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Hot water: legionella, scalding and the tank temperature
Hot water: legionella, scalding and the tank temperature: the two safety limits pull in opposite directions and no local page explains the resolution: store…
This launch guide maps the topic, the source base and the practical questions. Check the linked official authority before acting on a rule, deadline, price or safety requirement.
What this guide covers
The two safety limits pull in opposite directions and no local page explains the resolution: store at 60 °C to kill legionella, deliver below 45 °C to a bath so a child is not scalded, and use a thermostatic mixer between them.
One page per situation: a hot-water cylinder, an instantaneous heater, a heat-pump water heater and its lower default temperature, a summer house after a month closed, a shower head and its biofilm, a rarely used tap, a hot tub, a humidifier, a decorative fountain, a care home, and a building after a long vacancy. Each gives the temperature to set, the flush procedure and the scald-time table by temperature.
How to use it
Use Hot water: legionella, scalding and the tank temperature to understand the inputs, units and assumptions before relying on an output. A useful result should be reproducible from the named source rather than presented as an unexplained score.
The page keeps the main question, its evidence base and its limits together in one canonical place. That makes it useful as a quick orientation and avoids splitting a broad subject into shallow pages before each narrower answer has enough verified material of its own.
Search vocabulary in four languages
Terminology changes across borders. These are example phrases people use for the same subject in Estonian, Finnish, Russian and English; they are included as a practical vocabulary aid, not as hidden keywords.
| Language | Example phrase |
|---|---|
| Estonian | boileri temperatuur legionella |
| Finnish | lämminvesivaraajan lämpötila suositus |
| Russian | температура бойлера легионелла |
| English | safe hot water temperature for children |
Evidence and provenance
The evidence map below records the primary, official or openly licensed material chosen for this guide. It is deliberately visible so a reader can tell the difference between a rule published by an authority, a measured dataset and an editorial explanation.
Source: WHO Legionella and the prevention of legionellosis (public), ECDC guidance, published scald-threshold data; the settings from national codes. · checked 2026-09-09
Source names are preserved even where an authority changes its web address. No figure is added to this launch page unless it is already present in the cited source description or can be computed from a named dataset.
Scope and boundaries
no diagnosis here — Legionnaires' disease is a clinician's call.
Connected TempoLife guides
The following paths are the intentional hand-offs named in the brief. They keep adjacent subjects separate while making the next useful reference easy to find.
Poolcare
Continue to the related TempoLife reference.
More Hospitals
Continue to the related TempoLife reference.
Why it belongs on TempoLife
/poolcare and /more/hospitals (legionella context).
Frequently asked questions
What does this guide cover?
The two safety limits pull in opposite directions and no local page explains the resolution: store at 60 °C to kill legionella, deliver below 45 °C to a bath so a child is not scalded, and use a thermostatic mixer between them. One page per situation: a hot-water cylinder, an instantaneous heater, a heat-pump water heater and its lower default temperature, a summer house after a month closed, a shower head and its biofilm, a rarely used tap, a hot tub, a humidifier, a decorative fountain, a care home, and a…
What evidence does it use?
WHO Legionella and the prevention of legionellosis (public), ECDC guidance, published scald-threshold data; the settings from national codes.
Where does this guide stop?
no diagnosis here — Legionnaires' disease is a clinician's call.
Turn the reference into a routine
TempoLife brings food, movement, sleep and everyday health habits into one private place when you want to track what happens next.