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Ask Caleffi
#10 120...130...140. Oh no! Why are these numbers important?
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In this Episode Greg and Dan - our Ask Caleffi Podcast hosts - discuss what a scald-protection valve is and why they are SO important (protection protection protection!). What temperature of water is safe? Dangerous? Who is most at risk? Are there applicable industry guidelines (hint: ASSE 1070)?
Learn about how they work, where they are used, and why they are so important in the industry.
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[Music]
00:06
welcome to ask Caleffi
00:08
the podcast that dives into real life
00:10
problems that plumbing and hvac
00:12
technicians face in the field we're your
00:14
hosts from the caleffi tech support team
00:16
i'm greg tubbs and i'm dan ferkus
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welcome
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we look forward to sharing some stories
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from our tech calls and using our
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background and expertise
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to make your days a little easier
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hey how's it going out there coming at
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you with episode 10 today what are we
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going to talk about
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dan oh we're going to talk about scald
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protection yeah skull protection valves
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kind of important thing in the plumbing
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world isn't it it sure is and i think
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you know people got to realize that
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we've got a lot of plumbing products out
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there and a lot more to come
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yeah so we're going to be trying to come
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at you with
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a plumbing and a heating like every
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other week right
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yeah yeah but skull protection is a big
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topic you know we get
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get a fair amount of calls about that on
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the tech line we certainly do
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so what is a skull protection valve
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and what does it do well skull
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protection valve is a point of use
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mixing valve
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it protects the end user at the fixture
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from getting scalded
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from temperatures that exceed 120
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degrees sure
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yeah i mean that that's pretty hot water
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it's not as hot as it could be but
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it still could cause a burn right well
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and i think that
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you know to remember that you know your
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skull protection valves are going to be
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limited at 120 and that's your point of
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use valve
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so that's going at the fixture in the
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home
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sure so
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120 degree water can be dangerous if
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exposure lasts
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more than a few minutes 130 degree water
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can cause scalding after 30 seconds of
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exposure boy that's quick yeah
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and then you have 140 degree water
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that can cause scalding in about five
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seconds right
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it sure does and you know the majority
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of injuries and deaths involving tap
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water skulls
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are elderly and children so a little
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slower reaction time
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they can't as quickly get away from that
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water
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right yeah i think i saw an article not
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too long ago that said over a hundred
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thousand people per year go to the
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emergency room for scalding
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that's a lot that's too many that is it
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sure is we really got to do our part to
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protect that
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you know and that's where you'll see
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that you know a lot of water heaters are
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set to
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120 degrees but you know what are the
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advantages
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of of of setting your water heater
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higher
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well residential applications that's a
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it's
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pretty common and it's okay to do that
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because
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water is replenished quite regularly
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right you know it's constantly being
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used whether it's a
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house full of people and kids or just
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two people i mean everybody's showering
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and doing laundry and
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there's a fair amount of water moving
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through the tank
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right there sure is but boy if you can
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boost that tank temperature up to around
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140 degrees you get more water storage
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but you need to protect that that end
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user from being scalded so that's where
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your anti-skull valves come in you know
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going in at the point of use
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allows you to mix it down you know
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to that 120 degree water to prevent them
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from being injured
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right so and typically you're going to
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see
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temperatures set higher in larger
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plumbing systems
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where the water can sit in the tank for
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longer periods of time
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and it becomes stagnant yeah you'll see
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that a lot in commercial applications
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yeah
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right you know it leads to bacteria
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growth like legionella
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where we can use the hotter water
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temperatures to kill
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that bacteria yeah provide a safer water
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system in the building
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but then mix it down to protect the end
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user you got to think about liability
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side too
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you know you get a commercial
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application
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and you're storing water at 140 degrees
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boy you got to protect that end user
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because that's a heck of a liability if
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somebody gets scalded
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in your building and you're responsible
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right
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so how do these valves work dan
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well they're very quick reacting valve
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that basically they'll mount at the
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fixture they're going to mix hot and
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cold water together
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to deliver you that lower mixed outlet
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temperature
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not exceeding 120 the
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scald protection valves fall in under
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the assc 1070 guideline
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okay so what that says is that it's
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located
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at the point of use or at the fixture it
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cannot seed
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exceed 120 degrees fahrenheit it
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has to be able to close off one the hot
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side completely
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to prevent hot water in the event of too
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hot of water coming through the valve
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yeah so the assc 1070 standard uh
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addresses the response time of the valve
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to make sure it can
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close quickly so dan how do these valves
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work
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well craig these are really just you
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know standard mixing valves i mean they
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work by mixing hot and cold water
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together to deliver the desired mixed
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outlet temperature
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you know they are designed to have a
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maximum adjustable setting of 120
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degrees fahrenheit per the assc 1070
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standard
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which is the american performance
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standard specific for skull protection
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valves
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the standard also addresses the response
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time of the valve to make sure that it
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quickly closes off the hot water if
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needed
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it also requires a tamper proof feature
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and a tool for adjusting the set point
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sure that makes sense you set it and
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then lock it into place
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right and making it tamper proof ensures
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that
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you know nobody can very easily you know
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having to have a tool to adjust it and
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making it tamper proof
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means that you know when you put it into
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you know especially like you think of a
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hotel room or
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or commercial bathroom you're not going
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to have somebody coming in there and
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tampering with it and then the next
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consumer user getting hurt exactly
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so assc 1070 skull protection valves
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come in three-way and four-way body
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styles
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the three-way outlet only the hot tap
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and the fourth port
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of a four-way body is an outlet for the
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cold tap
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there is a similar standard asse 1016
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which is specific to shower valves only
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as designed to prevent scalding right
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yep they do have
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that two standards so what about sizing
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and selection these valves dan
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well it's kind of like any mixing valve
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greg you have to know your
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application and your flow rate
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requirements you know so when you look
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at our models
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you know we do have a smaller four-way
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under sink mixing valve called our sink
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mixer
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that serves great for a single fixture
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up to about two gallons per minute
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we do have an option with that that
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allows you to plug
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the cold outlet so that you can use it
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for those sensor faucets where
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you're only requiring a hotline coming
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to it set at a specific temperature
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gotcha but then we also have a larger
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three-way option the 5213
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which is great for multiple fixtures you
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know maybe a bathroom with
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multiple sinks or a roman tub sure and
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i've even had
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guys call me that they're plumbing a
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beauty salon
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and the the hair wash stations so you
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know they'll put
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one of these to power maybe three or
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four of the hair wash stations right
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yep great application sure yeah and
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you know looking at our catalog i mean
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we've got a variety of connections
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available
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depending on the valve model and to suit
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most common
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fixture piping yeah the four port is
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pretty simple i mean that's going to be
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3 8 connection
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um that's going to be your only option
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having the four
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ports it eliminates the need for a t
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under the
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under the fixture it comes with a nice
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mounting bracket also comes with the
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adjustment tool
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you know where that 5213 is going to be
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the three parts so you would have to add
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a t in there on your cold side
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but still simple to do but that again
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gives you the multiple capacity
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yeah or the larger capacity i should say
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and
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has multiple connection ports or
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connection types
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sure yeah i mean i think the next topic
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we talk about here is servicing these
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you know depending on water quality any
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plumbing valve
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can accumulate scale deposits over time
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so
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regular maintenance is kind of a fact of
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life thing
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any anything that's coming in contact
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with water is going to need annual
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maintenance
08:35
right and some valves can be repaired or
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cleaned but the reality is most
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contractors will just replace them
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because honestly
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by the time you take the valve out of
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service you know and
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you're going to go there on regular
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service hours when that business or
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maybe it's a home who knows what it is
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nine times out of ten these are going in
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businesses
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where they need to have that that part
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of the system
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in service right so trying to take that
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down and soak the body and
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and you know a lime remover or something
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a chemical it takes time yeah you don't
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have that kind of time so you go there
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with a body and washers
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you do the swap maybe look at that body
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that you just replaced and you know
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maybe it's not too dirty but it's
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definitely dirty enough where it would
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warrant the soaking
09:21
right and you could keep it there as a
09:23
spare right
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yeah it becomes a service part or a part
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that's interchangeable on the next
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service appointment
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sure so we also have
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the the five two one two like we were
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talking
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that's a pretty small valve i mean
09:40
trying to take that out and soak it
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would be pretty difficult it would yeah
09:45
it does have check valves that you can
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remove and clean
09:48
and put back in and the services and
09:50
screens so
09:51
that would be the maintenance side
09:52
getting in and flushing that valve while
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cleaning the checks in the in the inlet
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screens
09:57
sure yeah i mean the other question i
10:00
think we get too is well how often
10:02
should i do it always depends on water
10:05
quality i mean if you got hard water
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you could be there yearly for sure doing
10:09
doing service
10:10
on it it all depends on the amount of
10:12
volume of water going through it too
10:14
yeah you really don't know i mean as far
10:16
as you know
10:17
it's easy to say annual maintenance
10:19
which would it which would
10:21
refer to maybe once a year but you
10:23
really don't know
10:24
right it depends on water quality in
10:26
your area water quality in the building
10:28
you could be there
10:30
you know every six months doing it you
10:31
could be there every six years doing it
10:33
again it just
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you just don't know right it's just like
10:36
putting miles on your car
10:37
right well i think we pretty well
10:41
covered
10:42
this topic yeah so we got a great
10:45
selection options with the five two one
10:47
two or the five two one three
10:48
you know four or three port valve with
10:51
different connection types so
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uh if you have questions picking a
10:55
product give us a call
10:57
yeah we're happy to help you out so tune
11:00
in next week to episode 11.
11:02
i believe we're going to talk about
11:03
water quality in hydronic
11:06
heating systems absolutely yeah water
11:08
quality water quality water quality
11:10
all right thanks for tuning in
11:14
thank you for tuning in if you ever need
11:16
help please feel free to contact our
11:18
tech support team
11:19
anytime at techsupport.us
11:23
caleffi.com or call us during our
11:26
business hours
11:27
at 7 30 a.m to 4 30 p.m
11:31
central time at 414-238-2360
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