Citation

Webne SL, Kaplan BJ. Am. J. Public Health 1993; 83(10): 1469-1470.

Affiliation

Calgary General Hospital, Alberta, Canada.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1993, American Public Health Association)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

8092390

PMCID

PMC1615149

Abstract

One goal of the regulatory approach to tap water scald prevention is the installation of hot water heaters at thermostat settings considered safe. In this strategy, it is assumed that consumers will not change preset thermostat settings, an assumption evaluated in a study of 62 families. It was found that 60% of the sample did not change their preset thermostats. Surprisingly, some of those families (27%) who did not increase their settings still had unsafe (> 54 degrees C) water temperatures.