| The main requirement of
a special needs shower is scald prevention and a controlled water temperature.
With an ordinary manual shower there are three problems to consider:
1. The special needs user may not be able to exercise fine control over
the temperature setting and could accidentally set the temperature too
high and be unable to quickly readjust it back downwards resulting in
scalding.
2. The outlet temperature can fluctuate considerably when other water
outlets in the house are used. E.g. you will often see a hot temperature
spike if a toilet is flushed when you are in the shower!
3. In the event of a cold water supply failure hot, scalding water would
come out of the shower. The special needs user may not be able to get
out of the shower quickly which would result in severe burns.
Fortunately all of these problems can be solved by fitting a thermostatically
controlled shower. These showers can be set with a maximum mixed water
outlet temperature and will automatically adjust for fluctuations in supply
pressure and shut off completely in the event of a cold supply failure.
If cost is a major concern an existing manual shower can be converted
by installing a thermostatic mixing valve
to control the water temperature. |
