Clair. All the pavement in the city of Detroit and surrounding areas contributes to the problem--we've got pretty good soil to handle it (nice black dirt) but if it's covered up with asphalt/concrete, the water has to go somewhere. The churches in the city of Detroit are in a particular pickle, as they are assessed for their sqft of parking area and there can be charges of 10s of thousands to account for it.

 

[vacerator]

No point heating 40 gallons ofwater

above 130f. for us two. Wsaher has a heater, and I use steam usually for large loads. Anti-bacterial for dishwasher has a final rinse temp. dealy. If dishes have sat a few days, I also use steam option. Average twice weekly run. Probably why our water heater has lasted since 2002, knock wood.

 

[panthera]

Just over 60°C

Or about 145 in that weird system.

I also use TSP in the dishwasher and washer and double rinse all clothes.

They come out really clean.

I am not comfortable going higher than this because some of the plastic pipes in our house are from the early 1980s and that was a very bad era.

 

 

[turbokinetic]

A lot of good info here. Interesting!

At my house, there's one electric water heater for the entire building. It has to do everything. I have it set for 165°F. That helps with getting my clothes clean and dishes clean. It also requires less hot water to be used while showering, since you dilute it with more cold water. This reduces chances of running out of hot water; especially when washing clothes and then immediately getting in the shower. To help with energy saving, the tank has additional insulation around it (from previous owner). Also I have no kids or elderly staying here to worry about scalding injuries.

At my workshop, the only uses of hot water are hand washing, and pre-heated water for the pressure washer. That one is set at about 125°F so that I only have to turn on the one HOT tap, for perfect hand-washing temperature LOL!

The pressure washer has a 27.5 KW on-demand heating system which further heats the water, so the 125° domestic water doesn't impair my ability to clean machinery.

There is no kitchen or laundry at the workshop so no need for sanitizing hot water.

 

[perc-o-prince]

has potential to damage inlet/mixing valves that involve....

Amen, Glenn. When Rich's grandfather built this house he put in a boiler that was about 5' high, 2' wide and 5' long (forced hot-water for heating). Why? That's what he put in the auto-repair garage he had up the street so he bought a second one for the house. The water was WAY too hot as it was "boiler temp" and gaskets were hardening in faucets. After he passed and we bought the house, we went to a regular boiler with an added zone for a hot water tank. It's generally set about 120-125F but Rich raises it when he's gonna treat himself to a bath.

 

That said, we need to have the thermostat on the hot water holding tank/heater checked as the water seems too hot with the knob at the usual setting. It was replaced a few years after the system was installed and the tech said he replaces them a lot.

 

Chuck

 

[thomasortega]

Maximum allowed by heater's thermostat, minus half millimeter.

and I NEVER connect my washers "hot to hot, cold to cold". Instead, I have a Y-mixing hose and I set the temperature on the faucet, just to fool the ATC.

When I want a hot wash I really mean it.

The problem is, my tank is only 60 gallons, so when I do laundry in the winter, I usually have two washers with super hot water, the third with warm (more on the hot side), a fourth that is the Eco nazi calls hot (AKA almost filling the washer with ice cubes, so I have to split my laundry day in two and wait for the tank to recover.

Honestly, If I could, I'd install two other heaters only to have an endless supply of hot water, just in case I miracle happens and I have loads of whites for all my 24 washers exactly at the same time.

And a tankless heater... For god's sake, NEVER again in my life.

 

[parunner58]

We have a Rinnai gas tankless water heater, it defaults to 120 degrees F. Which is fine, the dishwasher and clothes washer heat the water hotter when they run, so no need to be set higher.

 

[philcobendixduo]

50 gallon gas water heater and the hot water at the tap is 120f with the thermostat set at "HOT".
Honeywell thermostat has these settings - WARM, HOT, A, B, C, D, VERY HOT.
I find that temperature quite adequate for clothes washing and dish washing.
Very little cold water is needed to temper the hot water for my showers.

 

[tomturbomatic]

145F year round.

 

[launderess]

Problem solved

Came home and went to wash hands noticing hot water was no longer scalding temperature out of the taps. Others report there was a flurry of activity earlier in day in basements which implies boiler was sorted.

Oh well, guess will have to find another way to do "boil washing". *LOL*