Horne Engineering have designed and developed the Heatstat T2 (TMV2) thermostatic mixing valve specifically for the domestic market. Additional information about this market is contained in our newsletters,

Thermostatic Mixing Valves and the Domestic Market: The Facts - ISSUE 2'.

'Thermostatic Mixing Valves and the Domestic Market: The Facts - ISSUE 1'.

£80 tap valve would save children like Amy from agony of bath scaldings. Sunday Mail, 27 February 2005.

Mum's plea for burned kids
In a split second little Amy Reilly tumbled into the hot bath that her mum Tracey had run for herself.

The accident left the two-year-old fighting for her life and Tracey was so traumatised she spent two years in counselling.

Now she is fighting for TMVs - thermal mixing valves - to be automatically installed in bathrooms to prevent such a tragedy happening again.

The device, which costs £80, ensures bath water is never hot enough to burn.

Shop assistant Tracey, 33, of Pumpherston, West Lothian, said:
'if it saves one person going through what Amy has gone through, then it's worth it.'

Her call is backed by Kenneth Stewart, consultant plastic surgeon at Edinburgh Sick Kids' Hospital.

He said: 'Come to my clinic on any Friday afternoon. It's full of children with permanent scarring after deep scalds.'

One in five children needing emergency treatment for burns have been scalded by bathwater. Amy, now nine, became one of those seven years ago.

Tracey said: 'She was ready for bed, standing in her pyjamas, watching me run my bath.

'I nipped out of the room to get a towel - I was just a few feet away and it literally took seconds.

'Then I heard this horrible, horrible scream, and my other daughter, Hannah, shouting, 'She's fallen in the bath'.

'I don't remember much about what happened next. But I do remember trying to get her socks off and the skin on her feet came off with them.'

By the time her panic-stricken mother lifted her clear, the little girl had suffered third-degree burns covering 50% of her body.

Doctors at St John's Hospital, Livingston, could offer little hope. Tracey said: 'I couldn't believe she might die. I kept saying to the nurses, 'But she only fell in the bath'. I felt so guilty.'

Tracey usually waited till her daughters - Amy, Hannah, now 12, and Stephanie, now eight - were asleep before having her bath. But that night the girls were ready for bed early and Tracey thought she'd make the most of being organised.

She ran the hot tap first, intending to top it up with cold. The temperature of the water was later estimated at more than 60 degrees. Specialists say it would have taken around 3 seconds to cause a third-degree burn.

'The water from our hot taps was always really hot,' said Tracey. 'After the accident, the council came and turned the thermostat down. 'We also got the bath taken away. I just couldn't face it.'

Amy's life was probably saved by her disposable nappy. It protected her from the calding water. Without it, the shock of the injuries could have killed her.

After the accident, Amy had to wear an all-over protective suit 23 hours a day while her skin began to heal...but she still bears painful scars.

Amy said: 'I know that there is some make-up you can get to cover it up but I'm not too bothered. If anyone asks me about it, I just say I had an accident.'

Grahame Barn, Scottish director of the Federation of Master Builders, last night welcomed the idea of installing TMVs in new homes.

He said: 'The more switched-on builders could actually use the inclusion of TMVs as a marketing device.'

Dad's tribute to Nicole
Dad Alan Masterton is leading the campaign for the installation of TMVs.

His three-year-old daughter, Nicole, died in 1999 after a bonfire accident.

As a member of the Scottish Burned Children's Club (SBCC), he's determined to prevent others suffering like Nicole.

Solicitor Alan, 45, of Monifieth, near Dundee, said: 'I could do nothing to help my daughter when she was lying in hospital. This is my way of doing something now.'

Alan led a delegation from the SBCC to present their case to the Scottish Parliament's Petitions Committee (click here to read the transcript).

The group were pressing for a change to building regulations that would mean TMVs are fitted in the bathrooms of all new homes and converted properties.

Alan said: 'In England and Wales they're already doing this. Why should Scotland be left out? It's such a simple change but it could make a huge difference.'

The T-shaped valves work by mixing hot and cold water so the flow to the taps is never hotter than a safe 48 degrees.

The Scottish Executive said last night that it would not be possible to bring in new regulations this year.

But TMVs will now be part of safety talks by the Building Standards Agency, scheduled for this spring.