Now I can have that perfect 'tea-bagging' temperature for the bath water.

But jokes aside, I would never trust a gadegt when it comes to protecting my kids from hot bath water - always trust your elbow!

this just in

Alabama woman burns her 5 children alive after forgetting to replace thermometer batteries.

I've always wanted to hook something up to my bathtub that was electronic. If I had the excess money needed to buy that, I would. Until then, I'll be taking unmeasured baths and showers.

bah...just disconnect the hot water pipes from the bathroom the kids use. nobody ever got hurt from taking a cold bath. while your at it, remove the "plug" from the bathtub too, and force them to bathe in shower-only mode. no drowning, no burns, what could be better?

@r55741: they bathe in Alabama?

Aside from the usefulness question, why do these things have to be so ugly?

@EQC: No shower would be even better! Then rent your kids out as movie extras (Oliver Twist etc).

So you still have to adjust the hot and cold manually? Why can't it do that for you? Ok, I guess it would be more expensive and complicated, but still....that seems useful.

Something about the grown men of the gizmodo staff using a thermometer that says "4moms" on the front to keep from burning their collective peepee seems wrong.

>>nobody ever got hurt from taking a cold bath.

Except the people that got hypothermia.

Maybe we should just key this to the terror alert scale so the kiddies know exactly how afraid of the water to be?

It would really keep things alot clearer.

im usually more worried about the super cold entrance with my 50 year old water heater...like raises...

Actually, as nifty as this may seem to most Americans, it is rather antiquated in that it only shows the temperature but does not allow control of it.

Many houses in Japan have competely digitized baths, where you can set the temperature of the water, height of the water in the tub, and all sorts of other things. Some of these systems even have remote control units that can be placed elsewhere in the house - one family I stayed with had theirs in the kitchen, so they could set the bath water to be ready after they were done eating without ever venturing into the bathroom.

I think it's more like helping kids who are old enough to take baths by themselves to not get scalded...hence the colour-coding for illiterates.

Ooh but check out the typo on the product page:

Guards against scolding.

I wish I'd had a device to guard against scolding growing up.

My kids would give up dessert to have one of these... In my house the only thing louder than the "bath is too hot" scream is the bath is too cold scream.

Of course, this would need to have dual settings to be effective for Snowgirl and Beachboy in out house.

What's this We stuff? You guys bathe together?

Wouldn't it be better if it actually regulated the temperature?

My niece gets strapped into *everything*. The car seat? Strapped. The high-chair? Strapped. You name it, if it's more than two inches off the ground she's strapped to it. It's as if we're trying to raise a generation of little houdini's, or, perhaps more likely, people that are deathly afraid of their own gravitational potential energy.

However, if you don't bathe your kids too often they will naturally stick to any given surface, thereby obviating the need for straps.

Filth. It's nature's safety device.

@EQC

Can't you still slip and knock yourself unconscious in the shower. Or like break a bone or something...

It could be useful for the rain, will I go outside or not ?

MyPyro321:

you're right! okay, plug up the shower nozzle, and remove the plug from the bathtub and remove the hot water pipes. If those kidss want to get clean, they'll have to sit in the bottom of the tub (which isn't full of water) and nudge one limb at a time under the bathtub spout. It may be awkward for them to rinse those hard to reach areas, but that's the price you pay for safety!

Anyone else find it somewhat absurd that given the state of technology today, there are almost no sanely priced showers where you can digitally set the temperature and it will do the rest for you. I feel like this would cost maybe $50 in associated electronics and plumbing modifications.

Secondly, as previously pointed out, the least this thing could do would be to turn the water off if it reached a certain temperature threshold. It really doesn't so much protect as alert (as if your child's screams aren't alerting enough). Designers get cracking.

Audio_Newb says: I feel like this would cost maybe $50 in associated electronics and plumbing modifications.

Who would install it? The electrician? The plumber? And which one do you blame when it shorts out and electrocutes someone?

by lordagent:
Who would install it? The electrician? The plumber? And which one do you blame when it shorts out and electrocutes someone?

I guess Homer summed up these sort of complicated things when he said, of the Oedipus story:

"eesh...who pays for that wedding?!"

This post is ridiculous. I have used a temperature regulating, non-electric shower as long as I can remember, since the early 80s. No adjustments when opening the flow and a safety for too hot water.

Maybe its just Finland.

OR just crazy glue a $1.50 thermometer in the tub

@lordargent- The guy who installs it would be the same one who installs the automatic faucet & automatic flusher in public restrooms. The Plumtrician. Or is he The Electricor? Electrocutor??

wow, which idiot is gonna buy it. Just buy a sticker aquarium themometer and stick it in the tube. No battery required.

I think you're doing something wrong if you're testing the water temperature with your "peepee."