Gas hotwater heater

Is it dangerous to set the thermostat of my gas hot water heater up to very hot? My wife goes down to the basement and turns it up when she takes a shower, I tell her she should't do this, but she argues that if it was bad, why would they have such a setting. She has a point.

Thanks

Danger?

The only danger is being scalded from the water being to hot.

To extend the amount of hot water, you can buy a bigger water heater, get one with faster recovery, or turn the temperature up (or all three).

Turning the water up can be dangerous, but there are ways to have your cake and eat it too - install a tempering valve. This valve is a mixing valve installed on the output of the water heater. You set the maximum output temperature so (baring failure) there is less chance of getting scalded. It basically mixes in cold water to adjust the outlet temperature to your choice. They come (normally) set to 119-degrees F.

Thank you everyone. She seeems to think that by turning up the hot water she can also turn up the cold water, and theefore increase the water pressure...the pressure seems fine to me, but what do I know.

Thanks again, I was just concerned that perhaps it might be dangerou, other than to the skin.

heat

As soon as the hot and cold water faucets are opened far enough to deliver all the water the shower head is set for, about 3 gpm, it does no good to open them any further.