Cooking With Tap Water

[craigt3365]

We use bottled water for almost everything. We have one of those large water filters, cost about 22k. I clean it on a regular basis, then decided to clean the holding tank as it's been 2 1/2 years. You should have seen the muck in the bottom of the tank. About 6 inches deep. Unreal.

I'm in the US right now. I don't drink tap water here either as it tastes like chlorine. Just got back from the Sierra Nevada mountains and the water tastes like chlorine there also! I met the man in charge of the water delivery system 2 days ago. I asked him about the chlorine. He said the water is pure as it comes right out of the mountain, but the pipes are the problem. Quite a few got sick a few years ago so they now chlorinate their water.

I wish I would have done what Jayman did. Might still do it. But dealing with 40B water bottles is no big deal. And I'm glad I do this after reading this article:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/571167-just-one-fifth-of-wastewater-in-thailand-is-being-treated/

As for those machines on the street. Good luck:

http://www.pattayamail.com/localnews/regulations-governing-water-dispensing-machines-drips-toward-enactment-9114

Here's more info regarding water here in Thailand. Good info to peruse:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/385634-bottled-water-is-it-safe/

[meatboy]

never.

I'm the same but when you think about it whenever we eat at restaurants

or purchase any kind of pre-prepared food, I hardly think the Thai people

would have used bottled water to cook with so one way or the other

eventually we will be exposed?

i am always wary of what i eat outside[very rare] no soups,before last may i may have had some sort of food that was cooked in water then some factory waste got into our water supply and the smell was like dead rats yet no one was told about it,then not long back factory waste got into the river and killed thousands of fish.i have always bought the 30lts bottles for drinking and food [10bht each] never had a problem.

[JusticeFT96]

5 gal bottles delivered for 30 baht. Why would anyone use tap water?

Why would anyone have 5 gal bottles of tap water delivered, if you have your own tap?

I have 5 gal bottles of drinking water delivered as I use it for cooking and the babies milk once boiled. I wouldnt let my baby have anything from that tap ever. Im even tempted to start using the drinking water for my dogs, I feel sorry for them.

[Jayman]

5 gal bottles delivered for 30 baht. Why would anyone use tap water?

Why would anyone have 5 gal bottles of tap water delivered, if you have your own tap?

I have 5 gal bottles of drinking water delivered as I use it for cooking and the babies milk once boiled. I wouldnt let my baby have anything from that tap ever. Im even tempted to start using the drinking water for my dogs, I feel sorry for them.

Do you know what water they use to fill those bottles? Are you certain the bottles are sterilized before being refilled and delivered to you? We use to use the big bottle delivery and once we all got a stomach bug that took 2 weeks to kill and then I said NO MORE. I want to be in control of the quality of all the water my children consume. We are big water drinkers. Drink primarily water. No sodas and sugar drinks in my house. The cost for the 7-stage RO UV filter was not cheap but I still consider it my best purchase ever for my family and we all just LOVE the taste of the water coming out of it. The man that sold and services the system is an expat and he is a stand up guy. He guarantees the systems for life (as long as you change the filters yearly) and he does all the work himself. Tom is his name and he used to sell the systems at one of the expat meetings. I can dig up his contacts if someone is interested then pm me.

[sotsira]

Do you know what the source of the water coming out of those machines is? Do you know the last time the filters were changed if ever? We are talking about Thailand here where thais will get the oil changed and not bother changing the oil filter. I'd bet that until that machine stops producing water to fill a bottle then no preventative maintenance will be done to make sure the purity of the product being dispensed is as clean as it should be.

I always use the water dispensing machines at 1bt per litre for cooking needs.

Tap water is not clean and carries sediment.

As for the large bottles delivered for 30bt, how do you know what the source is ?

You could be surprised what's in the water from the dispenser machines.I suspect only time they change the filter is when there flows no water through anymore.

They don't work in that way, when the filters need cleaning they shut down completely

until they are serviced and restarted again.

I seriously doubt that but how do you know so much of such things?

I know because i had meetings with the companies that supply these machines in order to have them

installed at the condo building that i live, as i was one of the committee members.

The quality of the water that comes out of them is no different to the system that you proclaim to use.

I would add though that the dispenser machines that we ended up ordering have reverse osmosis and u/v

filtration which i doubt would be the case in your home unit.

They are serviced every month as they are regularly used by the co-owners, they serve a condo building of

20 floors with 900 odd rooms, occasionally they shut down within the month time lapse of service due to high usage

and we need to call the engineers sooner to service them and get them running again.

[Jayman]

I know because i had meetings with the companies that supply these machines in order to have them

installed at the condo building that i live, as i was one of the committee members.

The quality of the water that comes out of them is no different to the system that you proclaim to use.

I would add though that the dispenser machines that we ended up ordering have reverse osmosis and u/v

filtration which i doubt would be the case in your home unit.

They are serviced every month as they are regularly used by the co-owners, they serve a condo building of

20 floors with 900 odd rooms, occasionally they shut down within the month time lapse of service due to high usage

and we need to call the engineers sooner to service them and get them running again.

Again.. you are not quoting me correctly..

My home unit is 7-stage.. RO (reverse osmosis) with UV (ultra violet).

And according to independent testing of the water coming out of the street machines the quality is spotty at best,

Or you can take the word of the sales guy....

on a side note... I hate the way the stupid quoting system works on this forum....

[sotsira]

I know because i had meetings with the companies that supply these machines in order to have them

installed at the condo building that i live, as i was one of the committee members.

The quality of the water that comes out of them is no different to the system that you proclaim to use.

I would add though that the dispenser machines that we ended up ordering have reverse osmosis and u/v

filtration which i doubt would be the case in your home unit.

They are serviced every month as they are regularly used by the co-owners, they serve a condo building of

20 floors with 900 odd rooms, occasionally they shut down within the month time lapse of service due to high usage

and we need to call the engineers sooner to service them and get them running again.

Again.. you are not quoting me correctly..

My home unit is 7-stage.. RO (reverse osmosis) with UV (ultra violet).

And according to independent testing of the water coming out of the street machines the quality is spotty at best,

Or you can take the word of the sales guy....

on a side note... I hate the way the stupid quoting system works on this forum....

So not much difference then, you have yours under your sink and we have ours in the condo building.

As for your comment regarding the sales guy word, these machines have been installed and working

since 2007.

That's a lot of water that been consumed over the last 5 years by many different people,

Don't you think that if there was a problem with them we would have seen the ill effects by now.

[Jayman]

I know because i had meetings with the companies that supply these machines in order to have them

installed at the condo building that i live, as i was one of the committee members.

The quality of the water that comes out of them is no different to the system that you proclaim to use.

I would add though that the dispenser machines that we ended up ordering have reverse osmosis and u/v

filtration which i doubt would be the case in your home unit.

They are serviced every month as they are regularly used by the co-owners, they serve a condo building of

20 floors with 900 odd rooms, occasionally they shut down within the month time lapse of service due to high usage

and we need to call the engineers sooner to service them and get them running again.

Again.. you are not quoting me correctly..

My home unit is 7-stage.. RO (reverse osmosis) with UV (ultra violet).

And according to independent testing of the water coming out of the street machines the quality is spotty at best,

Or you can take the word of the sales guy....

on a side note... I hate the way the stupid quoting system works on this forum....

So not much difference then, you have yours under your sink and we have ours in the condo building.

As for your comment regarding the sales guy word, these machines have been installed and working

since 2007.

That's a lot of water that been consumed over the last 5 years by many different people,

Don't you think that if there was a problem with them we would have seen the ill effects by now.

Glad to hear yours works... but your comment was made in relation to the ones on the street and not some private one you have in your building.

[cooked]

I got stomach problems twice since coming to Thailand, presumably because of water: I drank a liter of water given to us by a filling station and the second time I greedily drank iced water at a roadside restaurant. Since then I drink beer or my own water, always have an icebox in the car. It's not for nothing that in the Middle Ages people tried to avoid drinking water whenever possible. I know I do....

[meatboy]

5 gal bottles delivered for 30 baht. Why would anyone use tap water?

Why would anyone have 5 gal bottles of tap water delivered, if you have your own tap?

I have 5 gal bottles of drinking water delivered as I use it for cooking and the babies milk once boiled. I wouldnt let my baby have anything from that tap ever. Im even tempted to start using the drinking water for my dogs, I feel sorry for them.

after the incident with the factory waste i dont give my dog tap water he's our baby.

[bazmlb]

I had a shower tonight and used a white towel, it was black after I dried myself, its like mud coming out the tank at the moment. Time for inline filters on the feed to the tank

[craigt3365]

I had a shower tonight and used a white towel, it was black after I dried myself, its like mud coming out the tank at the moment. Time for inline filters on the feed to the tank

One of our neighbors doesn't have filters. They say this happens quite a bit. Not good!

Even with our big filter, the tank still had stuff in it after 2 1/2 years.

[fakename]

No matter what water you use, problems will happen. I use the 5 gal bottles, at 15 baht, that I get from the small Thai shop, never had problems. Not everyone is so lucky, I can probably eat road kill, and have no problems. All the bottled water in Thailand has been tested, over and over again, and always some of them are unsafe. As for the water dispensers, we had one at our shop, and at least for a year, there was no service, so I surely cant believe that they are safe. Anyway, who likes do drive around with a car full of bottles to fill up? That was the high point of my day, watching people come with a bike full of empties, then filling them and trying to get them back on the bike, without dropping and breaking them, not to mention going back home with an unbalanced bike. If your making 300baht a day, then its a good alternative, but we all dont have to go native.

[sotsira]

I have to say though that from my frequent food shopping trips at the major supermarkets

i have noticed that the brand named bottled water sales are quite high in turnover and that includes

locals and farangs.

So much of the population does actually use these as their main drinking source.

[kjelljit]

I would not use the water for other than toilet without purification.

For cooking, I would never use tap water.

Watch this video from East Pattaya

.

[Spalpeen]

What a bunch of old women. Any water that gets boiled is sterile so perfectly safe to cook with. End of. And where do you think the water in your ice cubes comes from? You're probably drinking frozen tap water every day.

I've dug up a few old disused water mains in the UK in my time and believe me, every one was lined with black bacterial slime. Too many people kid themselves that the tap water 'back home' was Peckham Spring.

[wpcoe]

What a bunch of old women. Any water that gets boiled is sterile so perfectly safe to cook with. End of.

Boiling water only kills living organisms. Does nothing for toxic heavy metals, dirt, or other inorganic compounds.

[WaywardWind]

We brought a Berkey filter with us when we came here and it works fine for everything - drinking water, cooking, coffee, etc. I simply dump 6 litres of tap water in the top each night, and it filters overnight.

They are a bit pricey, but well worth it - no trips out to the store or machine, no hassle of dealing with the 19 litre bottles, and no electricity use...

[Phil Conners]

For those of us in the housing estates on the darkside the answer is easy, trucks distribute drinking water almost daily at 40 baht per blue 20 lt. bottle. I've never heard of anyone I know having had problems with these. We use this water for anything ingested

There is also cheaper white 20 lt. bottles available, and I've heard many horror stories about those. They are not normally brought out anyway. I would never use the self tapping stations, I've never heard of any of of them being cleaned /services.

For anything else, we normally use standard city/tap water, cooking, brushing teeth, washing etc,. It generally looks and smells fine, but a few times after they have made repairs on the network the first water comes back dark and oily, obviously we wouldn't use that for anything.

[MADEINHEAVEN]

Got stomach sick several times from the bottled water in GLASS bottles that are "free" in some hotels in Pattaya & Bangkok. The suppliers likely have all the empty glass bottles sitting around until being refilled with filtered water. The glass bottles themselves are not steam cleaned, so the interior damp surface attracts mold, etc. Now I only buy Nestles/Singha water & keep in hotel rooms.

[Jingthing]

I cook pasta in tap water.

For tea, coffee, soups, etc. -- bottled only.

Even for tooth brushing, I rinse w/ bottled.

I experimented for a time with tap for that and I didn't like the results.

[WaywardWind]

We bought a Berkey filter and it works just fine. A bit expensive on the front end, but no more than an undersink UV system.

They have several different sizes, and often have scratch/dent sales.

http://www.berkeyfilters.com/

[anotheruser]

Currently I use the water machines on the street, around 1baht for 1 liter. Where can you order those 5gal bottles for 30 baht ?

Think about it... if the water from the taps was good, these machines would not be so common.

[Asiantravel]

Yes it is safe. I even drink tap water sometimes and have never been sick from it. I use in my water heater (for coffee etc.)

I do mean city water.

Just because you have never been sick doesn't mean that the water is safe?

How do you know there are all kinds of residual chemicals even in the smallest amounts that are slowly building up in your body each time you drink the tap water?

[i claudius]

Under no circumstances whatever would i drink tap water ,even if it was boiled.

[balo]

I only use tap water for boiling potatoes and pasta . Everything else bottled water , I will not risk my health.

[Jingthing]

I only use tap water for boiling potatoes and pasta . Everything else bottled water , I will not risk my health.

Yeah but it really is fine for boiling stuff.

[MZurf]

The only thing I use tap water for cooking wise is boiling eggs. Everything else - bottled water.

[Oink]

We installed a whole house filtration system so you can drink from any of the taps. Basically there is a particulate pre-filter which filters down to 1 micron (1/25,000 inch) and two High Efficiency Filters (to give the flow rate) which filters down to 0.25 microns which is smaller than bacteria, lead, pesticides and any other crap other than water molecules, and the flow rate is high enough to have rain showers running simultaneously in each of the four bedrooms without a drop in pressure.

[jaybas]

chiangmaikelly

where in patts can I get that delivered for 30 baht?????