TheMaster

Its possible for a water heater to heat water hotter than the thermostat setting if the user's draw small amounts of hot water. What if it burns sombody...whos to blame? Is anyone to blame? Should every water heater have a thermomixer?

service guy

?

Not sure what you mean, defective t-stat? I have seen that happen. But most water heater t-stats work fine and shut off the heat source when the temperature of the water reaches the setting of the t-stat. If a t-stat is defective, then the manufacturer is to blame, unless its out of warranty. Then its "an act of god" as they say in legalese when there is no one else to blame.

TheMaster

lets say for example a 40 gal. standard residental electric water heater. The thermostats are functioning perfectly. However the temp will exceed the thermostats setting and vary from day to day. Its called "stacking". Its from making small draws from the water heater.

stillaround

The small amounts of hot water needs clarification for me(because its the end of the day and I havent had dinner yet)..and yes to a thermomixer..its about time to have a double safety against scald if they are going to sue everybody.


Oh I just read above post..scratch the clarify...

service guy

I never heard of it. I thought that most thermostats have a built-in margin. So if you set it at 120º F then the t-stat won't turn on until the water dips to 115º for example, and then will turn off again once the water reaches 120º. In that case, the water would never go above 120º.

Master Mark

The water heater cos send the heaters out on lukewarm
because they have been sued too many times....

then someone has to turn them up once they are out
of the box...

I have always left the lower thermostat on the factory
setting and turned up the upper t stat to 125....

.never had a problem with overheating or stacking..



you probably have a sticking defective thermostat,
change both of them and see if it goes away

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TheMaster

Theres no problem...this is a hypothetical situation.

stillaround

Well, the plumber will be named in the suit regardless...even if he didnt touch the thermostat...the insurance company will go wobble legs and settle...the plumbers rates will eventually go up if he gets to keep his policy...if a child was burnt then the newspapers will help expose the act of neglect that surely must have taken place...the water heater manufacturer will hire Barry Scheck the mega lawyer and the plumber will end up greeting people at Wal-mart.
Thats how I see it going down.

uaplumber

Forget Walmart, go work at the orange box. Then sell water heaters to unsuspecting HO's telling them all to crank them way up. Then when the big orange stops selling these money losers we will regain some of our work.

__________________

Pipedoc

Hot water stacking can and will happen in vertical tanks.

A recirculating line will help prevent this from happening.

If you set your temps to code I don't see how you could be liable all though it won't prevent you from getting sued.

I am always very concerned about this issue and I always make sure to write on my invoices all of the folowing info....

Water temp setting
Checked for water and gas leaks
Checked for proper flue draft
Explained care and operating instructions to client
Eplained scalding dangers to client

Anyone who works for me who does not follow these procedures find themselves in hot water really quick!

Remember to CYA - If you didn't say it in writing on the invoice, you didn't say it.

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