Hot water stays lukewarm..

Up until a few days ago, my hot water worked fine. My plumber came by to remove a gas line and had to shut down the gas to the house. When he left, he re-lit the pilots on the water heater, but the water has never returned to the temperature it used to be.

Any thoughts on why this is? My plumber says that it takes time to heat back up but it's almost been a week now. The Reliance 501 heater thermostat was moved from hot to very hot. The pilot is lit, yet the pipes are all cold and the heater is cool to the touch.

Need help! Thanks in advance

I don't know what your problem is, but I can tell you that it only takes perhaps 1/2 hour to heat a tank of water from cold to hot. I would guess there is something not functioning in the ignition system. You need to get a qualified repairman to determine what the problem is.

There are 2 knobs that operate the heater. 1 is to light the pilot and then the same knob has to be turned to the on position after the pilot is lit. Look and see if this was done. I'm not talking about the knob that adjusts the water temp.