NorthPointe Christian Schools near Grand Rapids, Michigan, has grown from 90 students to over 1,250 across Pre-K to 12th grade. To keep pace with the needs of ever-expanding schools like Northpointe, Chicago Faucets has evolved to meet school safety needs with products like thermostatic mixers and touchless faucets.
It’s acceptable to raise the hot water storage temperature if you incorporate temperature-balancing scald-guard devices either at the point-of-source, or better still, at all points of use where human contact will occur.
Have you ever started your day thinking, “Ahh, coffee!” only to have it turn into “ouch!” as the steaming hot beverage hits the roof of your mouth? If so, you have experienced scalding.
At the recent ASPE Convention and Expo, I visited friends at the Leonard booth. I was invited to see their new electronic thermostatic mixing valves. Simply stated, it was cool. The adjustment of the hot water temperature setting was quick and easy on the basic model. The other models can connect to the building management system, or even your cell phone.
As I write this month’s column, I’m fresh off the plane from the ASPE 2022 Convention & Expo in Indianapolis. Let me just say, some of the engineers walking around with ribbons down to their knees — ahem Julius Ballanco — made my two little “Press” and “First-Timer” ribbons feel a little inadequate!
Scald protection valves are the last line of defense in protecting occupants from dangerously hot water in plumbing systems. Point-of-use mixing valves keep building occupants safe and enable a variety of important domestic hot water recirculation applications. How are designers using scald protection mixing valves to advance the broader topic of DHW recirculation?
When I first entered the trades in 1972, residential tank-style water heaters shipped with the aquastat set to approximately 140° F. Dishwashers had no need to incorporate a sanitizing cycle. Around 1977, water heater manufacturers were required to lower the aquastat temperature setting to approximately 120°, and now, dishwashers needed to incorporate a sanitizing cycle where rinse water in their reservoir was raised to 140° or higher.
Hot water has been around since man first harnessed the power of fire, but when at elevated temperatures, it is dangerous and even deadly. Today’s hot water heaters offer a diverse range of technologies that perform leaps and bounds ahead of their predecessors, but what temperature should they deliver?