On 2008-04-09, Jeff wrote:

When we had our tank replaced a couple of years ago I had to specifically
decline a safety device that would add cold water to the hot water leaving
the tank if it detected it was higher than scalding temp. Apparently it is
now code for new construction around here. In my mind I can't quite figure
out if cooling "very" hot water to "fairly" hot water in the hot water line
rather than at the shower fixture would reduce amount of running time for
showers from one full tank of hot water. I'm thinking it would act the same
as lowering the tank temperature so it would reduce the available run time.

No, it would act the same as mixing down the "very" hot water at the
shower like you do now. It doesn't matter where you do the mixing--by
raising the tank temperature you are still increased the amount of
heat stored in the tank.

Wayne