Hot Water heater production getting bad

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foresteronw

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Hello all, this is my first post on here, looks like you have a great thing going.

My question is about a hot water problem.

I live with my girlfriend and her daughter in a 3 bed/2 bath house on the coast of North Carolina. We have a 40 gallon hot water heater on a slab in the garage.

My girlfriend is the only one who takes a shower in the morning. She's lived in this house for almost three years. Over the past two months she has been running out of hot water during her showers. This has never happened until now. She said she timed it other day and by 11 minutes she had it maxed out to hot and it was only luke warm.

We had an electrician come over and he replaced the thermostats and turned them up, it made no difference. A plumber came over and said he didn't see any problems but we're not confident he knew what he was doing.

The house was built in 1995. The hot water heater is electric, not sure of the brand right now. We are on city water but since we live near the ocean we still have hard water, and we do not have a water softener. The dip tube was never checked and the hot water heater was never flushed.

Any ideas?
 

Jadnashua

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You can only get about 70% of the water from a WH in one shot before it noticably starts to cool off. So, assuming you have a typical 2.5 gpm showerhead, 11*2.5=27.5, or close to that 70% value. This may be normal, and would be worse in the winter when the incoming water is coldest. If there is any sediment buildup in the bottom of the tank, that will further decrease the available volume and possibly insulate the heating element.

Take shorter showers, a bigger tank, or a lower-flow showerhead.
 

Mike Swearingen

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If you live near the coast, even public water has a higher saline content and this can create salt (and other hard water mineral) scale buildup on the electric water heater elements.
We were visiting friends with a cottage out at Nags Head once, and we had a hot water "shortage" problem during the weekend. I took their water heater elements out and scoured the scale off of them with SOS pads, and it straightened the problem right out.
You might take a close look at just cleaning the elements, in addition to flushing the heater. Sounds weird, but it worked. BTW, did the electrician test the elements?
Good Luck!
Mike
 

Bob NH

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It could be the dip tube.

You can increase the amount of hot water available by turning up the thermostats (both top and bottom if there are two) to 160 F. Since you will be running about 120 degree water in the shower that will result in mixing hot and cold and you will get more 120 degree water from the system.

If you have a tempering valve it will moderate the water temperature at the faucets. However, if you have only adult-like persons in the house you shouldn't have a problem.
 

Herk

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50 gallons is much more common than 40 for an electric heater. Not only that, but they're usually priced better.

You may be using only the top part of the heater. The bottom element may be shot. If you have calcium salts in the water, it's likely this thing has a few gallons of sediment burying the element and burning it out. Replacing the thermostats was a moronic idea. Anyone who has a tester can tell if the thermostats are putting electricity where it's supposed to go without replacing them. But the failed element requires draining of the tank and cleaning of the sediment.

If the heater is from '95, it's nearing the end of its life and it's a tossup whether to repair or replace since if the heater fails you not only have to pay for the new one, but you lose the cost of repairs. Eleven or twelve years isn't a bad average for water heaters these days.

By turning off the power, disconnecting the wires from the bottom element, and checking it with a continuity tester, you should be able to determine (with about 95% accuracy) that the element is good or bad. No continuity from screw to screw = bad, continuity = good, continuity between screw and tank = bad.

These tanks have a sacrificial anode rod, which will be non-existent by now in your heater and it's only a matter of time before it begins to leak.
 
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