A tempering valve is required by law to be fitted to all new hot water systems in the ACT.
Water in a storage hot water tank must be stored above 60⁰C to prevent bacteria growth including legionella, but 60⁰C water can cause scalds and burns. A tempering valve mixes the stored hot water with fresh cold water to cool it down before sending it to your hot taps inside the house.
This valve looks a little like a capital ‘T’, with a hot water inlet on one side, a cold water inlet on the other side, and a tempered water outlet on the “bottom of the T”. It also usually has an orange, red, yellow or blue plastic cap to indicate whether it is recommended for solar hot water systems and heat pumps or for standard electric and gas hot water systems.
What do the coloured caps on a tempering valve mean?
Tempering valves come with a range of different coloured plastic caps which help to indicate what system they are designed to work with.
The colours you will most likely find on a domestic hot water system are blue, yellow, red and orange. Blue and yellow are standard tempering valves – ideal for electric storage or gas storage hot water systems.
Red or orange indicates a high performance tempering valve which is ideal to cope with the fluctuating temperature changes of solar hot water systems and heat pumps and high temperature continuous flow hot water systems.
How do I know if my tempering valve is working?
A tempering valve is designed to ‘fail cold’ so that if the valve malfunctions you will get cold water from your hot taps rather than scalding hot water. The strainers in the tempering valve can also become clogged with debris which can lead to very low or no hot water pressure at your hot taps. The temperature and pressure may fluctuate or be constant.
How 6 Star Hot Water & Plumbing can help with your tempering valve
At the manufacturers’ recommendation, tempering valves should be replaced every 5 years and can be done as part of our recommended 5-year hot water servicing. (Link to 5-Year Service page).
We carry both standard tempering valves and high-performance tempering valves for heat pump and solar hot water systems and can replace your existing valves or install new tempering valves on existing hot water units if you’re worried about children or elderly people burning themselves.
If you’re in Canberra or Queanbeyan and experiencing low hot water pressure or cold water at your hot taps, give our qualified plumbing team a call on 0448844911.
Hot water systems tempering valves we repair or replace in Canberra and Queanbeyan:
Please note – only leaks or blockages can be repaired on tempering valves. Other faults mean the valve must be replaced.
- Apricus – Hot water system tempering valves
- Aquamax – Hot water system tempering valves
- Beasley – Hot water system tempering valves
- Chromagen – Hot water system tempering valves
- Conergy – Hot water system tempering valves
- Dux – Hot water system tempering valves
- Edwards – Hot water system tempering valves
- Everhot – Hot water system tempering valves
- EvoHeat – Hot water system tempering valves
- Hills – Hot water system tempering valves
- iStore – Hot water system tempering valves
- Kelvinator – Hot water system tempering valves
- Quantum – Hot water system tempering valves
- Reclaim – Hot water system tempering valves
- Rheem – Hot water system tempering valves
- Rinnai – Hot water system tempering valves
- Solahart – Hot water system tempering valves
- SolarArk – Hot water system tempering valves
- Stiebel Eltron – Hot water system tempering valves
- Thermann – Hot water system tempering valves
- Vulcan – Hot water system tempering valves
How often should a tempering valve be replaced?
Manufacturers recommend replacing your tempering valve every 5 years.
Do all houses need tempering valves?
All new hot water installations require a tempering valve to be installed. The law states that untempered hot water may still be delivered to your kitchen sink and laundry tub.