Look, I get it. The hot tap is fast. It’s the Usain Bolt of kitchen plumbing. But fast doesn’t mean safe for drinking.
Here’s the deal: most hot water tanks are made of metal. And that metal—especially if it’s old—can leach lead, copper, and other heavy metals into your water. You don’t want a heavy metal concert happening in your stomach.
Your Water Heater Is Basically a Metal Soup Pot
Imagine leaving a soup pot sitting for days, weeks, months, with the heat on low. Yuck, right? That’s your hot water tank.
Cold water spends its life chilling in pipes that meet modern safety standards. Hot water, on the other hand, lounges in the tank, soaking up minerals and sometimes even sediment from the bottom. It’s the couch potato of H₂O.
