Last Updated on January 10, 2023
Boiling water is one of the most effective ways to make your tap water safe for drinking. Not to mention, hot water offers you a myriad of health benefits that can reduce your trips to the doctor.
Well, if you live in an area that doesn’t have a filtration system for purifying water, boiling water might be the best option for you to purify water in your home. In this post, we are going to take you through what are the benefits of boiling tap water in your home. We are also going to break down the different steps that should be followed while boiling water.
Benefits of Boiling Water Tap
1. Kills Cysts, Bacteria, Pathogens, and Worms
While water from your tap might appear clean, it might contain organisms that are too small to be seen by the naked eye. Water from the tap might have water-borne organisms that can enter your body if you drink unpurified water. Tap water may also contain worms and cysts, which might be harmful to your health.
One of the most alarming properties of cysts is that some might be resistant to chlorination. Not to mention, a few bacteria are also resistant to chlorine and can pass through a fine water filter. In short, even filtered water that has gone through the filtering process is not 100% safe to drink.
Such microorganisms may affect your digestive tract and cause several complications that are characterized by diarrhoea and stomach aches.
Boiling water at 100°C for about 5 minutes will remove bacteria, contaminants, and microorganisms from water, making it safe to drink. Continue heating the water at a rolling boil for about 6 minutes to achieve maximum efficiency.
Needless to say, boiling tap water is better than other purification methods you may be aware of. While every other method is effective in filtering and removing pathogens, some pathogens and bacteria are small enough to get past water filters.
2. It Is the Most Cost-Effective Water Purification Method
Unlike every other purification method that uses water filters or complicated systems to get rid of harmful microorganisms, boiling tap water is one of the most cost-effective purification methods for producing safe, clean, drinking water. You only need to find a source of heat. Not to mention, various sources of heat can be used to help you boil water.
You can use a kettle, a microwave, or boil it using other cookware equipment to remove impurities and improve the quality of water. What’s more, boiling water involves a series of steps that are quite difficult to get wrong.
When compared to other purification methods, boiling tap water is the simplest method to purify water and make it safe for consumption. People have been using it for thousands of years to purify water.
3. Boiled Water Offers You Various Health Benefits
Boiling tap water provides you with hot boiled water, which may be very beneficial for your health. For starters, hot boiled water soothes nasal congestion in your breathing system.
A cup of hot boiled water warms your breathing system membranes and unclogs your sinuses. In short, hot boiled water is a remedy for sore throat, a runny nose, and coughing.
Drinking hot drinking water might also help your digestive tract to digest food easily. Warm water dissolves food that is not digested easily by the body.
Hot water makes it easier for food to move into your digestive system. If you are having any stomach aches or abdominal-related cramps, hot water may be a suitable remedy for that.
4. Removes Temporary Hardness From Water
If you live in an area that has temporary hard water, boiling water might remove some of the temporary hardness properties that are found in it.
For starters, temporary hard water contains hydrogen carbonate elements that can be broken down by heat.
Examples of such hydrogen carbonate elements include calcium hydrogen carbonate and magnesium hydrogen carbonate.
When temporary hard water is exposed to heat, the hydrogen carbonate elements are broken down into carbonate elements.
In short, magnesium hydrogen carbonate will be broken down to magnesium carbonate, while calcium hydrogen carbonate will be broken down to calcium carbonate. Those two salts are insoluble in water. Boiling water will remove calcium and magnesium ions from temporary hard water.
Once the temporary hardness property of water is removed, you can use it to clean your laundry and even purify it for drinking purposes.
5. Energy-Efficient
When compared to other purification methods that offer you purified water, boiling water is one of the most energy-efficient ways to get rid of contaminants found in water.
Not to mention, most appliances have advanced technology that delivers maximum efficiency. For instance, electric kettles are about 80 percent efficient and do not waste a lot of energy. Such kettles are insulated for maximum efficiency.
What’s more, induction stoves have an 85% efficiency of boiling water. Such stoves generate a current that is concentrated directly on a pan, saving energy while heating water.
The best part is you can boil water using various appliances, making it easier for you to find the appliance that saves energy the most.
6. Save Pure Water and Prevent Wastage
Most purification methods have large equipment that purifies water on a large scale level. Once water is purified in such purifications plants, the filtered water is transported to various homes in a mains supply water distribution system.
If there is a leakage in the purification plant, a lot of filtered water will be wasted. On the other hand, boiling water is a small scale method of purifying water that makes it easier for you to save pure water.
You will only boil the amount of water that you need to use. If there is a surplus amount of water, you can save it for later use. Since boiling water is a small scale method of purifying water, you do not waste a lot of water if leakage happens. The worst that can happen is knocking down a cup or a jug of water accidentally. That can’t be compared to losing thousands of litres in a single leakage from a purification plant.
Needless to say, the more you save water, the more you lessen your expenses.
7. Saves Your Time (It’s a Quick Purification Method)
As mentioned earlier, various appliances can be used to boil water. Most of these appliances offer you a better way to heat water to a certain degree, killing pathogens and microorganisms found in water. Multiple heating appliances can heat water to 100 degrees Celsius in just a few minutes.
A stovetop takes about 8 minutes to 11 minutes to boil 1-litre of water. An electric kettle takes about 3 minutes to 5 minutes to heat up 1 litre of water to its boiling point.
In about 2 to 5 minutes, a microwave can boil 1 litre of water to 100 degrees celsius. Clearly, boiling tap water is one of the quickest ways to purify tap water for drinking purposes.
8. Boiling Water Removes Chlorine
Boiling water makes it easier for you to remove chlorine from water coming from the mains water supply. Different cities all over the world have strict health regulations that support the chlorination of public water.
While different water plants use a small amount to purify water, chlorinated water might pose a health risk to many individuals. For starters, chlorinated water might affect pregnant women and lead to birth defects. Chlorination of water also affects the ‘good’ digestive bacteria that are found in the digestive system of healthy people.
Furthermore, chlorination affects the smell, quality, and taste of tap water.
If you boil tap water for about 20 minutes, the chlorine that might be present in the tap water will evaporate. Since chlorine has less density than air, it can evaporate naturally from tap water. However, boiling tap water speeds up the evaporation process. Once water is heated up for a certain duration of time, the smell and taste will improve. Boiling filtered water is the most cost-effective method of purifying chlorinated water. It is better at helping you save costs than other methods like reverse osmosis and using activated carbon filters.
Purify Your Water at Home
What are the benefits of boiling tap water? Well, boiling tap water offers you a myriad of advantages that make your life much easier. It will make sure that you have a cost-effective method of getting rid of water-borne pathogens, contaminants, and bacteria that might be present in your tap water.
Furthermore, boiling tap water makes it easier for you to get rid of the bizarre chemical smell and taste that might be found on tap water. There are also various appliances in your home that let you boil clean water like microwaves, kettles, boiling water taps, and stovetops. In other words, it is a very flexible method of purifying water. You can find an appliance that suits you the most and use it to boil water to drink.
Ian loves everything that revolves around the home improvement niche. He loves trying out new home appliances. He has also handled a lot of equipment and has a lot of insight. Plus, he’s worked on various home improvement projects that became a success. If Ian isn’t busy working on his latest project, you can find him reading up about another one!