Do I Need A New Or Larger Capacity Hot Water Heater?
my hot water heater does not have enough hot water. it runs out of water before 2 people take a shower. we moved into this 25 year old house and dont know how old the heater is. we flushed the heater and still have the same problem. do i need a new heater or is there something im not checking?
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November 20, 2009 @ 8:47 am
If it is an electric hot water heater It is possible that one of the 2 heating element have burnt out. This will cause it to quickly run out of hot water and also take a long time to recover. Check continuity of the elements after turning power off and disconnecting one of the wires from the element.
November 20, 2009 @ 1:09 pm
You have many potential things to check:
1) What type of heater is it, gas, oil or electrical?
2) What is the capacity of the tank ? or is it tankless ?
3) How many minutes of shower time are you talking about, 20 minutes or two hours ?
4) Is the shower head a water-saver, or does it flow fast ?
If the tank is about 40 gallons, is electric and the shower head is a water-saver, you probably should get about an hour of shower time, unless one element is burned out.
It also depends on the hot water temperature setting at the tank. Most are factory set, but some people turn down the temperature to ‘save’ money, then only turn on the HOT tap, which will empty the hot water tank very fast.
Do your homework, and if you don’t own the place, ask the landlord !
November 20, 2009 @ 6:22 pm
Every water heater I’ve ever had runs out of water before 2 people shower if they’re doing it back to back. Have you checked the temp?? If it’s set at a low temp that could be part of it…If you really want lots of hot water and need a new water heater consider an on demand water heater. Not only do they give you all the hot water you need, but they save you a bundle because they heat the water as you need it so you aren’t paying to keep a tank of water hot 24/7.
November 20, 2009 @ 6:44 pm
You can turn up the thermostat on the heater to about 140 degrees. It is usually located under the small removable panel. There is a reset button in there as well, if it is set too high it will trip and need reseting. See if it can go higher without triping. Mine is around 140 and is 16yrs old.
November 20, 2009 @ 10:10 pm
Check to see if the cold water coming in is going in the right pipe. We asked the guy why ours was like that when he installed it.(He said it was energy efficient_he just did not want to check it!) The next one that installed one said the lines were switched. Worth checking into. I agree though, if it is more than 10 years old, I would replace it.
November 20, 2009 @ 11:57 pm
If electric open the plates and check thermostat setting. Your previous owner may have turned them way down to save energy. you may also want to replace the elements if this doesn’t help
November 21, 2009 @ 2:52 am
maybe…
the incoming water in our area is about 35 degrees now so hot water heater is working hard to keep up but normally have plenty of water with our natural gas water heater
November 21, 2009 @ 6:14 am
dip tube inside w/h cold inlet theres a dip tube made out of plastic the break up and erode next thing you know your running out of hot water just change w/h before it starts leaking
November 21, 2009 @ 11:20 am
You may want to consider a tankless water heater. Continuous hot water that is unlimited.
November 21, 2009 @ 1:04 pm
If its over 10 years old yes you need a new one.
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