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| Preventing hot water scalding
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Each year hot tap water causes serious scalds to many small children and elderly people around Australia.
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More than 90% of these scalding incidents occur in the bathroom. Because the hot water temperature is often set too high, a child or an elderly person is usually unable to react quickly enough to avoid a serious scald.
Hot water at 60ºC takes just one second to cause a full skin thickness scald to a child. If the water temperature is reduced to 50ºC it takes five minutes to cause a full thickness scald to an adult or a child.
To prevent scalds in the bathroom you need to reduce the hot water tap temperature at the basin, bath and shower to 50ºC (not suitable for bathing). Cold water still needs to mixed with the hot water to lower the temperature to 30ºC, which is the suitable bathing temperature for a young child.
There are three different ways to control the hot water temperature. They are as follows:
1. Install a tempering valve to reduce the hot water temperature.
2. Install a thermostatic mixing valve that can be set to deliver hot water at safe and precise temperatures.
3. Install a device that shuts off the water if it exceeds a safe temperature.
If you’d like to install scalding prevention equipment in your home, contact O’Shea Plumbing today.
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