Hot water heater bacteria?

[Renron]

My wife, God love her,

Sometimes reads too much. Her latest thing is not using the hot water out of the tap for cooking, only for showers. Now just wait. She read somewhere that hot water storage tanks (water heaters) can and do grow bacteria so that when we cook with hot water we are just adding bacteria to our food.

My way of thinkin' is if we boil it anyway, why not use the hot water it's half way to the boiling point already! And it'll kill the bacteria![:-banghead]

Anybody ever heard of this before?

Thanks

Ron

Why yes. She is a blonde

[Danny Pritchard]

I think you have a better chance of being hit by lightning than getting sick from your water heater.If you use hot water daily there is very little chance for bacteria to develop.Also if you are on city water supply they put chemicals in the water to kill bacteria.If you have a well you should put chlorine in your aerator(if you use one)monthly.

Discarding everything said above you should always eat your greens.

[Jerry Simon]

Jeeeesh!!! Next thing you know, people will be scared of mold!

[swarga]

The bacteria in your evaporative cooler is 50 times worse than anything in a water heater that is used daily.

Eat some yogurt, rake some leaves, cook up some mushrooms, and sit down with some bread and a beer and talk about bacteria, fungus and what ever else scares her.[]

[Brian G]

I love the bacteria fears. When someone starts going on about bacteria I tell them, "You're covered in it, you're full of it, and you'd die without it." Is there bad bacteria? Sure. Is all bacteria bad? No.

Neurotic America, if it ain't one thing it's another. You know what scares me? Anti-bacterial soap. I've read half a dozen articles from medical sources in mainstream magazines about how widespread use of anti-bacterial soap is helping to create super-bacterias, which we aren't medically ready for. Do we need anti-bacterial soap? No. Ordinary soap and hot water have been effective for a very, very long time. But someone figured out that neurotic, insecure Americans would buy it...so we have it. Duh! [:-dunce]

Brian G.

Only in America [:-paperbag]

[hausdok]

Hi,

To get bacterial growth in a water heater, you usually need to have had the heat in the water heater turned way down for an extended period of time. Bacteria in the water gradually takes over and produces hydrogen sulphide gas. That's why it's a good idea to flush out your faucets in the summer cabin for about five minutes before you turn on that water heater that's been dormant all winter. Otherwise, you have the potential for the water heater to do 'boom'!

When I walk into a home that's been vacant for weeks or months on end with the water heater off to do an inspection, the first thing I do is go run water to flush the crud out of the cold water lines and hot to get the hydrogen sulphide and all of that smelly bacteria-infested water out of the water tank before I turn it on.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[billygoat22]

There's a book out "The Water Heater Workbook" with a lot of info on water heaters. There's even a section about bacteria growth, and how to sanitize the heater (but rather involved).

The concern in this case would be a situation where heater life is reduced

[Jerry Simon]

Let's see...in a basement, if you have mold and radon, can you see it crawling and glowing when the lights are off?

[Jim Morrison]

My oil guy tells me that bacteria has been found thriving in the sludge at the bottom of 75 year old oil tanks. If that's true, then I have no trouble believing there is bacteria hanging out in water heater goop. I'm sure it isn't harmful to most people.

[Chad Fabry]

Ron,

My house is supplied by a spring that's a thousand feet away and forty feet below the level of my basement floor. The distance that I need to move the water with the rise involves a pretty substantial submersible pump at the spring which moves the water to the house. Then, the water is stored in two 300 gallon tanks hooked up in series to a shallow well pump in the basement which moves the water through the house. If your wife could see the interior of my tanks she'd stop complaining about the water heater problem. In fact, if she could see the hole in the ground that the water comes from, I'm positive she'd never worry about your water again.

I had our water tested because even though I'm very manly, it even concerned me. It's perfectly potable and the dirt in the tanks is harmless.

I solved the problem of my wife knowing by painting the tanks so they're no longer transparent.

[Renron]

Thanks guys.

She seems better now. Next week it will be something else.

Thanks to all who responded, serious and joking. I love 'em all.

Ron

[Brian G]

Originally posted by Renron

She seems better now. Next week it will be something else.

I take it you aren't a newlywed. That's the voice of experience I hear. [-crzwom]

Brian G. [:-banghead]

[Renron]

Yep! 5 years next week. We are both on our 3rd marriage. 1st one I won by default,(she died) 2nd was a true brawl(we both lost) 3rd times a charm as they say. Seem to be a trueism. We are both very happy. (she tells me I am anyway)

Ron

[Norm]

Just noticed this thread is titled "hot water heater bacteria". Why would anyone want to heat hot water? Shouldn't it be "cold water heater bacteria"? Or maybe just "water heater bacteria"? Too much time on my hands.

Ron, More about marriage tomorrow.

NORM SAGE

[Norm]

Ron,

Definition of a "SHAFT" from the South Florida Building Code: A deep, seemingly unending dark concrete structure with no apparent means of egress and little or no ventilation which the divorce court usually awards to the male in a dissolution of marriage decree.

NORM SAGE