Prevent Injury with Easily Installed Thermostatic Mixing Valves

03 February 2014

A thermostatic mixing valve is a valve that blends hot water with cold water to ensure a constant and safe temperature which prevents scalding.

Risk Factors

Hot water scald injuries are the second most common burn injuries for all people and are common with non-compensating type shower or tub/shower valves in the bathroom. Scalding injuries commonly happens at home, most vulnerable to the serious water burn are young children and elderly. In cases of thermal shock, it causes slips and falls in reaction to sudden increase or decrease in water temperature. Additional untold numbers become ill due to water-borne bacteria like the Legionella , which is responsible for Legionnaire’s Disease, an acute bacterial infection of the lower respiratory track. Pontiac Fever is a less severe, non-pneumonia, flu-like disease that is associated with and likely causes by Legionella bacteria.

Solution

These serious and sometime fatal injuries can be prevented by the help of thermostatic mixing valves. The solution is to install thermostatic mixing valves which maintain and limit the mixed hot water to a desirable selectable temperature. To prevent water-borne bacteria, thermostatic mixing valves maintain and limit the mixed hot water to a desirable, selectable temperature allowing for the storage of domestic hot water at the higher temperatures necessary to reduce the risk of Legionella growth in the system. With widespread industry attention over the safe storage and distribution of domestic hot water due to concerns of tap water scalding, thermal shock and Legionella, thermal mixing valves provide safe, accurate control of hot water from its source to its final use.

What does a thermostatic mixing valve do?

Thermal mixing valves use a thermostat in the mixing chamber which senses the outlet temperature and automatically positions a seat assembly which controls the flow of hot and cold water supplied to the mixing chamber. In the event of a cold or hot water supply failure, the seat assembly moves to an extreme position shutting off the hot or cold inlet water port.

Installation

Installation is easy. A thermostatic shower can be installed without removing tiles or altering the plumbing, it simply replaces the existing shower taps. The old taps can be put back at any time. Which is ideal for rented properties.

The main benefits of thermostatic mixing valves in the shower are:

• Very safe and easy to use.
• Self regulates the temperature +/- 2 deg C.
• Anti-scald safety.
• Mounts outside the wall without removing tiles or altering the plumbing.
• Cost effective.

Contact the professionals at G Brand & Sons Plumbing today to discuss how easy it is to install a thermostatic mixing valve in your shower.

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