TheBanyanTree: Bathing-- Art? Or science?

[Janice Money]

I'm sorry.  Not having had a bath since May, 1995, and in the intervening
years having forgotten whatever I knew about the drawing of them, I can't
advise you on that.  Nevertheless, I do wish you all the best with inventing
a tub heater.  Here's an idea.  How about setting up your heating system or
whatever to blow hot air into the space surrounding the tub?  That's
assuming your tub is boxed in.  But maybe you have one of those free
standing tubs, in which case I can't think of anything.

Janice

-----Original Message-----
From: thebanyantree-bounces at lists.remsset.com
[mailto:thebanyantree-bounces at lists.remsset.com] On Behalf Of Dale M. Parish
Sent: Monday, 17 June 2013 1:29 PM
To: Tree Banyan
Subject: TheBanyanTree: Bathing-- Art? Or science?

Normally, I take a hot shower, but sometimes, I come in hot and tired and
want to take a long soak in a hot bath.  Especially when it's time to cut
toe nails-- a good scalding makes them so much easier to cut.  I used to
know just how to set the temperature so that I could just barely stand to
put my feet in the water when it had reached the right depth.  That's the
displacement depth-- enough water so that when I was immersed up to my neck,
legs folded down, the water would just come up to the top of the overflow
drain.  I'd take the wash rag, fold it just so, and drape it over the bottom
intake opening, stuffing the rag in so that it would stop the overflow, and
I could enjoy the tub full up to the top after I was immersed to my chin. 
 
Alas, we traded that fiberglass tub for a larger cast-iron model.  I'm
having to relearn all over again.  

The cast iron tub has a much higher coefficient of heat than the fiberglass
one had, which means that the first half of the hot water goes into heating
the tub, not me.  If I turn the water on hot enough to heat the tub first,
then I can't stand to get in it until it's nearly full and the tub soaks
enough heat out of the water to bring it down to the temperature where your
toe nails hurt after they've soaked a few minutes.  Why toe nails and not
fingernails hurt in water as hot as you can stand it, I've never figured
out.  But mine do.  

I'm learning that if I turn the water on hotter than I can stand it at
first, let the tub fill up about a fourth, then pull back on the hot, I
don't have to wait too much longer for the water temperature to be drawn
back down by the tub to the point that I can put my feet in without scalding
them.  What I'm having trouble learning is how much to let off the hot water
so that when the water gets deep, it doesn't cool off too quickly.  Several
times, I've thought I had it just right, but before I was ready to end the
soaking and start the washing, it was much too cool.  Not good.  

Maybe what I need to do is to invent a tub heater.  Why not?  They have
heated toilet seats and heated car seats.  Only problem I see with that is
the safety factor.  Electric heat in a cast iron tub would probably not be a
good idea.  Oh, well.  I'll figure it out sooner or later.

Hugs,
Dale

--
Dale M. Parish
628 Parish RD
Orange TX 77632