water heaters and tempurature settings

[Mario A. Kyriacou, CHI]

interesting article

mario

[Russel Ray]

It was interesting, especially since the manufacturer's recommended setting is usually 120°F-125°F, and the article says that anything under 140°F will allow Legionnaire's Disease to incubate. Hmmmmmmmmmmm. Seems like the water heater manufacturers would have picked up on that.

[rcooke]

Originally Posted by rray

It was interesting, especially since the manufacturer's recommended setting is usually 120°F-125°F, and the article says that anything under 140°F will allow Legionnaire's Disease to incubate. Hmmmmmmmmmmm. Seems like the water heater manufacturers would have picked up on that.

I believe all new tanks In Canada are set so the temp can not go below 150 degrees . they also must have a tempering valve with all new installations . Roy Cooke

[lkrausz]

Wont anything over 120 degrees burn small children on contact?

[phinsperger]

thus the requiremnet for the tempering valve

[Larry Ewens]

The mixing valve will not allow water to exceed 120 degrees.

[rcooke]

Originally Posted by lewens

The mixing valve will not allow water to exceed 120 degrees.

I have found tempering valves that will not go above 108 degrees .
Many plumbers do not know if they take the handle off they can set the inside to raise the temp to 120 degrees.
Roy Cooke Royshomeinspection.com


.

[Russel Ray]

Originally Posted by lkrausz

Wont anything over 120 degrees burn small children on contact?

I suspect they didn't torture any small children to find out, but here's some information for adult skin. Draw your own conclusions.

About Homes

[Mario A. Kyriacou, CHI]

Russel

Thanks For Info!! Resposible Parents Should All Know This Info.


Mario

[Michael Larson]

Here is the time to burn info for a child's skin.
Water Heater Safety.pdf

[Russel Ray]

Originally Posted by mlarson

Here is the time to burn info for a child's skin.
Attachment 5168

So someone did torture children. Probably juvenile delinquents.

[Michael Larson]

Originally Posted by rray

So someone did torture children. Probably juvenile delinquents.

Probably when they were very youg so they would forget.

[Russel Ray]

Or they were under the influence of Ms Margarita and Dr Cuervo.

[dgagne1]

most new water heaters come set all the way down so the installer is forced to adjust the temp. thus relieving the manufacturer of the responsability of scalding. The temps set in NH are 120 at showers and 130 at sinks. Our town requires the mixing valve mainly because a 40 gal water heater does not get the proper first hour gallon rating required by the plumbing code. By installing the mixing valve you can over fire the water heater to 160 and temper it down to 130 by adding cold resulting in more gal. per hour of hot water. This also a way to install a smaller water heater when you have a large whirlpool and not size the heater to match a fixture that gets used so little. A plumbing inspector showed me a quick way to test temps that is really amazingly accurate, on a sink, if you can hold your hand under the hot water for roughly 3 or 4 seconds befor it starts to burn that should be about 130. If you can't keep it for even a second, tooooo hot.

[twasion]

Our local plumbing inspector would fail you if it were set over 120 degrees. It’s a catch 22 situation- Legionnaires disease or law suits for burns.