gas hot water heaters

[Taylor321224]

We have a 30 gallon hot water heater but it only has enough hot water for about an 8 minute shower could there be a problem?:

 

[Cass]

How old is it?

Are you in a hard water area?

What is the thermostat set at?

When did this start happening?

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Taylor321224]

im not sure how old it is we have been living here for 2 months and the office
sent someone to look at it and he said I was taking to long of a shower so I
had my husband time how long it took for the water to get cold and it was eight minutes.

 

[Verdeboy]

If your thermostat is set high enough and is working properly, it is probably a broken dip tube.

 

[Plumber1]

If the dip tube was broken off you probably wouldn't get much more them lukewarm water, not eight min.

Eight min. shower seems like a lot on a 30 gal heater.

 

[John_NC]

Not enough data

What flow are you getting from your shower head? How far is the tank from the shower? How long do you wait for it warm up? what's the temp set for on the heater?

If it's a newer shower head, it should be in the order of 2 to 2.5 gpm. 8 min X 2.5 gpm flow is only 20 gallons and that should mixed with the cold supply. Hot water consumed should be around 2/3 to 3/4 s of that. Let's say you use 15 gallons of hot water but waste another 2 or 3 getting the pipes nice and toasty first.

If you have an older shower head, you could be using double that rate of water in which case, you should be running out of hot water at 8 mins.

Solutions, put a water conserving head on the shower or get a bigger heater... or set the temp higher on the tank.

Too many variables but it should be pretty easy to diagnose the problem once you have all the facts.

John

 

[hj]

heater

30 gallon water heaters, even gas ones, are too small for almost anything other than a single person, or a couple with limited water needs.

 

[Taylor321224]

but would it run out of hot water after only one person uses the shower

 

[Master Plumber Mark]

Too Small

Either get a bigger water heater,

or stop playing with that bar of soap

sooo long in the shower....

you should be spankey clean after 3 or 4 minutes...

 

[hj]

shower

The time in the shower is immaterial. What is important is how much water is flowing through the shower head. An unrestricted shower head will give you a "good" shower but drain a 30 gallon tank in a few minutes. A 2.6 gpm shower head would probably give an 8 minute shower given that the incoming water is cooling the tank so you probably get 24 gallons or less of hot water before it becomes tepid.

 

[Verdeboy]

but would it run out of hot water after only one person uses the shower

You never mentioned what you had your thermostat set to. The length of your hot shower is directly related to your thermostat setting. Dial up the temp and see if that makes a difference.

I have a 30 gallon HW tank using a standard massage shower head and I get a good 15-20 minutes with the thermostat only set to medium hot.

And Mark, I'm not playing with the bar of soap, just doing massage therapy on my back.