3 Reasons To Set Your Temperature To 50°C - AOS Bath Singapore

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3 Reasons Why 50°C is the Best Heater Temperature

By Amanda
November 1, 2025

This Article is for Storage Heaters

You just got your shiny new digital or heat pump water heater. You’re poking around the control panel, feeling like a tech genius, and you think, “Hey, I've used an instant heater before and my ideal shower is around 38°C… let’s set it to that!” Stop right there! Why? The way you set your instant heater temperature is different from how you set your storage heater temperature. 38°C is great for your skin, but terrible for your storage tanks. If you want to shower smart, save money, and keep your family safe, there's one magic number you need to know: 50°C. Yes, 50°C is the sweet spot. Not too hot, not too cold. Perfect for performance, protection, and peace of mind. Wondering why? Let’s dive into the 3 powerful reasons!

1. STOP bacteria! Keep Your Family Safe

Think 38°C feels warm? Sure, it is perfect for a nice, relaxing shower. But it is not nearly hot enough to kill harmful bacteria!! In particular, there is one silent troublemaker you don’t want lurking in your heater: Legionella.

Legionella bacteria love warm, stagnant water, especially between 25°C and 45°C. While infections are rare in Singapore thanks to our clean water supply, it only takes one nasty surprise to regret not playing it safe. That’s why 50°C is your first line of defence. At this temperature, Legionella can’t thrive, and your water stays fresh, clean, and safe for the whole family.

💡 Want an important Tip? Crank your heater up to 70°C for 15 minutes every 6 months for a full “heat shock” detox. It’s like giving your heater a spa day. Except this one kills bacteria instead of stress.

2. Stop Wasting Heat and Watch Your Savings Climb

Here’s a little secret the factories won’t tell you: most water heaters are preset at a high 70°C. Why? Because in chilly countries where tap water can be a freezing 10°C, you need mix in very hot water to get a decent shower. But we’re not in Switzerland. This is sunny Singapore, where our “cold” water is a toasty 30°C straight from the tap Some in UK and USA are doing it too.

What happens if you keep your heater cranked up to 70°C? You lose heat. Fast. The higher the temperature, the more heat escapes from the tank. That is literally your money escaping! 🔥 Do this instead: Set your heater to 50°C. Mix this with our 30ºC 'cold' water and you still get the perfect shower. Take advantage of our natural heat in Singapore! Lower temp, lower heat loss, lower bills!

3. Extend Your Water Heater Lifespan

The hotter you run your water heater, the harder it works. Setting your heater to a scorching 70°C may seem harmless but it will put your tank under major stress. More heat means more pressure, and that constant cycle of expansion and contraction wears out your heater's inner tank.

Drop your tank temperature to 50°C, and your heater gets to chill out. Less pressure, less wear, and a longer lifespan. You allow your heater to stay in tip-top shape for longer.

50°C is the Magic Number!

👍🏼 50°C keeps bacteria at bay. 👍🏼 50°C stops your money from evaporating. 👍🏼50°C helps your heater live longer. For Singapore, 50ºC is a perfect balance of safety, savings, and longevity. If you have a modern heater, you can set the heater temperature at the digital control panel. You have power to save energy, it is right at your fingertips. Use it! Don't blindly follow factory settings, when you can have hot water that’s safer, cheaper, and lasts longer. Check your control panel now. Your future self and your electric bill will thank you later. 💪🔥

Why Set at 50ºC? FAQ

Why don’t governments make it compulsory to pre-program heaters to 50°C?

The reason is simple: most water heaters are manufactured for the global market. Countries like Canada, Japan, and those in Northern Europe need much hotter water due to freezing climates. Singapore is a small, tropical city, so we don’t command international factory settings. That’s why, even though 50°C is ideal for us, it’s not the global default. If you have a digital or heat pump heater, you’ve got the power to set it yourself!

What other benefit is there to setting your water heater at 50°C?

Aside from energy savings and longer appliance lifespan, there’s another huge win: you reduce the risk of scalding. At 60°C, it takes just 5 seconds to burn skin. At 50°C? You’ve got over a minute before serious injury could occur. That’s a massive safety upgrade, especially if you have kids or elderly family at home. 50°C gives you comfort and peace of mind.

How about gas heaters, are they set to 50°C too?

Nope! Gas heaters work differently. They're a type of instant heater, which means they heat water only as it flows through. In Singapore, you can preset gas heaters to around 40°C. You won’t get the same control or heat stability as a storage system. If you want to enjoy the benefits of hotel-like, high pressure and temperature showers, a storage heater is your best bet.

1. Rainshowers have less water pressure than hand-held showers

My rain shower came as a set. It is a single system with a mixer, diverter, and hand shower combined. This means I get to do a fair comparison between two types of shower heads. You would think, bigger shower head, more water pressure, right? Wrong. Surprisingly, my hand held shower gives me more water pressure. Let’s think about it for a second. With a bigger shower head surface area, water pressure is spread out over a larger area. The larger spray pattern causes the overall pressure to drop. I have long hair and consistent and strong water pressure is important to me. It helps get all the soap out of my hair fast, and cuts down the shower time! Believe me, it takes longer to wash the soap out of my hair with a rain shower than with a hand shower.

Rainshower Water Pressure Disappointment

2. Rainshowers drain your water heater tank faster

Bet you didn’t know this, but I actually timed how long it took to drain my heater tank. With the hand shower, it took 6 minutes. But with the rain shower, all my hot water was gone in 4 minutes! Not a fan of standing under cold water? Then you have to pick up your shower speed if you choose to use a rain shower. Rainshowers run at about 10 lit/min. Compare that to hand showers, which are 7 lit/min. No wonder a nice rain shower session can use up all the hot water so fast. This also means rainshowers burn more energy. Consumption is measured by the total volume of hot water we use. I save more going through 30 lit of hot water versus going through 50 lit of hot water. If I can use less every day, my savings will stack up and my bank account will thank me later.

3. The Rainshower angle has limited flexibility

Many of you already know about the rainshower’s fixed overhead angle. But let me tell you how it makes daily tasks harder. I have a pet dog and need to give it a bath every week. There is no way I can use that rainshower. I’ll get myself all drenched struggling with a dog and water coming from the top! Another inconvenience? It is almost impossible to avoid getting my hair wet, even on the days I want to avoid washing my hair. Even with a shower cap, it isn’t easy. Having water fall directly on your shower cap is noisy and awkward. Might as well take a full shower now. Bonus tip: the hand shower is great for doing a quick rinse of the floor and walls after a shower. I don’t like leaving the place soapy and slippery. A rainshower can’t do that for you.

4. Ever had a rain showers drip cold water on you?

There is always some balance water in the rain shower. Even if you don’t use a rain shower, this can come from the person who used the shower before you. The thing that really throws me off is how I can be taking one of my famously long and hot showers, when drip drip.. two drops of awfully cold water sprinkle down on my head out of nowhere! That’s the balance water in the rain shower dripping down on you. There is nothing you can do about this! It is natural, just like gravity is natural. But it sure feels weird. This can happen at home, or even at a hotel. Sometimes it happens if you are drying yourself off in the shower area, under the rain shower. For this reason I always try to dry off without a rain shower head above me. It is worse in winter countries when those droplets are ice cold.

5. For a rainshower to run well, you must use a storage heater

This means you are limited to your choice of heater. You can’t go for a water saving heater like the BathBox. You must make room for a large storage tank water heater. For some, this is ok because they can hide the heater above a false ceiling. For those in HDB, you have to put up with a huge tank in the bathroom. If you don’t already have a storage heater, I will suggest not considering the rain shower at all. Upgrading from an instant to a storage heater is a massive job. Lots of pipe work, drilling, and dust. It does not make sense to undergo this major renovation especially if you are already living-in. It makes sense to upgrade to a rain shower if you are doing a major reno.

6. No one told me how hard it was to clean a rainshower

To keep your rain shower shiny, you need to polish it. To ensure the ‘rain’ flows out in a smooth jet, you have to clean the tiny heads and make sure it is free of dirt. But that rain shower is so high up! Ugh, cleaning it gave me a neck ache. Polishing it made my neck worse. Today, I just do the bare minimum for my rainshower. Try not to use it too often, and clean it sometimes. Life is already busy enough, and I don’t want to be a slave to my house. The less to do, the happier I am.

The rainshower trend is coming to an end..

Rainshowers were popular five years ago, when anyone and everyone followed the latest trend. I got muddled into buying mine because the sales person gave me a look of disbelief saying, ‘You don’t want one? Everyone has a rain shower at home now..’ So I got it. Fast forward a few years later, I barely use it. After asking my friends and clients about rainshowers, I’ve found that the popularity of rain showers are going down. I guess people move towards what's practical in the end.. Instead of following a trend, think about how you use your shower and see if a rainshower suits you. This can help you save on unnecessary costs. Who knows, it may even create a better shower experience.

Rainshower FAQ

What height should a rainshower be installed at?

A rain showerhead should be installed at a height of 200 cm from the shower floor. If you are not sure, there should be a height suggestion in the instruction manual. If there are tall people at home, the rain shower head should be 10 - 15 cm above their height. Don’t fix a rain shower too high up! You’ll find that the water will feel colder coming down. The higher up the shower head goes, you will have even less control over the water spray as it comes down.

What kind of heater goes well with a rainshower?

A storage water heater, or any heater with a big tank. Heaters with a big tank are high pressure systems and the rain shower will love it. Don’t go for gas heaters, instant heaters or any tankless models. The water pressure output on those heaters are too low. Your rain shower will become a rain drizzle.

What happens if I don’t clean my rainshower?

There will be a buildup of scale from minerals and calcium found in water. This can block the rain shower water holes and cause the flow of water to be uneven.

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