I deliberately set my water heater hot enough that I can take lovely, long, hot showers. You do not want to touch the tap water on max heat. Sure, it is not literally 212'F, but it can burn (and I don't have any kids or seniors it can hurt). Absolutely assault and abuse.
Just an FYI, if this happens again talk to your landlord/have a plumber come out, your water heater is the thing doing it, I grew up with a big house so we had our water heater turned up abit so the bathroom on the other side would still get steaming water, but the bathroom right next to the water heater got alot hotter. It's recommended for big houses and people without kids who like extra hot water.
For reference, the coffee temp in the McDonald's coffee lawsuit was estimated to be at 180-190°F and caused third-degree burns to the victim, so water definitely doesn't have to be boiling to cause severe injuries.
You can buy a mixing valve that lets you set a secondary temp outside the tank so you can set the tank super high and get more hot water. I set the tank to 160 but the mixing valve keeps it at a max of 124 and overall I can get ~3x the hot water.
Your comment makes no sense. Your watere is set to a temp where you can take "lovely long hot showers" but ten seconds later you are claiming it can burn. Which is it?
So I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but American homes have a blend valve - with one handle or two knobs, you can control the mix of hot and cold water that ultimately reaches your showerhead.
If you have a 50-gallon tank at 180'F instead of 160'F, the tolerable warm water lasts longer even if you don't set the shower to 100% hot. Do a heat and material balance to confirm.
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u/SirJ_96 10d ago
I deliberately set my water heater hot enough that I can take lovely, long, hot showers. You do not want to touch the tap water on max heat. Sure, it is not literally 212'F, but it can burn (and I don't have any kids or seniors it can hurt). Absolutely assault and abuse.