Figuring Out Tap Water Heat
So, this whole business with how hot your tap water should be. It’s one of those things, right? You don’t really think about it. Until you have to think about it. Or something makes you. For me, it was a couple of things. Really.
First off, my energy bills. They were just creeping up. You know how it is. Everything costs an arm and a leg these days. I got to wondering, am I just blasting my water heater for nothing? Heating water hotter than I actually need? Just making expensive steam, basically. Then, there was my kid. Bless him. He turned on the hot tap full blast one day. Nearly got himself a nasty surprise. Nothing too bad, thankfully, but it woke me up. Made me think about safety. You hear stories, and you don’t want to be one of ’em.
My First Go At It – Total Guesswork
Honestly, my first attempt was a joke. I went down to the water heater. Saw the dial. And just started fiddling. Turned it down a bit. Then, a few days later, down a bit more. Pure guesswork. One morning, the shower was barely lukewarm. The next, it felt like it was coming straight from a volcano. My wife, she was not pleased. Let me tell you. “What in the world are you DOING down there?” she’d shout. It was a right mess. I quickly figured out I was flying blind. And that’s just a dumb way to handle things, especially when it can cost you real money or, you know, hurt someone.
Getting a Bit More Scientific, Sort Of
So, I decided I needed actual numbers. Not just “feels hot” or “feels cold.” I had a vague memory of reading something, somewhere, about ideal temperatures. But it was fuzzy. So, I went out and bought a cheap cooking thermometer. You know, the kind you stick in a chicken. Figured it was good enough. My grand plan was pretty simple: tweak the heater, give the water in the tank some time to actually change temperature, then run the tap and measure it. Simple.
Before I really started messing with the settings properly, I checked what it was. Kitchen tap. Let it run. It was way, way up there. Nearly 70°C! Seventy! No wonder the bills were sky-high and my kid got a fright. That’s seriously scalding hot. You could make tea with that, nearly.
The Big Experiment – Adjusting and Measuring
Then the real work started. The adjusting and waiting. I’d go to the thermostat on the water heater. Turn it down just a notch. Then, I’d have to wait. An hour, maybe more, to let the tank actually cool down, or heat up, or whatever. Then, off to the tap furthest from the heater – that’s usually the kitchen for me. Let it run for a good minute, clear out any water sitting in the pipes. Then stick the thermometer right in the stream. Write down the number.
- First proper adjustment: Still too hot. Was getting something like 65°C. Ouch.
- Second adjustment: Better. Down to around 60°C. This felt pretty good, actually. Hot, but not crazy hot. But I still wondered if I could go a bit lower. Save a bit more, you know?
- Third adjustment: Nudged it down again. Now we were getting somewhere. Around 55°C. This felt like a really good spot. Hot enough to get greasy dishes clean. Hot enough for a decent shower. But not that instant “Yikes!” feeling if you touched it.
- Fourth adjustment: I pushed my luck. Tried going for about 50°C. It was… alright. Just alright. For really grimy pans, it wasn’t quite there. And the shower, while warm, just didn’t have that satisfying oomph anymore.
While I was doing all this faffing about with the thermometer and the dial, I also did a bit more reading. Not just random stuff online, but tried to find some solid, sensible advice. And that’s when I kept seeing stuff about Legionella. Nasty little bacteria. Turns out, if your water tank is too cool, say, below 50°C, these things can start to grow. You definitely don’t want that. But then, if it’s too hot, like much above 60°C, you’re just burning money on energy, and the risk of scalding someone goes way up. It’s a balancing act, see?
Where I Finally Settled – The Sweet Spot
So, after all that. The fiddling, the measuring, the waiting, the reading. I found what works for us. I’ve got my water heater set so the water coming out of the tap is pretty consistently around 55°C. That’s my magic number.
It’s hot enough that you know it’s hot. Good for cleaning. And it should be high enough to stop any nasty bugs from having a party in the tank. But it’s not so scalding hot that a quick accidental splash is going to be a disaster. And you know what? My energy bills have actually come down a bit. Not making me rich, but every little bit helps, doesn’t it? It’s a simple thing, really, checking your tap water temperature. But it makes a difference. Took a bit of my time, sure, but definitely worth it. Peace of mind, and a slightly happier bank account. Can’t argue with that.
