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Comment by rootusrootus | Hacker News Reader

As an American, I have a faucet at my kitchen sink that will give me water at 195F. That takes care of nearly all my needs for truly hot water. When I do need the last few degrees to get a roiling boil, my induction cooktop has a 3700W burner that will do it in a hurry.

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195˚ tap water coming from a dedicated tank is not a common American thing, in case someone is wondering.

> As an American, I have a faucet at my kitchen sink that will give me water at 195F.

The building code for the province of Ontario (Canada) states that delivered water cannot be higher than 49C (120F); §7.6.5.1. Maximum Temperature of Hot Water:

* https://www.ontario.ca/laws/regulation/r04023

An exception is given for dish— and clothes washer outlets.

No. The law you quoted limits the maximum temperature of hot water supplied by fittings to fixtures.

It says nothing about fixtures that increase the temperature of water and dispense it, and does not limit the temperature of dispensed water. Instant hot taps are both legal and commonplace in Canada.

https://ca.zipwater.com/

We have the same. The system has a high-end water filter which then exits into a split, one outlet of which goes to a room-temp tap and the other into the heater, so we have both filtered "cold" and hot water.

That sounds really dangerous. My hot water is set to 120°F.

It's just one tap at that sink, clearly identified, in addition to the regular hot & cold water taps. I don't run my main hot water tank at 195F, that would be dumb.

So you have an auxiliary heater at the tap? How is energy delivered to this system?

Yep, I have a separate tap at the kitchen sink which is connected to a small (about 3 liters IIRC) tank underneath. I have it set to 195F, though it can be set as high as 210F. There is a receptacle in the cupboard under the sink where it plugs in.

I'm curious, do you know how many kwh that uses in a day?

Exactly my thought. Sounds like a costly convenience.

We put one in 15 years ago and use it every single day. Sorry for the commercial link, but https://insinkerator.emerson.com/en-us/insinkerator-products... is an example. It's great to have near-boiling water on demand.

Best appliance I've ever owned.

How many accidental burn injuries you or your guests have?

Zero. The 195F tap is not the same one you use for normal hot & cold water. The normal hot water in our house is set to 140F (we do not have any small children or elderly, if we did I might dial it down to 120F).

Fair enough, my girlfriend is mad when I use the hot water and later she suddenly "burns" her hand with ~50/60°C water :)

To be clear, in the US the "instant hot" tap (when present) is separate from the main adjustable-temperature faucet. It's normally off to the side and visually distinct. It's usually much smaller and provides a limited amount of water from a pre-heated tank under the sink.

American here... I've never in my life seen one of these. I'm sure they exist, but they're not common.

They’re a somewhat common upgrade in high-end houses. You can install one yourself relatively easily assuming the sink has a hole for it.

I’ve only seen one in person myself. More common is a fridge that can dispense hot water (!!)

It’s definitely a “high-end” kitchen feature, I agree that’s it’s not standard in most homes.

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