peter wrote:
I'm about to remodel the shower and am thinking of replacing the old
valve
with a pressure balance valve. Is an anti-scald valve the same as a
pressure
balance valve with a hot water limiter? Why is the limiter needed? If
the
water is too hot, wouldn't it be better to lower the temperature at
the hot
water heater instead of restricting the hot water at the valve?

Is there any reliability issues with these valves?

Some of these valves have only one control that increases both the
waterflow
and water temperature, apparently the waterflow is increased to the
max very
early on and subsequent turning of the handle adjust only the ratio
of hot
water. I prefer being able to adjust both the temperature and the
waterflow.
But looking at the spec it's hard to tell if it allows controlling
both the
temperature and water flow. How do you tell?

E.g.

http://www.homedepot.com/prel80/HDUS...cm_ite=froogle

See also http://www.cashacme.com/watertemp.html . It's from a
manufacturer (to whom I have no relationship), but it appears to be a
pretty good introduction to some of the questions around water
temperature in the home. It talks about the new Canadian code issues
that Chris mentions, which may not directly apply but should be
interesting background reading.

For every 1000 references you'll find of the dangers of hot water,
you'll see maybe 1 or 2 on the dangers of water heaters being set too
low.

Chip C