Hot Water Can Kill

Seems like this is a true case of hot water causing a death.

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Water temperatures are always in my report because of the dangers. We’ve had people on this forum recommend higher water temperatures for killing bacteria in the dishwasher. That is nonsense, as most a dishwashers provide a high temp wash and heat the water for it.

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A commercial facility, such as a motel, should always have tempering valves to control water temperature where guests will come in contact with water (bathrooms). It is criminal negligence if they do not.

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Not to mention, for many pathogenic bacteria, it takes exposure to boiling temperatures for minutes to kill them. It has always been a myth that hot water at your sink or in your dishwasher kills bacteria. Soapy water can kill bacteria at any temperature, but for some bacteria, still takes minutes of exposure to the soap.
One of the best courses I took in college was microbiology. A number of my classmates tried to argue with the instructor about the benefits of hot water washing on bacteria. Some myths are so entrenched that despite the facts, some people cannot be dissuaded from believing them.

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*Note: The American Society of Sanitary Engineering recommends setting the temperature of home water heaters to 135 degrees to 140 degrees Fahrenheit, a range shown to destroy bacteria such as Legionella. At those temperatures, bacteria can neither thrive or survive to contaminate fixtures downstream from the heater.

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VERY bad advice!!!

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What is absurd about this is the ASSE only considers water at the shower and tub when they make this recommendation since they also recommend temperature control devices only on those fixtures. They seem to forget that there are things called “sinks” that humans come into contact with as well. Scalding of the body, any part, can cause injuries and worse.

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And a fancy water heater with a tempering valve
can do that, but only once in a while to clean the thing out.
Normal temp can be 120F.

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Not the way I reaed it, Emmanuel. “At those temperatures, bacteria can neither thrive or survive to contaminate ‘fixtures downstream’ from the heater.” I was only considering the vessel.
Downstream, mixer taps, single handle mixers, temperature control valves, and thermostatic mixing valves are all controlled by the handles.

Bacteria multiply at temperatures ranging between 32°C and 45°C . However, in the case of water heaters, the Quebec law on legionellosis prevention requires manufacturers to adjust the thermostat’s temperature to 60°C.

Prior me informing Hydro Quebec the advertised set tempature for water heaters by Hydro Quebec was 51.6667 or 125 degrees F.

Exactly! Neither ASSE nor the Building Codes require a whole house tempering valve at the water heater. That can not only solve the issue and allow the water heater to run hotter than 120 Degrees but also remove the need for another potential failure point and expense (tempering valves/assemblies) at individual fixtures.

Please find and display anything directly from ASSE where they have gone after the Building Codes to force tempering valves at sinks. You’re fixating on the bacterial growth in the tank issue and not the actual scalding issue.

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The bacterial growth is a non-issue as far as I’m concerned. Where is all this “bacterial growth” in the cold water? Drank tap water all my life (city not well) and my wife drank well water long before someone dreamed up bottled water. Still keep a half gallon milk bottle of tap water in my refrigerator. My grandparents used to do this and we called it “special water” as kids.

So you have this 135° water to kill “bacteria,” but when you wash dishes in your kitchen (where most bacteria reside) you are just going to dilute it anyway.110° to 115° because you don’t have a dishwasher. Total waste of energy to heat the water another 15°,

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So the “special water” in my refrigerator should be full of the stuff. Not happening, been drinkin’ the stuff for years. In fact municipal water has enough chlorine to kill these bacteria. Never had well water, but it doesn’t seem to have harmed my wife.

It would be interesting to see the number of burns vs bacterial sickness from water heaters compared somewhere; and that is really what is relevant here. “The cure can be worse than the disease.”

A quick Google search brought up about 6000 annual cases of burns from hot tap water (vs cooking etc) and 6000 annual cases of legionella. However the majority of legionella cases are from aerosol sources such as air conditioners and humidifiers.

My back of the envelop intuition is that you or a family member is more likely to be burner than poisoned by a water heater.

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By-the-way, copper is known to inhibit the growth of bacteria, viruses, and other microorganisms. This is due to copper ions being released from the pipe surface, which can penetrate and disrupt the cell walls of bacteria, leading to their death. This property makes copper a popular choice for water distribution plumbing, as it can help maintain water quality by reducing the risk of bacterial contamination.

Never said they did.

Sounds good. I’ll change my “low water temp” narrative to say; “Don’t worry 'bout it. Nothing happened to Bob’s wife.” :wink:

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And yet in bold below that you chose not to add to the quote removing all context of what I stated.

I think we can have the best of both worlds. Hot enough to help prevent bacteria, and cool enough to help prevent burns.

I use 120F - 135F for residential, and 120F - 130F for commercial (public access restrooms) as my “best zone.” If outside of this zone, I apply the proper narrative, either “too hot,” or “too cold.”

Nothing like taking it out of context. A typical libtard Democrat behavior! Exactly what is expected from you.