§ 66-27.1 — Certain automatic hot water tanks or heaters to have approved relief valves; installation or sale of unapproved relief valves forbidden

North Carolina § 66-27.1

• Jurisdiction: North Carolina
• Ch. 66: Commerce and Business
• Art. 4A: Safety Features of Hot Water Heaters

Text

(a) No individual, firm, corporation or business shall install, sell or offer for sale any automatic hot water tank or heater of 120-gallon capacity or less, except for a tankless water heater, which does not have installed thereon by the manufacturer of the tank or heater an American Society of Mechanical Engineers and National Board of Boiler and Pressure Vessel Inspectors approved type pressure-temperature relief valve set at or below the safe working pressure of the tank as indicated, and so labeled by the manufacturer's identification stamped or cast upon the tank or heater or upon a plate secured to it.
(b) No individual, firm, corporation or business shall install, sell, or offer for sale any relief valve, whether it be pressure type, temperature type or pressure-temperature type, which does not carry the stamp of approval of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the National Board of Boiler and Pressure Vessel Inspectors. (1965, c. 860, s. 1; 1967, c. 453; 2004-199, s. 24.)
§ 66-27.1A. Water heater thermostat settings.
(a) The thermostat of any new residential water heater offered for sale or lease for use in a single-family or multifamily dwelling in the State shall be preset by the manufacturer or installer no higher than approximately 120 degrees Fahrenheit (or 49 degrees Celsius). A water heater reservoir temperature may be set higher if it is supplying space heaters that require higher temperatures. For purposes of this section, a water heater shall mean the primary source of hot water for any single-family or multifamily residential dwelling including, but not limited to any solar or other hot water heating systems.
(b) Nothing in this section shall prohibit the occupant of a single-family or multiunit residential dwelling with an individual water heater from resetting or having reset the thermostat on the water heater. Any such resetting shall relieve the manufacturer or installer of the water heater and, in the case of a residential dwelling that is leased or rented, also the unit's owner, from liability for damages attributed to the resetting.
(c) A warning tag or sticker shall be placed on or near the operating thermostat control of any residential water heater. This tag or sticker shall state that the thermostat settings above the preset temperature may cause severe burns. This tag or sticker may carry such other appropriate warnings as may be agreed upon by manufacturers, installers, and other interested parties. (1991, c. 190, s. 1.)