Combi boiler - using hot tap to wash hands

[SomeUnspokenThing]

I've Googled but can't the answer, most likely because it's a bit of a garbled question.... I have a combi boiler which heats the water as needed. Force of habit means I tend to use the hot tap to wash my hands even though I'm not washing them for long enough for the water to be heated up - I'm not running the tap till it's hot and then washing, I just wash my hands in the cold water. Is this costing more than simply using the cold water tap? It's doing my head in trying to find an answer! Thank you in advance.

Aha! I wonder about this too. I don’t know the answer but I’ve switched to using the cold tap. This will not be fun in the winter…

Cold water with soap is fine - it's the soap that kills the bugs - 20 seconds

Well it will because it's firing up the boiler, but I don't imagine it's much.

our downstairs basin is the last tap to get hot water, so I TRY to remember to turn on the cold tap, same with the kitchen, it takes bloody forever so I wash my hands/whatever else before the hot water arrives! Due to the placement of the taps & an injury to my left wrist using the cold tap is a bit if a faff, I'm hoping to get them swapped around when I do the kitchen.

i don't think it can cost much at all, but it just annoys me!

I wonder this too! Sometimes takes ages to heat up.

And my ds will only use the cold water, but I don't trust him with the hot as when it gets hot it gets very hot, but I always worry it's not going to kill any bacteria !

Yes because the boiler fires up when you run the hot tap and it doesnt if you use the cold. I use the cold now instead.

That's got nothing to do with the question she asked.

Yes, it will be, because the boiler is firing up. Whereas if you used the cold tap, or mixer tap set to cold, then it wouldn’t.

If you have a smart meter and an app which lets you look at the half hourly data, then you can see how much it’s using and decide if it’s an issue or not. I now just use cold water to wash my hands. I haven’t said anything to DH about it, but a look at our smart meter data suggests the only gas use is our morning showers and a bit of washing up for things that won’t go in the dishwasher. He probably is just leaving the tap in the position he finds it in and not noticing the water never runs hot…

By the way - do you have your boiler set on Eco mode? If not, it will fire up every couple of hours to keep some water warm to supply it quicker. You can use 2kWh per day that way.

How has that got “nothing to do with the question”?

Its relevant because we are taught to wash our hands in hot water with soap to clean dirt from our hands and also germs we can’t see. So this could be why the OP is asking, as she fears high costs to wash aren’t worth it when she could use cold instead and get the same result.

I had no hot water over covid when my water heater broke, and quickly got fed up boiling kettles, so just washed hands in cold water and used hand gel afterwards.

It worked for me. We didn’t get covid. So I will be choosing to do this again this winter to keep costs down.

Yes, it was more the question of whether the boiler is firing to try to heat the water even though I'm not running the tap for long enough to heat it (even washing my hands for 20 seconds). And therefore costing me money that I shouldn't be wasting. Must remember to just use the cold tap each time.

I'm definitely using the Eco setting, so that's something.

Thanks for your comments, much appreciated.

Is this what we've now come to? As if we didn't have enough to think and worry about!

Good question though, OP, if a little sad makng.

I thought about this yesterday weirdly! Decided I'm going to use cold water

On my smart meter page, i can see gas being used all day. When I said, I don't understand - we haven't used any hot water today, a chorus of, we all have - hand washing, came back. They didn't get that using the hot tap was washing your hands in cold water (takes ages to run warm) but firing up the boiler.

According to my chart, it costs between 0-8p - so who knows how much it costs overall, but with three of them doing it, it must add up.

DP is a heating engineer and has always said this to me - only very recently I’ve started taking note! Ditto for rinsing plates etc before dishwasher/ proper washing up.

I always wash my hands in cold water, as it takes so long for the hot to get through I've not only wasted lots of gas but lots of water too (on a meter). The only exception is the sink in the utility room next to the boiler, if I need a bit of hot I'll use that.

This dawned on me the other day too, I've been making a point of using cold only.

I have a (bad) habit of rinsing plant pots or paint brushes etc in hot water. I've made a very conscious decision not to anymore.

I was having similar thoughts about handwashing and I'm going to try it this week.

DH says we should turn off the shower to soap our body/hair but that's a step too far for me at the moment.

Yes, I have trained myself to use the cold tap in the summer as it doesn't make much difference as the cold tap isn't that cold anyway. In the winter when the heating is on the water seems to run hot quicker anyway, no idea why, also in the winter water is probably about 5-10C so would be very cold and uncomfortable after the cold tap had run for a while to wash hands

I have also started using cold for rinsing things in the kitchen and cleaning the bath and sink out

I was thinking about this the other day while standing at my kitchen sink waiting for ages for the hot water to come through. My boiler must be firing for a good minute or more before I'm getting the 'benefit' of it as it were. Maybe putting the boiler in the loft wasn't the brilliant idea we thought it was!

Ha, I was wondering this exact thing last night.

Good point! Now that we're on a water meter I've stopped running the water long enough to get hot for hand washing. Having read this thread I will only use the cold tap until I can't stand it any more (in the depths of winter) when, as you say, the hot water comes through quicker anyway if you have the heating on.

I can’t believe people still rinse plates before putting them in the dishwasher! Baffling!

It doesn’t actually matter what kind of boiler it is, combi or standard. You are still wasting energy if the hot water never reaches the tap.

Use the cold tap. I only use hot water to wash my hands after handling raw meat.

I was thinking about this too the other day. We changed from a hot water tank to combi about 5 years ago. What I didnt realise at the time is this means when we want hot water it goes from the combi, all the way upstairs to where the hot water tank used to be then back down to the kitchen.

If I turn the hot on just to wash my hands quickly all I am doing is paying to heat up water in the pipes for it to cool back down again!