Why Is the Perfect Shower Temperature So Hard To Find?

Somewhere between "boiling lava" and "the surface of Pluto" is the perfect shower temperature, but why is it so elusive?

Hosted by: Stefan Chin
----------
----------
Dooblydoo thanks go to the following Patreon supporters: Kevin Bealer, Mark Terrio-Cameron, KatieMarie Magnone, Patrick Merrithew, D.A. Noe, Charles Southerland, Fatima Iqbal, Sultan Alkhulaifi, Nicholas Smith, Tim Curwick, Alexander Wadsworth, Scott Satovsky Jr, Philippe von Bergen, Bella Nash, Chris Peters, Patrick D. Ashmore, Piya Shedden, Charles George
----------
Looking for SciShow elsewhere on the internet?
----------
Sources:

[mmaakk]

We'll look back on how we couldn't shower and flush at the same time, just as we look back on when we couldn't make a call and run the internet at the same time. Huzzah!

[kv]

I see kurzgesagt merch is sellin like a god church

[Why_It]

Anyone else get a sense of paranoia when you take a shower alone and accidentally leave your door unlocked?

[motab]

I thought it's because the body gets used to the hot temperature and then you need a higher temperature to compensate

[emperorjustinianIII]

I thought this video would be more about the psychological aspect of never finding the right temperature (and will we ever really find the right temperature?). But then there was a lecture about different kinds of water heating which I enjoyed while I'm now stuck with the question mentioned above.

[acfrmlc]

the fact that sci show editors take the time to make the words "contract" actually contract pleases my visual learning!!!! thanks sci show for doing all the little things that people may not notice!

[MyRealFantasy]

Omg. I absolutely loved the little sketch doodles in this one!!! Do more like this!!!!

[dissidify]

Or just get an electric shower hooked up to the cold water. Easy to get the perfect temperature because you aren't mixing hot and cold just controlling the heating coil.

[NhoyBarangay]

Had this problem for a while. The key here is a constant water pressure. I have an electric water heater, I used a multimeter with thermocouple to measure temperature of the showerhead itself(made out of chrome). I turned those shower valves wide open and my water heater temperature knob to the max. Wait till the temperature settles; from there adjust water heater temperature knob. I settled on 45°C average using min/max function of the multimeter and constantly testing the water coming out from it. From there I have a constant max value without burning myself and could pull back a little to normal body temp easily. ü

[CatalystEXE]

I was expecting this video to be about some quirk of the way your skin senses the temperature of water. Turned out to be a video on engineering. Just as fascinating

[katzpajamas]

0:15 the animations got me 😂😂😂
now all I can think about is the dramatic nature of your showers, sir.

[SuperVstech]

As a boiler tech, and professional HVAC tech... having a mixing valve set on the tank, so the hot temp is only slightly above perfect bathing temp as it exits the tank, but the tank itself is set very. High, causes you to use the hot on full, with little or no cold mixing... so any cold water or hot water usage elsewhere in the house has zero effect on your shower temp bliss...

[VICTORdoomm]

The hot water going down the drain could be used to warm the cold water pipe so you use less hot water making it perfect if you have a small water heater

[AshArAis]

In Ireland we used to have the immersion, which you manually turned on instead of always having hot water. Now most people have electric showers if they possibly can. Don't have to preheat the water, cold taps don't affect the shower much if at all.

[grlg]

Best solution is the Rinnai Infinity instantaneous (tankless) hot water heater (or other computer controlled Tankless system). You move the tap all the way to hot and set the temperature on a digital control panel next to the shower. Holds water temperature to the degree no mater what else is open in the house and also uses the exact amount of energy required. Surprisingly this type of system seems to only be popular in Japan/Australia/UK and I think was only recently introduced to the US market.

[cheaterman]

Kurzgesagt t-shirt! Also very cool illustrations of Stefan :-D thanks SciShow!

[johngoard]

Now there are valves that are called tempering valves as well and they are adjusted to the correct temperature flowing to the supply tubing to showers, hand basins etc while still allowing a separate tubing to carry the desired hot water only to things such as washing machines, dish washing machines, and any outlet which one wants the available hottest water from the hot water tank for other uses. In Australia these must be fitted and adjusted by qualified plumbers to the temperature that is required by law in some cases such as any situation were any person is exposed to public and institutional washing facilities. A domestic situation is governed by what the householder requires the setting to be but anything over 40C is getting rather too hot especially for the elderly and babies.

[tiiiimmmmmm]

Very nice explanation and inclusion of current plumbing tech. I'm in the plumbing-construction industry, and PBV and TMS are the talk of current tech. Add in tankless water heaters and we're one step closer to achieving the perfect shower temp

[Prizzlesticks]

I've gotten around this problem by taking modest length showers (around 12 minutes) and learning how my old house works to adjust the water appropriately. I know whenever I end up moving, the shower bugs me, but practice makes perfect.

[toddharry]

Kudos to the artist on this one... those toons were hilarious!