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Hot and cold

Doctor Q

Doctor Q

Administrator
Original poster
Staff member
Sep 19, 2002
40,493
9,472
Los Angeles
Here in the U.S., water faucets are called "hot" and "cold", even though the one called "cold" is really just "unheated", i.e., room temperature.

By convention, hot is always on the left (when there are two faucets) or to the left (with a one-handle faucet). If they have color labels, hot is red and cold is blue. If they have letter labels, hot is H and cold is C.

Travelers might get momentarily confused if they encounter "C" for calor (hot) and "F" for frío (cold). Do these other conventions differ much in countries around the world?
 
Doctor Q said:
Here in the U.S., water faucets are called "hot" and "cold", even though the one called "cold" is really just "unheated", i.e., room temperature.

By convention, hot is always on the left (when there are two faucets) or to the left (with a one-handle faucet). If they have color labels, hot is red and cold is blue. If they have letter labels, hot is H and cold is C.

Travelers might get momentarily confused if they encounter "C" for calor (hot) and "F" for frío (cold). Do these other conventions differ much in countries around the world?
Click to expand...

no, they won't get confused. they won't even look at the letters because hot (or caliente) will still be on the left.
 
The hot and cold are reversed in my shower - the hot water is on the right, though it's labeled "cold." (I have no idea why, it was that way when I moved in). I've adapted to it, but it's always amusing when I have guests and forget to warn them about it.
 
iRachel said:
The hot and cold are reversed in my shower - the hot water is on the right, though it's labeled "cold." (I have no idea why, it was that way when I moved in). I've adapted to it, but it's always amusing when I have guests and forget to warn them about it.
Click to expand...

simple explanation for that:

your shower backs up to the kitchen or another bath. the pipes that come through the floor are correct for one set of faucets. it's easier to "T" off of them where they are than to run spaghetti piping.

it's not that your faucets are reversed -- it's that your bathroom is reversed.
 
My cold is actually ice cold. And I don't think it would take long to figure it out, but if a place did have extremely hot water that scolds, they would have a lot of law suits on their hands.
 
Doctor Q said:
Here in the U.S., water faucets are called "hot" and "cold", even though the one called "cold" is really just "unheated", i.e., room temperature.
Click to expand...
Where I live, "cold" water is actually cold. Sure it's unheated, but one wouldn't expect it to be pre-cooled (ie refrigerated). The cost to keep unheated water cold would be very expensive.

By convention, hot is always on the left (when there are two faucets) or to the left (with a one-handle faucet). ...Do these other conventions differ much in countries around the world?
Click to expand...
I was in Thailand recently and the handles are reversed... hot is on the right and cold is on the left. Pretty much everything is reversed... including traffic where cars travel on the left side of the road as in the UK. What I found interesting was that even their dials and gauges are reversed. Where the gauge needle goes left to right 0-160 KM in N. America, it is right to left in Thailand, as well as everything else. It's as though the country was built by lefties.

Hummer said:
...if a place did have extremely hot water that scolds, they would have a lot of law suits on their hands.
Click to expand...
Most residential water heaters have a temperature control on the unit you can set to control the hot water temperature. It can be set for scolding hot... which I doubt law suits will pass in court since the onus is on the owner. Not sure about rental apartments or public washrooms, but I assume scolding hot water is the norm.
 
orangemacapple said:
it's not that your faucets are reversed -- it's that your bathroom is reversed.
Click to expand...

I don't think that sounds any more comforting. :p


I hate how some countries, like England, sometimes have one tap for hot water, and a separate tap for cold water. What if I want warm water? :confused:

And my old flat in London had a kitchen with a single tap, so I could get warm water. The problem is that the water that came from the tap wasn't "mixed" to make warm water. Instead, I would burn my hands because half the water that makes up this "column" of water was hot, while the other half was cold.
 
orangemacapple said:
simple explanation for that:

your shower backs up to the kitchen or another bath. the pipes that come through the floor are correct for one set of faucets. it's easier to "T" off of them where they are than to run spaghetti piping.

it's not that your faucets are reversed -- it's that your bathroom is reversed.
Click to expand...

quite possibly. I'm not sure about the layout of the apartment next to mine, but it's possible their bathtub runs right alongside mine. Still, it would be helpful to at least have the faucets labeled correctly. :D
 
orangemacapple said:
simple explanation for that:

your shower backs up to the kitchen or another bath. the pipes that come through the floor are correct for one set of faucets. it's easier to "T" off of them where they are than to run spaghetti piping.

it's not that your faucets are reversed -- it's that your bathroom is reversed.
Click to expand...

And what would be the explanation for my bathroom sink cold water always being colder than my kitchen sink cold water? This was the case in NY as well as my apt. in Montreal?
 
iRachel said:
quite possibly. I'm not sure about the layout of the apartment next to mine, but it's possible their bathtub runs right alongside mine. Still, it would be helpful to at least have the faucets labeled correctly. :D
Click to expand...

the handles are easily removed and reinstalled on the opposite side.
or, even easier, if the handles have the markings on a little button in the middle, the buttons can be popped out and switched. the screw-cover buttons have to be removed to get to the screw to remove the handle anyway.
they pop out using either a thin blade or sometimes a paper clip.

Legolamb said:
And what would be the explanation for my bathroom sink cold water always being colder than my kitchen sink cold water? This was the case in NY as well as my apt. in Montreal?
Click to expand...

bathroom sink is closer to the supply line. the line to the kitchen sink has to travel through the heated areas.

wash your car on a sunny day. the water in the sun-drenched hose is quite warm until it is flushed by the cooler water from the supply. that's how they make solar water heaters.
 
orangemacapple said:
simple explanation for that:

your shower backs up to the kitchen or another bath. the pipes that come through the floor are correct for one set of faucets. it's easier to "T" off of them where they are than to run spaghetti piping.

it's not that your faucets are reversed -- it's that your bathroom is reversed.
Click to expand...

You can also fix this by standing on the ceiling. Of course the water will be spraying up at you too, but at least the hot will be on the right side!
 
orangemacapple said:
the handles are easily removed and reinstalled on the opposite side.
or, even easier, if the handles have the markings on a little button in the middle, the buttons can be popped out and switched. the screw-cover buttons have to be removed to get to the screw to remove the handle anyway.
they pop out using either a thin blade or sometimes a paper clip.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, the whole thing is one solid fixture, with the letters "H" and "C" carved into it. So it has to stay the way it is.
 
iRachel said:
Unfortunately, the whole thing is one solid fixture, with the letters "H" and "C" carved into it. So it has to stay the way it is.
Click to expand...

then there's a setscrew on the back side of the handle. sometimes it's hex, sometimes it's slotted. loosen this screw and the handle will pull off.
 
The first house I grew up in had the cold on the left and the hot on the right (due to some quirk in plumbing than for any other reason, I think) and so in spite of moving out of that house 20 years ago, I still see that way as 'right'. I think it made logical sense to me too; it was like reading left to right and how you'd put the smaller or lesser thing to the left of the larger or greater. Unheated water, then heated.
 
Abstract said:
And my old flat in London had a kitchen with a single tap, so I could get warm water. The problem is that the water that came from the tap wasn't "mixed" to make warm water. Instead, I would burn my hands because half the water that makes up this "column" of water was hot, while the other half was cold.
Click to expand...
That's a legal requirement for kitchen mixers in the UK: the supplies have to be divided to the end of the spout so you don't get any chance of contamination of the mains (cold, potable) water by the tank-fed (hot) water.
 
orangemacapple said:
no, they won't get confused. they won't even look at the letters because hot (or caliente) will still be on the left.
Click to expand...
Perhaps normal people wouldn't get confused, but I did as a kid during my first visit to the U.K. I saw C on the "wrong" side and wondered if hot/cold were reversed from what I was used to. Luckily, it wasn't hard to figure it out. :)
 
It's weird, in Asian hotels I've encountered just one tap in the shower. It's relatively cool water and you just turn it to however hot you want it. But there's no separate taps for cold and hot water in the shower.
 
extraextra said:
It's weird, in Asian hotels I've encountered just one tap in the shower. It's relatively cool water and you just turn it to however hot you want it. But there's no separate taps for cold and hot water in the shower.
Click to expand...

yea i seen that too i guess its just the way it is
 
extraextra said:
It's weird, in Asian hotels I've encountered just one tap in the shower. It's relatively cool water and you just turn it to however hot you want it. But there's no separate taps for cold and hot water in the shower.
Click to expand...

Pretty common in the US too. I see one more often than two actually.
 
My Hot is still on the left, here in the UK.

Anyway, as for getting confused, in my house its 'H' and 'C' so you shouldn't have much problem.

Ahhhh, can't beat fool-proof colour coding.

skunk said:
That's a legal requirement for kitchen mixers in the UK: the supplies have to be divided to the end of the spout so you don't get any chance of contamination of the mains (cold, potable) water by the tank-fed (hot) water.
Click to expand...

Hmmm, although I don't have any reason to doubt that, my kitchen tap is mixed when it comes out. Maybe does it right at the end or something. *Shrugs*
 
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