Lexie: You know Randy we get a lot of new homeowners who move here from places
Like Minnesota and one of the first questions we get from them is “how come I
Don’t have any cold water?”.
Randy: It’s difficult to get cold water here in Arizona, its June today and 115 degrees
forecast. I took some water out of this hose bib here in the front, just to take a
measurement of how hot the city water is that’s coming in to the house, and I’ve
got 100, 101 degrees coming from the city. One of the things that’s confusing for
homeowners is they have their air conditioning on during the day when they are
gone, when they come home its been cooling the pipes down and everything in
that house and their first initial blast of water will be cool. Then it will suddenly
begin to get warmer and warmer and warmer as it comes up from here and into
their house from the city.
It’s real important to understand the temperature changes that we have here. It’s a
big swing from the wintertime. In the winter you will get cold water, but
because of the extreme changes here in the weather it is a requirement to adjust
your shower valve twice a year, which we’ve covered in other episodes as well.
Lexie: I know in some spots randy, there’s geo-thermal wells, which causes the water
to be hot all year round.
Randy: Yeah it possibly could be warm in the wintertime as well due to that. |
In the Phoenix metro area water mains are buried shallow under the street. Summer sun heats up the ground and the water mains, which can bring the water temperature to over 100 degrees. This can be checked on a hot summer afternoon by running water into a bucket from the hose bib which is attached to the line bringing water to the house and checking the water temperature with a thermometer.
Water lines inside the house will be cooled by the air conditioning. If water is not used for a few hours then the water held in those lines will cool off and when a faucet is opened the first run of water will be cold and then it will rapidly warm up as it is replaced by water coming in from outside.
Water temperature during the winter may also be warmer than expected if it is coming from a geothermal well.
Chandler's in hot water, and lovin' it AZCentral Article about hot spring in Chandler.
Arizona’s Geothermal Resources from Northern Arizona University Geothermal website.
While geothermal resources are not as recognized in Arizona as they are in other western states, several locations have promise — even for electrical generation — and even more exists have potential for direct use applications. The GeoPowering the West initiative of the US Department of Energy recently published a new map of geothermal resources in Arizona.
The data behind this map come in part from a geothermal database of thermal wells or springs prepared by James Witcher. This report reports that almost all of Arizona wells and springs found at elevations below 1,524 m mean-sea level (5,000 feet) exceed 20°C. That is, all the wells in this location produce warm water.
