Water Heater Booster (Mixing Valve) Installation and Test

I added a booster (mixing valve) to the output of my 40 gallon water heater. I show how I installed it, and also the tests I ran in order to see how much of an improvement it made to the capacity of the heater.

[@glitter_fart]

hot!

[@Ryan-dj5ku]

You can achieve the exact same thing by just turning your water heater temperature up and not installing the valve... You only got more hot water because you turned the temperature up. The end user will turn the cold water flow up so they don't get water that's too hot to bathe in, i.e. mix it themselves at the point of use. My in laws do this every time the family comes over. The down side (either way) is you reduce the life of your water heater and increase your utility bill. The upside of the valve (instead of only turning the heater up) is that small children/elderly won't accidentally burn themselves.

[@KiefferProjects]

Your last point there is exactly why I put it in. I'm less concerned about the utility bill, and more about having enough hot water and not burning the family in the process. It's a pretty cheap, simple install, so I feel like it's worth it.

[@shanfoley]

Is there a screen anywhere in the device that may need cleaned occasionally? If so, where is it located?