R4 this am an MP wants all new fittings of taps to be mixers with a shower type temperature regulation valve to avoid scald risks, says it would cost £80 a tap. Surely it would require power supply so unlikely to be £80 a tap?
These gadgets don't need electrical power, and I don't suppose they'd cost as much as 80 quid once there were millions of people fitting them privately outside bottomless money pits like the NHS.
It doesn't stop it being a stupid idea - let me guess, the MP was a woman and from the Labour party?
Will
Oh dear, there I was agreeing with the first part of your sentence and you have to spoil it with misogyny and political prejudice.
WRT the "stupid idea" bit: TMVs are widely used in the NHS because (a) they often have supply temperatures which are definitely scalding; and (b) people using them may be particularly vulnerable (e.g. lack of sensitivity to temperature in the skin) due to illness.
In domestic hot water installations it's current practice to have thermostatic regulation of the supply temperature and this is, arguably, where limitation of temperature should be carried out. However the taps on wash-basins are usually used for washing hands and faces and having to fill the basin with hot and cold water to get a comfortable temperature to wash in, and maybe refilling it to rinse in, uses far more hot and cold water than is necessary to do the job. As we move into an era where energy- and water-conservation is becoming increasingly important there seems a good argument for requiring wash basins to be fitted with taps which spray a modest amount of comfortably warm water rather than gushing masses of too-hot and too-cold water, just as boilers and other appliances are now required to have higher effeciencies than in our parents' days.
WRT the "woman from the Labour party" bit I am quite prepared to accept that a politician - male or female, of any party - might not have applied *quite* as much effort to understanding and thinking through the issues as one might wish :-)
Oh and they don't cost £80 even now e.g. Screwfix 12024 15mm TMV3 valve £34.
The message from The Reid contains these words:
I saw something on the TV news. I thought nanny (a Yorkshire MP) was principally concerned with scalds from over-hot bath water which is certainly an existing problem both fo children and drunks, particularly when they are not accustomed to running their own bath.
You can get thermostatically controlled shower mixer/bath filler taps and at Screwfix you could get the shower as well for £80. No power supply required - just the normal hot and cold water (at the same head).
Also, for the Queen's sister! [HRH Princess Margaret RIP]
The precautions against legionella require that piped hot water be kept hot enough to kill any legionella (from memory > 60°C), or cold enough so that it doesn't replicate itself.
Following up to Will Dean
while male Tories only support harmless things like invading Iraq?
I've got one on my loo basin hot tap - brilliant: you just turn the tap on and rinse your hands, no risk of it being too hot. But the comment was made here a week or two back that if you want to warm up a bath that has gone lukewarm you do need hot hot water.
Yes, hot should be stored at 60 degC, circulated to achieve 50 degC with> Oh and they don't cost =A380 even now e.g. Screwfix 12024 15mm TMV3 valve > =A334.
True, but add on postage and installation for a non-DIY installation and =A380 is probably about right for a new-build and too low for retro-fit. Then there's maintenance (usually descale the strainers) and testing costs (TMVs are tested daily in some at-risk housing)
There is also a TMV Manufacturers' Association, which is possibly the driving force behind the campaign. A declaration of interests by anyone supporting it would be, errrr, interesting. I'm not opposed to such legislation, I'd just like to see a disinterested assessment of the risks and costs before legislation is foisted on the UK public by their elected representatives, who might be receiving payments from others.
I think she was covered in the second category there ;-)
The message from "Aidan" contains these words:
What a suprise.
To my mind it's very wasteful. I mostly take showers but from time to time I like to have a bath and when I do I like to wallow. That means that the water goes cold. Adding water a 40°C won't do a lot to warm it up so I'll have to let out almost all of it and start again.
Daft.
No, I would have been able to smell one of *their* stupid ideas a mile off, too.
BTW, it *was* a female Labour MP, however disappointing that might be to some of you.
It's useful to be able to predict the likely direction of the stupidies of adherents of different polical parties, because every few years you have to decide which bunch of morons you're going to vote for.
Beside which, slapping-down unthinking, automatic political correctness is more fun than talking about valves.
Will
No, they'd probably cost more once they become compulsory.
Owain
I think the sensible approach is to have the mixer turnable up to a "warm" setting, and press another button and turn further if you want "hot".
Owain
All the more galling for it having been a correct prediction, no doubt.
That's good. I bet the NHS still manages to pay 80 quid for them.
I actually think they'd be dead handy on handbasins, I'm just sick of interfering nerks not recognising that there are ANY boundaries to what they should be able to force me to do.
This idiotic women's first two arguments on the radio this lunchtime were about protecting 'ickle children' and 'saving the NHS money' - the idea that this bunch of crooks is going to do a better job of looking after my ickle children than I am is, frankly, insulting.
Will
naked darling mite on their front page...
Will
Following up to Will Dean
How do you do that when the leader of the labour party is a Tory and the leader of the Tory party is trying to look like a caring liberal if not actually a socialist?
I think she is trying to stop children and old people getting scolded, what the hell has that got to do with political correctness?
With some difficulty. But at least for a few months more, they each require the support of their MPs to pass new legislation, so identifying their likely herd behaviour is relevant.
It was you I was refering to.
Will
The message from "Will Dean" contains these words:
Nothing wrong with picures of naked children. It's only weirdos who think there is.
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