To just run the bloody tap?

[Sparrowlegs248]

Dinner at my parents house tonight. I started washing up afterwards. Got told off, again, for filling the tiny washing up bowl up from the hot tap. Apparently I should boil the kettle and pour it into the bowl. It's an ongoing dispute.

There were vast amounts of things to be washed, some quite greasy, and large. So I had run a sink full of hot water and started on the cleaner things

I think it really doesn't cost that much to run the tap. Their main argument against it is wasting the cold water that runs away before the warm cones through.

My arguementis do what you like but when I'm washing up dishes, pots etc for 6 people, 2 separate meals, then I'll need a decent sink of hot water.

[OwlinaTree]

Surely it's not cost effective to boil the kettle many times to wash up?

[shaggedthruahedgebackwards]

YANBU. What is the point of having a hot tap if you're just going to boil the kettle every time you want hot water?

[usernamerisnotavailable]

I have never heard the like. Yanbu!!

[Bookworm4]

Whatttttttt? Wasting the water while it runs hot? These folk are nuts 😂😂 More power used boiling the kettle 🙄🙄

[Butterymuffin]

I'd stop doing the washing up. My rule is that someone can let me do it my way or they can do it themselves.

[MrsApplepants]

Never heard such nonsense. Wash your way! If they dont like it, well they know what the answer is!

[thesnapandfartisinfallible]

We had a smart metre installed recently that's shows you how much electric everything uses. The washing machine, microwave and Hoover running simultaneously used just over half of what it took to boil a half full kettle from cold. The kettle is by far the biggest drain on electric or gas in our house, with the exception of an ancient immersion heater that we didn't know we had but apparently still works.

[whywhywhy6]

YANBU. They are crazy people.

[Sparrowlegs248]

Oh phew, I hesitated to post thinking this might be something that had passed me by but was common with mumsnetters.

They started doing it when they had an oil boiler which was a long way from the kitchen in their old house. Not the case anymore

[MollyHuaCha]

They need a dishwasher. Machines use less water than washing up by hand.

Er... well, maybe not in your parents' case.

[SequinsDress]

Are you related to me? Since they had a water meter installed, my dad uses empty milk bottles to collect the cold water that comes through before the hot. He uses it to wash his car. He also does all washing up with about an inch of Luke warm water in the small middle sink.

[Judashascomeintosomemoney]

Running off the cold water til it’s hot vs using fossil fuels to heat a kettle or two, gosh neither are very environmentally friendly or cost effective are they? Just let the dog lick em all clean, much better for the environment and bank balance

[StillCoughingandLaughing]

I'd stop doing the washing up. My rule is that someone can let me do it my way or they can do it themselves.

Absolutely. I remember way back in my teens my mother moaning I never helped with the cooking, yet if I did, I was chopping the carrots the wrong way; I should start them off in cold water and let it heat in the pan rather ham cooking them in boiling water from the kettle etc. I made it clear early in that she could have help or do everything exactly as she wanted - she couldn’t have both.

[LeesPostersAreInFrames]

I've no problem with people collecting the cold water before it's run hot so that they can use it to water flowers or whatever, that makes good sense, but boiling a kettle for hot water makes no sense economically as it costs far more to boil a kettle (perhaps even repeatedly) than it does to heat water for a tap. It's also not good to keep lukewarm water in pipes, that's a breeding ground for nasties, you need to run the taps regularly.

Butterflymuffin is right. He needs to shut up dictating how you do the washing up or do it himself.

[goingtotown]

My neighbours carer brings her laundry with her to use in the washing machine with my neighbours laundry because the carer is on a water meter.

[TheSmallAssassin]

Surely, unless you stop the kettle before it boils, you are heating water up to 100° then need to cool it down to around 40° with cold water to be able to put your hands in it. If they really are boiling the kettle, then they are wasting energy by heating it to a much higher temperature than they need.

[TheSmallAssassin]

The most efficient thing to do would be to save the cold water that runs first for something else (making tea? Flushing the toilet?) The hot water you use for washing up will then only have been heated to the appropriate temperature.

[MidniteScribbler]

Until we had some rain the other week, I did this for a few weeks. I could use a much smaller amount of the boiling water to get the right heat, rather than a full sink. But that was when we were absolutely desperate for water and every single drop was rationed.

[MotherForkinShirtBalls]

Ah, I was going to suggest a far away hot tank. Ours is at the other end of the house so I do get concerned about wasting water with running thr tap to get it hot, so I tend to fill the kettle with the tap run and then boil that the next time I need to wash up... A 50-50 split!

[prh47bridge]

Boiling a kettle costs around 2.5p in electricity. That buys you around 25 litres (about 5.5 gallons) of water. So, unless it takes several minutes for the water from the hot tap to warm up, they are wasting money. If they are really concerned about the wasted water they could collect it and use it for something else but, by using a kettle, they are spending a lot more on electricity than they are saving on water.

[MargotLovedTom1]

We have a dishwasher but I still wash wine some glasses and lunch boxes etc by hand; I just run the hot tap into the bowl with some washing up liquid and the initial cold water mixes with the subsequent hot water, giving the perfect temperature for my hands to tolerate. Who would plunge their hands into bowl full of just boiled water?!

[MargotLovedTom1]

As in: just boiled from the kettle, as your parents do.

[MerryBerryCheesecake]

The most efficient thing to do would be to save the cold water that runs first for something else (making tea? Flushing the toilet?) The hot water you use for washing up will then only have been heated to the appropriate temperature.

1, water from the hot tap is still from the hot water tank and is not safe to drink even if you boil it. Hot tap is supplied from stored water. Cold tap in the kitchen is drinking water, supplied from the mains supply. (In the UK as far as I can determine)

2, who is going to mess with the toilet cistern every day to save a few pints of water. Some cisterns are not even accessible. Saving it in a bucket and throwing it down the crapper would lack the force required for a flush.

3, there is a reason why the hot water thermostat allows the temperature to get a lot hotter than you need. It is to prevent disease proliferating in a lukewarm oxygenless environment (the tank). Primarily Legionnaires Disease according to the engineers doing checks around my way every so often. It is not wise to always heat the hot water tank a little then turn it off, frequently needs to be allowed to get properly hot.

[AnnaComnena]

it costs far more to boil a kettle (perhaps even repeatedly) than it does to heat water for a tap.

I am not going to heat a whole tank of hot water, and keep it hot, just to get the small amount needed to do some washing up in the evening. And since my hot water tank is upstairs, the water isn't that hot by the time it reaches my kitchen sink, anyway.

[Warpdrive]

They should have an empty lemonade bottle next to the sink and run the hot tap, saving the cold water which runs through as it warms in this bottle. They can then use that for watering plants, flushing toilets etc. I know someone else who does this.

Not me, I’m a water waster....I’d run it til it warms up.