Plumbing (was:Re: [68ATTENDEES] Hilton Prague)

--On Friday, March 23, 2007 10:16 +0100 Fred Baker 
<fred@cisco.com> wrote:

> On Mar 23, 2007, at 9:28 AM, Janet P Gunn wrote:
>> My only complaint about the Hilton is that there is some kind
>> of   thermostat on the bath which prevents it from running
>> hot water.
>
> I had that issue once in Ipswich, and wound up having the
> hotel janitor giggling in my bathroom while teaching me how to
> take a shower.
>
> The deal is that there are two knobs, one for pressure and one
> for temperature. In this hotel both had buttons, but I don't
> know the function of the button on the pressure knob. The
> button on the temperature knob releases a motion limit - by
> default you're prevented from scalding yourself, but by
> pressing the button while turning the knob you can get the mix
> anywhere from 100% cold to 100% hot.

Daily factoid:

I've seen buttons on the volume side with two functions, 
depending on the valve: (i) Aesthetics and symmetry.  If the 
valve is otherwise mostly symmetric and has a release button or 
lever on one side, then there should be one on the other side 
too.   Its actual impact is a no-op.   (ii) if the country 
recommends or requires flow rate limits on the shower, the stop 
valve permits that limited flow to the shower head a system that 
often works much better than inserts with narrow openings in the 
shower head itself.   In those cases, the button or lever 
permits dispensing water at a higher flow level into the bath, 
working either on the honor system or with an interlock with the 
diverter valve.   There are arguably better ways to do this, but 
aesthetics (and fear of excessive knobs) may figure into them.

> turns out that system is pretty common outside the US; the US
> manually mixes hot and cold.

These valves, if working well and properly calibrated, actually 
provide temperature-sensitive mixing rather than 
volume-sensitive mixing.  The latter is the traditional method, 
whether accomplished with two knobs or a single volume-mixing 
valve that may have some crude pressure compensation.   In 
situations where cold water temperatures vary significantly 
(with, e.g., weather outside and how far the water flows) or hot 
water does (due to overstressing capacity) they are a real 
luxury.

They are readily available in the US, although rarely from 
do-it-yourself plumbing suppliers.  If my memory is correct, 
they are  very pricey in both the US and Europe.

    john

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