On Tue, 29 Dec 2009 11:01:38 -0800, Winston
wrote:

Bruce L. Bergman wrote:
On Tue, 29 Dec 2009 07:39:28 +0700, wrote:

On Mon, 28 Dec 2009 15:10:37 -0800, Winston
wrote:

Bruce L. Bergman wrote:
On Mon, 28 Dec 2009 11:20:46 -0800, Winston
wrote:

(...)

If it was, one would expect to see pots exploding underneath
people all the time. (No, I'm not going to do those experiments.)


--Winston

Errr.... The bathroom sink (the one you run hot water in to shave) is
likely made by the same people that made the "throne". Are we to stop
shaving with hot water because of "thermal fear"? Or, perhaps the
threat of fracture is being over stated?

Odds are long, but it could happen - Toilets usually don't get
thermally stressed at all,

They are under daily thermal stress, yes?

Yes, but when the furnace kicks on the heat is diffuse enough to
gradually raise the temperature of the water closet over the course of
an hour, at a slow rate and evenly all over.

You are heating the inside only, and at a very high rate. It's not a
given, but I can see an occasional toilet failure you could trace back
to this practice...

If we've really lowered our threshold to include stress produced
by a diffuse transition of +60 F over a period of 5 seconds
(12 F per second), then the +39 F transition concentrated in a
much smaller area over a period of 50 mS or so (780 F per second!)
involved in the famous "#2 operation" must endanger our commodes
every morning.

and if there is a hidden defect under that
glaze it could be just enough...

Meh. I don't buy it, Bruce.

Fine, don't. But when you pee the liquid isn't nearly as hot
(around 95F), and in a far smaller stream which limits the BTUH input
raise over a minute or more. And unless you have the unerring aim of
a laser beam, you will be spreading that heat around to many points
inside.

Dumping in a kettle-full of almost-boiling water from the stove is
going to throw in a whole lot more BTUs (guessing 10X to 50X) and over
a period of a few seconds than almost a minute.

The wax ring is probably okay for one pot of hot water, but if you
add much more heat than that it could melt. They are only beeswax. I
certainly wouldn't do something rash like stuff the wand from a steam
pressure washer down the main trap and let it rip.

-- Bruce --