For most of us, it would be hard to imagine life without hot water - we are all pretty well used to just turning on the tap for hot showers, baths or water for cleaning. It is one of the plumber's key jobs to ensure that hot water is readily supplied and forms a significant part of plumbing training.
However, the supply of hot water to domestic dwellings only became commonly available after 1945 and the end of the Second World War.
Hot water systems design have been continually improving since then and we can now have either instantaneous hot water or water that is heated and stored in a tank until required. All hot water system design is under the jurisdiction of Government Regulations and recently there has been an announcement made that will again, radically improve hot water supply further by addressing a major problem associated with hot water - scalding.
Under measures recently announced by Housing Minister Iain Wright, all new homes will feature inbuilt protection from hot water scalding in baths and will use water more efficiently.
From October 2009, amendments to Part G (Sanitation, Hot Water Safety and Water Efficiency) of the Building Regulations will mean all new build homes will have to feature protective devices fitted to baths to limit hot water temperature, and will need to meet a new minimum standard of 125 litres of water per person per day to improve water efficiency.