Scald protection

Steve Lu

What are the requirements for anti scald protection? Is a tempering valve enough? Or do I need something at each faucet?

Thanks.

Dave Yates (PAH)

articles

Try these two links

http://www.contractormag.com/articles/column.cfm?columnid=162

http://www.contractormag.com/articles/column.cfm?columnid=168


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Steamhead

Once again, Dave

Nice Job!

Anti-scalding shower faucets have been around for years. I have an old Speakman unit in my house, still working. But until codes started requiring them, you rarely saw them in ordinary household use.

The only caveat is that if the anti-scald mechanism goes bad, you don't know until a pressure or temperature imbalance occurs and the water suddenly runs hot.

The solution is to design or upgrade the water supply piping system so that it can support enough flow to keep such imbalances from happening. This might sound elementary, but how many times have we been at someones's house (or our own houses) and heard someone yell "Don't use any water cause I'm taking a shower" and five minutes later someone has to flush the toilet? To which I answer "I can fix that".

Proper pipe sizes and the use of full-flow main and bathroom-branch valves are key here. With anti-scald and proper piping, you have two levels of protection.



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Mike T., Swampeast MO

With Showers

If budget allows, thermostatic valves are wonderful. It's amazing to seem them instantly shut-down if either hot or cold supplies fail. They are extremely accurate and long-lived without the "finicky" problem of pressure-balance valves. Beware of valves calling themselves "pressure-balanced thermostatic". They are STILL pressure balanced.

I still swear that this simple scheme is GREAT for reducing the vast majority of pressure imbalances in a system as well as being especially service-friendly if you run each fixture group with its own line.

Mike T., Swampeast MO

With Showers

If budget allows, thermostatic valves are wonderful. It's amazing to seem them instantly shut-down if either hot or cold supplies fail. They are extremely accurate and long-lived without the "finicky" problem of pressure-balance valves. Beware of valves calling themselves "pressure-balanced thermostatic". They are STILL pressure balanced.

I still swear that this simple scheme is GREAT for reducing the vast majority of pressure imbalances in a system as well as being especially service-friendly if you run each fixture group with its own line.

Mike T., Swampeast MO

With Showers

If budget allows, thermostatic valves are wonderful. It's amazing to seem them instantly shut-down if either hot or cold supplies fail. They are extremely accurate and long-lived without the "finicky" problem of pressure-balance valves. Beware of valves calling themselves "pressure-balanced thermostatic". They are STILL pressure balanced.

I still swear that this simple scheme is GREAT for reducing the vast majority of pressure imbalances in a system as well as being especially service-friendly if you run each fixture group with its own line and install a shut-off and drain valve on each.

Pressure-balancing loops are the kind of thing that keep you up at night thinking for uses.

As mentioned, properly sizing a domestic water system is highly important. It might just be a regional thing, but if electric systems were designed like most of the domestic water systems I see a TV picture would shrink to the size of a postage stamp when the air conditioning kicks on.