When I was a kid I can remember water being boiled on the wood cook stove in the Kitchen to make the hot water we would expect to get from a hot water heater today.
We do everything in our power today to have all the hot water we could ever want—-whenever we want—wherever we want. We must still be careful to not let the water get TOO hot.
Human skin is comfortable in a relatively narrow range of temperatures without being damaged. Normal skin temperature is usually around 91 degrees. According to the CPSC (Consumer Products Safety Commission) there are more than 3800 scalding injuries and 34 deaths per year from tap water that is set too high. Most of these injuries involve children under five and the elderly.
Washington State Home Inspectors are required by our Standards of Practice to state in the written report whether we tested the water temperature or not and to state that the recommended water temperature should not exceed 120 degrees Fahrenheit.
Make sure your water temperature is not set higher than 120 degrees Fahrenheit. If you don’t have enough hot water at that temperature, you either need more supply (bigger tank) or some sort of temperature regulator (tempering valve) on the system so that the tank temperature can be set higher while delivering 120 degree water where you need it.
There are some advantages to keeping the water in the tank above 130 degrees Fahrenheit to prevent the growth of some types of bacteria—including Legionella—making a tempering valve a wise choice. This also creates a greater supply of hot water by having a higher temperature of water to dilute down to 120 degrees.
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Anyone who looks this up wants to know how hot should the water be not how cold. Of course, the government wants it low. My heat and hot water come to my condo from a central source. They dropped the temperature greatly. I want to know if it is high enough.
This does NOT ANSWER THE QUESTION:
How hot should the water be coming out of your faucet?
I am in an apt. building, and the shower water is 102*—but that doesn’t tell me how hot the the heating tank is set, and management gets super defensive if you ask them anything.
So please answer the question, and if there is a way to extrapolate how hot the water heater is set at by measuring faucet hot water
There are lots of explanations for low water temp. Distance is typically not one of them unless it is VERY long. Is this true of all your faucets or just the shower? If it is a mixing type valve it may be set wrong. If this is the hottest it gets anywhere, the building mixing valve is set wrong or the water heater is set too low. Bundling of hot and cold water lines is sometimes an issue as well.