"David P" wrote in message
...
I am in the UK. Is it generally safe to drink BOILED water from the
hot tap?

My hot water comes from a tank or cistern in the loft and this feeds
into a hot water cylinder which is in the house. It doesn't look
wonderful inside that tank in the loft but I reckon if I BOILED the
water then presumably I will kill the germs.

According to the WHO guidelines to disinfection techniques, you need to keep
it boiling continuously for about five minutes to be sure of doing that.

Is there another reason why I should not drink boiled water from the
hot tap? Maybe there are dangerous minerals and some other
chemicals found in the hot water system which are unsafe?

Modern cisterns should be insect proof [Water Byelaw 30 (2) or the later
Water Supply (Water Fittings) Regulations 1999], to stop them carrying in
disease organisms. The spread of Legionella is one thing linked to insect
carriers.

Why? I like to hand wash my dishes in very hot water. My hot tap
does not give me water which is quite hot enough. So I fill the
kettle from the hot tap and heat that water up.

While the dishes soak, I usually think I should make myself a coffee!
But I'm not sure if I can use the boiled water left in the kettle.
Or do I need to ... *groan* throw it away, flush the kettle, fill it
from the cold tap and then boil that.

A kettle does not boil water long enough to disinfect it. Why not put less
water in the kettle to begin with? If you do this regularly, you should have
a fair idea of how much water you will need.

Colin Bignell