Your Garden Hose Can Burn You with Scalding Hot Water

Getting out the garden hose is a veritable rite of passage when the weather warms. The onset of spring is the time to plant flowers, germinate your vegetable sprouts, and maintain your permanent vegetation. Older generations often wistfully reminisce about simpler times when kids would play outdoors all day and drink water straight from the garden hose.

Times have changed, and we’d never drink out of a water hose now much less let our children do it. Most hoses are made of materials such as vinyl, nylon, polyurethane, PVC, and synthetic or natural rubber. These materials can leak toxic chemicals like lead, bromine, and BPAs into the water, making it harmful to drink. Many health-conscious people have abandoned their BPA-laden reusable bottles for less toxic, earth-friendly materials. Even if you follow suit and switch your BPA or PVC for a nontoxic hose, dangers may still lurk in the water inside the hose.

That’s not the only risk associated with garden hoses. It’s something you might not ever have even imagined, but your garden hose can burn you with scalding hot water. Yes, you read that right: your water hose can burn you, and here’s how it can happen.

How you can get burns by starting your water hose

Water in a garden hose that is left to bake out in the sun will begin to warm up as the air temperature increases, as proved by a study published in the Global Pediatric Health journal in 2021. If the temperature outside is 95 degrees Fahrenheit, the water in a hose left in the grass can reach a scorching 117 degrees Fahrenheit. Crank the outside temperature down to 83 degrees Fahrenheit but leave the same hose on a concrete surface. The water in the hose left on the concrete will climb to nearly 123 degrees, which is a 48 percent increase in temperature.

Las Vegas experienced air temperatures near a record-breaking 130 degrees in July 2023. The water in a hose on the concrete could reach a theoretical 192 degrees under those air temperature conditions. “Most adults will suffer third-degree burns if exposed to 150-degree water for just two seconds,” reports the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). The water in your garden hose can far exceed the temperature the CPSC warns the public about.

The Las Vegas Fire Department (LVFD) prefers people err on the side of caution and assume the water in the hose is already hot. LVFD recommends letting the hose run freely for a few minutes before spraying any people or animals with water in order to avoid serious injury.

Why children are at greater risk of burns from hoses

Children are inherently more vulnerable to burns than adults. Parents and caretakers should always test the temperature of the water before spraying a child with a hose.

Children have thinner skin than adults. Because their skin is more delicate, they can burn more quickly than their elders. The terms burn and scald are typically used interchangeably in everyday speech. Technically speaking though, burns are from a dry heat source like a hot iron or a flame, whereas scalds are a type of burn caused by a wet heat source such as hot liquid or steam. The human body can only tolerate water warmed to about 110 degrees Fahrenheit. Water hotter than this will “almost certainly” cause scald burns, according to the Global Pediatric Health study. The length of the exposure will determine the severity of the burns. Longer exposure equals more burns.

Children are more likely to play outside in warm weather. Water features are a big attraction when the temperatures rise. An adult or another young person may spray a child with a hose either for fun or as a way to cool them down (or both). Creative minds can find a way to turn the backyard or the street out front into an impromptu water park. Kids love to run through the water sprinkler. Children may be scalded if the hose is turned off and warms up in the sun before the sprinkler is turned on by someone who is unaware of the danger. Water on a slip-and-slide toy can also be a risk if it comes from an overheated hose.

Children are more likely than adults to suffer greater long-term problems. Kids who have been scalded by hot water are at greater risk of serious mental and physical issues. They will experience “life-long increased rates of mental and physical illness, substance abuse, and suicide,” according to the Journal of Burn Care & Research. Children are likely to have more significant physical scarring as well, which can lead to issues with diminished self-esteem. A child with low confidence may be more reclusive, less likely to participate in group sports, and less likely to socialize in general.

If a child has been burned, remember the three Cs:

Cool the burn under running water for 20 minutes.

Call 911 for help.

Cover the burn with plastic kitchen wrap or a clean plastic bag.

The attorneys at Claggett & Sykes Law Firm are intimately familiar with the personal injury laws in Las Vegas and would like to help you. If you need an attorney in Reno or Las Vegas, give us a call or just fill out our contact form for a free initial consultation at our local office.