Water, Water
Water falls from the sky on a pretty regular basis.
And because of this, we get pretty complacent.
The Federal government, in an effort to lessen the impact of 200 million showers, baths, and everyday water use passed a law that limits the amount of water that will flow through a shower head in one minute.
That magic number is 2.5 gallons per minute per shower head.
Two shower heads, twice the amount of water.
Oops.
***
The State of Texas, in an effort to protect the health and welfare of its citizens, is concerned about folks getting burned by water flowing from the shower head.
Water is called for else where in the house,
the water pressure drops,
hot water surges from the head,
and someone gets scalded if the temperature on the water heater is to high.
In an effort to prevent this, the State legislature has passed a law requiring a mixing valve be installed for all new baths and showers.
Our old house had the new shower head, but the old mixing value.
I could control the hot and the cold along with the volume of water (up to 2.5 gals).
Our new house has the new head and the new valve.
***
This is a prime example of the two forms of Government creating problems where they attempted to solve them.
***
The anti scald valve is all open,
or all closed.
There is no subtle control.
What this means is...
2.5 gallons per minute will flow,
period.
***
The old system allowed me to Choose to use only hot water,
and by controlling the volume,
I could control the temperature,
and use a fraction of the water.
***
We controlled scalding by adjusting the temperature on the water heater.
***
The wiser use of Government over sight would be to require water harvesting and recycling at the site of use.
This would save $$$ and infrastructure and lessen the impact on our environment.
***
The average rain fall in my part of Texas is 30" per year.
We received that in July of this year.
Our house foot print would capture enough water to provide water for Zelda and I for one year with only 2" of rain.
And because of this, we get pretty complacent.
The Federal government, in an effort to lessen the impact of 200 million showers, baths, and everyday water use passed a law that limits the amount of water that will flow through a shower head in one minute.
That magic number is 2.5 gallons per minute per shower head.
Two shower heads, twice the amount of water.
Oops.
***
The State of Texas, in an effort to protect the health and welfare of its citizens, is concerned about folks getting burned by water flowing from the shower head.
Water is called for else where in the house,
the water pressure drops,
hot water surges from the head,
and someone gets scalded if the temperature on the water heater is to high.
In an effort to prevent this, the State legislature has passed a law requiring a mixing valve be installed for all new baths and showers.
Our old house had the new shower head, but the old mixing value.
I could control the hot and the cold along with the volume of water (up to 2.5 gals).
Our new house has the new head and the new valve.
***
This is a prime example of the two forms of Government creating problems where they attempted to solve them.
***
The anti scald valve is all open,
or all closed.
There is no subtle control.
What this means is...
2.5 gallons per minute will flow,
period.
***
The old system allowed me to Choose to use only hot water,
and by controlling the volume,
I could control the temperature,
and use a fraction of the water.
***
We controlled scalding by adjusting the temperature on the water heater.
***
The wiser use of Government over sight would be to require water harvesting and recycling at the site of use.
This would save $$$ and infrastructure and lessen the impact on our environment.
***
The average rain fall in my part of Texas is 30" per year.
We received that in July of this year.
Our house foot print would capture enough water to provide water for Zelda and I for one year with only 2" of rain.
posted by karlthebunny at 4:43 PM
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