According to the National Health Interview Survey, which has monitored America’s health since 1957, 5,000 children are burned by hot tap water every year. While parents try their best to monitor bath water temperatures and to teach children how to use the sink faucet properly, accidents still happen. In a split second, the time it takes for you to get a drink from the refrigerator, your child could turn on the faucet too high and injure himself with a blast of scorching water.
Mark Wethington, owner of B&J Plumbing, Heating and Air Conditioning Inc. recommends that families with small children, or people who just don’t want to run the risk of being hit with a radical temperature change in the shower, get anti-scald fixtures installed in their home.
What are anti-scald fixtures?
Wethington explains that there are two options when it comes to regulating your faucets’ temperature level. The first is to install an adjustable device on the handles of your sinks and showers so that they physically cannot be turned on too high. The device restricts the handles from being turned too far in either direction. While this addresses the immediate problem of having access to too hot or too cold temperatures, it does not save you from problems caused by pressure fluctuations.
The other, more popular option, is having a pressure-balancing valve placed inside the fixtures to accommodate multiple people using the water source simultaneously. For example, if you are in the shower and a toilet is flushed, cold water is needed to refill the tank.
This exchange causes the water pressure to lower in the pipes that are carrying the cold water (separate pipes carry hot and cold water) and for less cold water to reach the shower, changing the mix of hot and cold to hot only. With this anti-scald valve, the next time someone flushes the toilet or turns on another sink while you are showering, the combination of hot and cold water you are receiving will stay the same. In homes, anti-scald faucet handles have the pressure-balance feature and an adjustable setting to prevent users from turning the handle too far to the hot side.
How can you get it?
Many new sinks and shower heads come with anti-scald measures already installed. So if you are remodeling your home, this is definitely something to look for. Otherwise, you can buy the pieces separately and add them to your already-existing fixtures.
Can you control the temperature?
Wethington says that yes, some models on the market today will allow the homeowner to control the temperature. You can also limit the temperature of the water by lowering the hot water thermostat in your home to 120 F.
Additionally, if you decide later that you don’t need the anti-scald option anymore, then most measures put in place can be removed.
