Cut Down Your Liability and Check That Hot Water Temperature

Hot water burns. Your company can be held liable for a Tenant, employee, guest, occupant or prospect being burned by hot tap water. While common sense would tell you that hot water burns, it is imperative that the temperature setting on your water heater is such that a skin burn is not possible or would take a significant amount of time to cause a burn. Most property management companies do not fully appreciate or understand this risk and fail to test the water temperature of the hot water on a regular basis.

Injury and Death

Each year, thousands of people are scalded and burned by excessively hot tap water. Some burns result in death. While most individuals will avoid excessive hot water and adjust the water temperature avoiding any problems, there are certain, at-risk individuals who must be protected. Children, infants, elderly individuals, people with communication deficits, people taking certain medications, and people with various special needs and disabilities are at a high risk of inadvertently burning themselves with hot water. If the human body is not capable of telling the brain that water is too hot, or an individual cannot get away from the hot water, serious injuries can quickly occur. With our aging population, individuals with paralysis, mobility issues, slow or awkward movements, loss of feeling, and people with mental disabilities such as Alzheimer's are at great risk. They must be protected, and your company can be held liable for any injuries or death when proper safety measures are not taken.

Types of Water Heaters and Trends

The two types of water heaters in use today are the typical tank type and the instant, on-demand or “tankless” water heaters. Traditionally, the standard tank water heaters are found in just about every single rental unit and common area application. The earlier, tankless, on-demand water heaters were inefficient for large scale hot water applications, such as filling a bathtub, and were more appropriate for applications when limitations on space suited the smaller, tankless heaters. An infrequently used bathroom or kitchen was more suited for the tankless heater. Some of the tankless heaters do indeed have a small tank in which the hot water was used up quickly, and the heater usually cannot keep up with a strong flow. With changes in technology, some of the tankless heaters are now capable of producing steady hot water at full pressure, so are becoming more popular. The conventional tank water heaters are still the most widely used type of water heater and will be for some time in the future, but there is a trend towards the tankless heaters, especially in the common area and low use situation. They may use gas, and most commonly in Florida, electric power. Many companies are changing over to the tankless heaters for commercial and common area applications, and often new construction is using the tankless heaters, as the prices are steadily decreasing and the reliability and efficiency increasing. Chances are that if you were to build new construction, the clubhouse bathrooms and kitchen would be fitted with a tankless water heater and not with the conventional tank water heater. While both types of heaters achieve the purpose of heating water, the tankless heaters are capable of immediately producing water at boiling temperatures. Because of this, they must be fitted with special mixers where the hot and cold water is mixed before it comes out of the faucet or shower head, or they must have special calibrated temperature controls. Basically the way many of them work is to produce a hotter than usual water temperature at a lower flow rate, which mixes with the normal flow of cold water, thus making a theoretically usable and safe water temperature. Many properties are converting not only the common areas but the apartment units themselves to the more efficient on-demand water heaters. The common areas can include the clubhouse, office restrooms, clubhouse kitchen, outdoor pool shower or spa shower.

Dangers of High Water Temperature

If a conventional water heater is not set correctly, it will produce water easily capable of immediately burning a person. By law, conventional water heaters are set at the factory, usually at a temperature of 120 degrees Fahrenheit or less. This is not to be relied upon. All water heaters have thermostats, and these can fail with age and corrosion. The tankless water heaters can produce water that can come out at a temperature near boiling. All water heaters are dangerous and capable of producing water that will quickly burn an individual. The severity of an injury is dependent upon two factors: the temperature of the water and how long a person is exposed to the water. At 120 degrees Fahrenheit, it will take a typical person approximately 5 minutes to get a full thickness (third degree) burn. As the temperature increases, the time to get a third degree burn lessens. At 140 degrees Fahrenheit, a full thickness burn can occur in 5 seconds or less.

Action Plan

Most building codes and municipalities have a 120 degree cap on the hot water temperature. Some codes have different temperature limits, depending upon the type of housing. Senior housing may be different than conventional housing. Find out what the law is in your area, and immediately take steps to prevent your Tenants from being injured. Purchase a digital thermometer on Amazon as soon as possible, and have your maintenance tech test the temperature of the hot water in all the apartments, common areas and anywhere there is hot water, no matter if you are using a conventional water heater or a tankless heater. Start with the taps that are closest to the water heater, and work your way back from there. All sinks, tubs, shower heads and whirlpool tubs must be tested. If a tankless unit is in use, extreme care must be taken, as (1) the water temperature it can produce can be boiling, (2) the thermostat may be set incorrectly or be defective, and (3) if cold water is used to mix with the hot water, and there is a drop in cold water pressure, the mixer may be rendered ineffective, resulting in excessively hot water. The neighbor in the adjoining apartment may be flushing the toilet, washing dishes or filling the tub, and this could result in a dangerous drop in cold water pressure.

Documentation

Have your maintenance tech keep a date and time log showing when each unit was tested, listing out all the water sources tested. Speak to your maintenance tech and risk management to determine how often you should engage in the testing process, and certainly always test after the installation of any new equipment.

Watch: Water Temperature Dangers

Questions? Email us at info@evict.com or call the Law Offices of Heist, Weisse & Wolk at 1-800-253-8428.