Posted on 07/05/2009 9:59:53 PM PDT by Chet 99
MOBILE, Ala. — A woman who suffered third-degree burns after stepping into a shower of 136-degree water has been awarded $750,000 in a settlement of a lawsuit against the apartment manager.
The Mobile County court award to 25-year-old Treon Moorer, in late June, followed mediation with JRS Management Inc. of Florida. The company's lawyer, Larry Matthews of Pensacola, declined comment.
. . .
He said Moorer was "horribly scarred" from the neck down. Taylor says the water heater industry and burn doctors recommend a setting of 120 degrees.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Pressure cooker is the only thing I could think of to get water that hot.
That’s just luke warm!
I have mine set at 180 and by the time I get through with a shower I have the cold turned off!
A little exaggeration? Huh?
So, unless she was in an air-tight, pressurized shower, there is no way that the water degree was 135C. It had to be 135F.
I will have to agree with a previous poster about being passed out in the shower drunk!
We are doomed.
/johnny
Most likely it’s in Fahrenheit. We (the US) don’t tend to use the Celsius scale.
The article didn’t really mention whether the scalding water was a momentary change due to a toilet flush or whether the guy really was too stupid to know that hot water will be hot before stepping into the shower.
Dollar bills are as close as they will ever come to the MKS standard. They missed Mars because of that.
/johnny
It's not the heat, it's the humidity.
(True explanation)
The thermostat on my water heater died a few years ago. It took a couple of days to replace it but, until then, the water came out either ice cold or scalding hot.
The temporary solution was easy. I put out a couple of towels on the shower floor, turned on the shower, let the towels slowly adjust the water to room temperature and then took a towel bath. I didn’t go looking for someone to sue. And the landlord had a new thermostat in a few days.
Have people lost all sense of coping skills?
I think it’s reasonable to expect that water will not be boiling hot when you turn on the shower. This is not a case of the law gone wild. Jurors in the 19th century would return this verdict.
3rd degree burns involve charring, I find it hard to believe 136 degree water would even blister, hell, people LIVE where it gets nearly that hot all day (assuming that Fahrenheit is the correct scale)...
Ah... you must live in a city, where shower water isn't boiled. I do too, sometimes. Jurors in the 19th century would be appalled at having to answer a summons for something like this.
And if you don't believe me, come live with me for a few weeks. You will appreciate hot showers afterward, and be smart enough to check the temp before diving in, should you survive.
I like you, you can call me Technical Sergeant.
/johnny
CPSC:
Most adults will suffer third-degree burns if exposed to 150 degree water for two seconds. Burns will also occur with a six-second exposure to 140 degree water or with a thirty second exposure to 130 degree water.
SO those who claim they could shower in 136-degree water and not get burned are either wrong, or have extremely thick skin.
According to data from the National Safe Kids Campaign, 4000-5,000 children are scalded each year, most often in bathtubs. The average bathtub scal burn covers 12% of the body surface with a full thickness third degree burn. Statistics from the National Safe Kids Campaign indicate that the scald burn sources were 95% residential settings, 54% in apartment house, and 46% in single family homes.4
If you want to set the temperature in your own house to a heat that could give people 3rd-degree burns, I think that should be your right.
But after decades of warnings that hot water should not be higher than 120 degrees, it is not unreasonable that a woman could get a judgment if a heater that she does not have access to as a renter burned her because it was set to 136 degrees.
And even if you think she should be responsible for testing the temperature, it doesn't help to suggest that 136 degrees is a safe or desired temperature for water.
As always, treat burn victims for shock, and push fluids.
/johnny
The advertisement clearly shows that centigrade water is responsible for burns. I always keep my water on Farenheit, and I’ve never had a problem.
And that's why cooks and chefs throw wet towels in the bin. A wet towel, in a commercial kitchen, unless specifically being used for something (creme brule, for example) is dangerous.
I hide dry towels in the ceiling tiles, so I've always got some. And out in the truck. And in the back of the freezer. And out in the building where they store the chairs......
/johnny
Sealed system. High pressure.
Not what a household plumbing system can achieve.
Google steam tables.... I actually have a large book (Physical book with paper pages) of them. Water boils at approx 212F at sea level, and boils at 1 degree less, per 500 ft, so at 8000 ft (ASL), it (mostly, depending on pressure fronts, etc...) boils at 196F.
Conversely, if you increase the pressure, the boiling point goes up.
Superheat and phase changes can make or break degrees and careers.
Thermogoddamics isn't for sissies.
/johnny
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.