Hot Water Heater Temperature, What’s the Safest Setting?
The following facts and statistics were collected from the Consumer Product Safety Commission (cpsc.gov):
- 34 deaths occur yearly due to hot water burns,seniors or children make up the majority of those deaths
- One in four children will experience scalding from tap water
- Hot tap water will cause more deaths than any other liquid related burns
- For children, scalding is the most common burn-type injury
- Over 3,500 scalding injuries occur yearly
- Children younger than 4 are two times more likely to die from these scalding injuries than children between the ages of 5-14
- Burns from faucet water happens most often in the bathroom and are usually severe because the water is in contact with the majority of the body
Quick Facts:
- After 2 seconds of exposure to 150 F water,you will suffer 3rd degree burns
- After 6 seconds of exposure to 140 F water,you will suffer 3rd degree burns
- After 5 minutes of exposure to 120 F water,you may suffer 3rd degree burns
NOTE: These estimates are for adults which means infants and young children will suffer even greater injuries much more quickly because their skin is more delicate.
Prevention:
- Set your instantaneous water heater temperature to 120 F or less
- Make sure you have an anti-scald device installed either in the pipe line or on the shower head (this device will prevent dangerous hot water from flowing out of the exit points )
- Test the water with your wrist or elbow
- Infants and children should be faced AWAY from the faucets to reduce the chances of them turning the hot water on.
- Clearly label your faucets HOT and COLD
- Keep the faucets in the COLD position after showering or bathing.
- Never leave your child alone in any situation where there is hot water, NEVER ( Although this story,published on the American Burn Association website, is not related to tankless water heater temperatures,we think it drives home this point. )
We hope you agree,that tankless water heater safety should never be taken lightly. Remember your tankless water heater temperature setting should be 120 F or less.
In most cases,dish washers have heating mechanisms that will make sure your incoming water is pre-heated to the required cleaning temperature before running through each cleaning phase. Even a tankless water heater temperature setting of less than 120 F may be acceptable for your dish washer because of this heating mechanism.
For Further Information:
- Safe Kids Organization: This is a great site for information on children safety. They wrote a brief article featuring the National Burn Awareness Week Reminds Parents to Keep Kids Safe
- The American Burn Association: A wonderful site for all things related to burns,including great educational material. We recommend you browse this power point presentation on scalding.
- The Consumer Product Safety Commission: This is a government site that contains a lot of information concerning product safety,including ways you can report unsafe products or read about unsafe product warnings and recalls.
References:
- “When is Hot Water Too Hot” June 01,2011. http://www.cpsc.gov/nsn/whenhotw.pdf
- “Tap Water Scalds” June 01,2011. http://www.cpsc.gov/CPSCPUB/PUBS/5098.html