You may not be aware that the hot water in your plumbing system has the potential to cause serious physical injuries. Even adults can fall prey to hot water burns, but the elderly and small children are particularly vulnerable. Imagine the potential for injury if you were not paying proper attention and walked into your shower to scalding water. Fortunately, there is a possibility to protect yourself against these types of injuries with an anti scald protection valve.
Do You Need Anti Scald Protection?
It is very unusual to know the precise temperature of water coming out of your faucet or shower. In many cases, knowing if the water is too hot is based on personal preferences. So, how do you know if your home needs anti scald protection?
Unless your skin is extremely sensitive, the average acceptable temperature for water is approximately 118 degrees. Raising this temperature by just 2 degrees will make it uncomfortable for many people. While washing your hands under this temperature of water is not likely to burn, if you left it under the stream for 7 or 8 minutes, it would cause a first degree burn.
Remember, that the higher the temperature of your water, the shorter the time needed for a burn. For example, it takes just 28 seconds under 130 degree water to burn, but this is reduced to only 3 seconds if the temperature is increased to 140 degrees.
Installing an Anti Scald Protection Valve:
If you want to avoid becoming part of the statistics, where 34 people are fatally injured each year from extremely hot water, you can install an anti scald valve. These valves are relatively simple to install and can be placed into an existing bathroom without the need to tear down any walls.
In some cases, you may find that an easier option is to replace your showerhead with one that has a protection valve incorporated into the design. This is usually a simple matter of unscrewing the old showerhead and replacing it with a new fixture.
Anti scald protection valves detect if water is reaching an unsafe temperature and stops the water flow automatically. As the water temperature cools, the water flow is restored.
The main advantage to installing a primary protection valve is that all the fixtures in your home will be safe from scalding. While you can replace existing showerheads and other fixtures with devices featuring a built in valve, this means that you are only protected when using these fixtures. That means that there is still a risk of burns in other areas of your home.
If you are concerned about getting scalded by hot water in your home, it is worth considering installing an anti scald protection valve. You can have confidence that any elderly relatives or small children will not suffer injuries just because they didn’t properly adjust the shower settings. By installing a valve, you can ensure that any members of your family are protected from accidents caused by your hot water supply.
By Giovanni Longo President Flood Brothers Plumbing
Giovanni Longo is a 3rd generation master plumber who has been practicing his craft and trade in the greater Los Angeles area for well over a decade and a half. A plumbing and hydraulics-engineering innovator, Giovanni’s particular world-class expertise focuses on dealing with challenging sewer system designs as well as resolving complex commercial and residential draining issues. As a certified Flood Mitigation expert, he is also well versed in a wide variety of water damage and remediation solutions.
