Hot and Cold

I know summer has started. It is not that the air conditioners have become relentless. There is another tell. The hot and cold taps have reversed.  Most Abu Dhabi homes have multiple, small electric hot water heaters in each of the bathrooms instead of a central hot water system.

And on the roof there is a very large water storage tank. As we move into the warmer months this outside water storage warms up with the air temperature. Then there is the added factor that many of those roof tanks only have a rudimentary open-sided canopy over them which only provides shade for a maximum of a couple of hours a day, if at all. Therefore, there is a good dose of solar heating that goes on together with the ambient temperature now climbing into the forties. So out of the cold tap comes water at around nice 40+c. Meanwhile the hot water tank sitting inside now no longer needs to be turned on, since there is a good supply from outside. However, since the hot water tank is sitting inside, in the shade and inside an air conditioned room, its temperature drops sufficiently to become the source of cooler (not cold) water.  So while the air conditioning electricity bill soars there is some small comfort in the knowledge that at least the electric hot water bill has plummeted.