New ASSE standards regarding scalding keep pace with application needs and product advancements in plumbing.
We've all had it happen - someone inadvertently flushes a toilet while we're in the shower and we get an abrupt wake-up call! While the scenario has been humorously portrayed in scripted entertainment for years, it really isn't a laughing matter. The threat of serious injury from scalding and slip-and-fall accidents associated with thermal shock is serious business. So much so that the American Society of Sanitary Engineering initiated its first pressure-balancing and thermostatic control valve standard - No. 1016 - back in November 1973. That original standard was written to address the original issue: thermostatic- or pressure-balancing needed essentially at the point of use. Back in those days, the focus on safety was primarily relegated to the bather in either a tub or shower installation.
Like so many things in life, advancements in plumbing products and designs aimed at enhancing peoples' quality of life often can create new challenges. When those challenges arise, the natural thing to do is attempt to govern them with existing guidelines. That is precisely what has occurred with many new products, such as single-temperature sensor faucets and showers. Even designs such as gang or multiple showers in school gyms that often need to deliver a centrally pre-set, constant-temperature water flow beyond the control of the bather needed to be addressed.