Posted on 07/05/2009 9:59:53 PM PDT by Chet 99
MOBILE, Ala. — A woman who suffered third-degree burns after stepping into a shower of 136-degree water has been awarded $750,000 in a settlement of a lawsuit against the apartment manager.
The Mobile County court award to 25-year-old Treon Moorer, in late June, followed mediation with JRS Management Inc. of Florida. The company's lawyer, Larry Matthews of Pensacola, declined comment.
. . .
He said Moorer was "horribly scarred" from the neck down. Taylor says the water heater industry and burn doctors recommend a setting of 120 degrees.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
I remember times on my last ship that you had to be awfully careful when turning on the water in the heads, especially in the shower. There were a few times that I turned on the faucet in the head to shave, and got mostly steam coming out. It did clean my razor pretty well, though.
My fiancee is a massage therapist. When he does a “hot stone massage” the stones are kept in water that is kept at a temperature of 140 degrees, and he puts his hands in this water to remove the stones with no ill effects at all.
Folks when a water heater blows because the pop off valve and the electrical safteys fails the side of your home will be gone as in big loud boom followed by falling walls.
Or think about your money like this. It is likely the second biggest and most frequent power draw in your home with the electric furnace and central air being number one.
So, checking the story again I note that they do not specify whether the temperature is in Fahrenheit or Centigrade. Not overly helpful!
136C water can only be achieved by holding the water in a pressure vessel, and it would flash to steam immediately upon release, most likely killing the person it hit. If the temperature were really in centigrade, the award would be to the survivors.
Mark
And that's why cooks and chefs throw wet towels in the bin. A wet towel, in a commercial kitchen, unless specifically being used for something (creme brule, for example) is dangerous.
I was just thinking about this, and you know, you're absolutely right... I was making a pan seared steak once, using a cast iron skillet that had been in the oven @ 500F heating up, and I grabbed an oven mitt that had accidentally gotten wet near the sink. As soon as the oven mitt touched the skillet, that water flashed to steam and burned the hell out of my thumb.
Mark
“A little exaggeration? Huh? “
Not one bit!!!
I also drink my coffee just below boiling.
i’ll keep it at 180 thank you!
That’s where i’ve kept it for the last 51 years since I left home and got married and that’s where it’s going to stay..
Concern is genuine. I’m a retired maintenance mechanic with Commercial HVAC/ Electrical, Plumbing back ground, and also was a Boiler Operator too. I’ve seen houses blown apart by failed water heaters. When the pop off fails it becomes a missile.
Now that I think about it, I use my toe for a bath, arm for a shower. Same principle, though. This woman must have rocks in her head or chemicals in her bloodstream.
it’s not a closed system and doesn’t build pressure above line pressure which in my case I have set at 50 psi.
I stubbed my toe, I need to sue the manufacturer of that chair
for putting four legs on it.
My solar heater heats my tank up to 150°, and my boiler heats
the water to 280° and it works out just fine.
Unless the water is superheated under pressure, it will not rise above the boiling point of 100 degrees Centigrade.
Surprisingly, not so. See ASTM C1055. Water is an efficient heat transfer medium too.
Agreed about not stepping into it, or jumping out! And too, that injury on exposure to 136F water would not be instantaneous by a long shot. Another guess (yours that she was numb to pain is a very good one) is the lady found the water too hot, and in error, turned the heat UP.
“It’s dangerous”
but I’ve always done it that way
“It could be deadly”
that’s alright, I’ve always done it that way.
This doesn’t show the temperature that the Hot Stop shuts off at, but the quoted 136F water in which the woman was scalded is equivalent to about 57.8C. The table says 5 seconds to a 3rd degree burn to an adult at that point. This would seem long enough to jump back in reaction, though the clinging water would continue to burn.
Street drugs or alcohol could be one explanation why she didn’t. Another possibility could be peripheral nerve degeneration, such as sometimes happens in diabetes or some congenital conditions. She apparently asked nothing for “pain and suffering” which hints at a reason.
Is there a doctor in the house?
Having a handheld shower head fed off of a bathtub spigot diverter, my first test is under the spigot and the second test is out of the shower head after diverting, both cautiously with the hand. If the laundry machine or dishwasher kicks in with a fill during my ablutions, the water gets suddenly cooler. I cautiously readjust to a comfortable level, keeping in mind that when the machine fill ends I will get a burst of hot water again and that I have to be alert for that. There are new nanny state required temperature equalizers that my county code now calls for in new bathroom installations, but I’m grandfathered. Were I to have houseguests that are elderly, ill, or very young I would change the valve (with some regrets) to avert possible injury. This change would also mean I could not get maximally hot water out of the bathtub spigot, which I occasionally want for household cleaning purposes.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.