Shower not hot in the morning - sometimes

dnkenyon · May 9, 2007

I am having an issue with my shower in the morning. It comes and goes.
The water, when turned on, will only heat up to a 'luke warm' status.

If it is only warm in the morning, then, 15 minutes (or so) after shutting off the shower, it will be hot again.
Does not happen every morning. Most mornings, the shower is very hot. But it happens enough to want the spouse to take the first shower

I had replaced my water heater about 5 years ago. I has been happening since then.

I recently fixed my water pressure so that it is normal again. I was hoping that would solve the issue, but it did not.

Verdeboy · May 9, 2007

Thermostat

Have you tried simply raising the temp. on the thermostat?

Sponsor · 2022-01-29T12:20:58-0800

Jadnashua · May 9, 2007

It it electric, gas or oil-fired? Could be a sticky thermostat. If electric, maybe a bad upper element. I'm guessing here.

Geniescience · May 9, 2007

and the valve in your shower. What do you have? It's time to start answering questions and giving information. Describe what combines the hot and the cold water going to your shower head. Please.

david

Markts30 · May 10, 2007

Next time it happens, turn on a faucet in the bathroom and see if there is hot water..
If there is, the problem is in the mixing valve...
If not, the problem is in the hot water supply system....

dnkenyon · May 14, 2007

Verdeboy said:
Have you tried simply raising the temp. on the thermostat?

No, but when it is hot, it is hot.

dnkenyon · May 14, 2007

jadnashua said:
It it electric, gas or oil-fired? Could be a sticky thermostat. If electric, maybe a bad upper element. I'm guessing here.

It is Gas.

dnkenyon · May 14, 2007

geniescience said:
and the valve in your shower. What do you have? It's time to start answering questions and giving information. Describe what combines the hot and the cold water going to your shower head. Please.

david

Sorry, I was gone all weekend and had no access to a computer.

I have a one handle that turns up and then left/right. It is a Delta as far as I know.
So, both hot/cold go into this valve and then up the same pipe to the shower head.
Not sure if that is what you were after. I have not taken the shower handle off yet to see exactly how the valve works. I did think of that, but why would it work most of the time, then not work, but 10-15 minutes later work. If it was the valve, you would think that you would need to work the handle in order to get the valve to work. I have tried that to no avail.

dnkenyon · May 14, 2007

markts30 said:
Next time it happens, turn on a faucet in the bathroom and see if there is hot water..
If there is, the problem is in the mixing valve...
If not, the problem is in the hot water supply system....

I have tried that too. It seems (though I guess more testing might be in order) that there is not hot water in other areas.

What do you mean by the 'supply system'? Would that be the hot water heater?

I was thinking that maybe the heat sensor might not be attached properly and it will move around. Could that be the case? It is an 'American ProLine' series.

Verdeboy · May 14, 2007

I'm thinking that some days it just takes the hot water longer to make it from the tank to the shower. Have you tried just letting the hot water run for a few extra minutes to see if it warms up?

Geniescience · May 15, 2007

try this, repeatedly.

what this means is that Hot and Cold get mixed by a valve; that valve has a handle operating the mechanism. That is what i wanted to know. You do not have two separate handles one for hot and one for cold.

Now you want to figure out whether or not the problem is here in point A or there in point B or somewhere else. Instead of asking internet people, "can it be this can it be that can it be all of the above," just proceed methodically by elimination. You will have more certainty and less sussing guess assessing from strangers.

Markts30 has given you the ultimate bestest way to see whether the mixing valve is acting up intermittently. -- "Next time it happens, turn on a faucet in the bathroom and see if there is hot water.. ..." -- Let me repeat this to make it clear. I'll add a twist. Every time you take a shower, first get hot water from the faucet at the bathroom lavatory sink and keep hot water coming out there. Leave it on a trickle, not so much that it interferes with the quantity of hot water going to the shower. Then, when the problem happens again, in the shower, leap out of the shower and go feel the temperature of the water at that tap and stay there for a minute to see if the water from that tap has the varying temperature problem too. Is it as hot as it has always been, or does it have a cooler temperature too? To be really scientific about it, you get another person to babysit that tap all the time so you don't have to try to be in two places at the same time.

After you do this check once, wait till the next time it happens, and check again. Repeat. Repeat again. When you have a number of incidents, report back here for your next assignment.

david

dnkenyon · May 16, 2007

Verdeboy said:
I'm thinking that some days it just takes the hot water longer to make it from the tank to the shower. Have you tried just letting the hot water run for a few extra minutes to see if it warms up?

Yes, I have. Actually, if it happens, the water will start luke warm and go to cold by the end of the shower.

dnkenyon · May 16, 2007

geniescience said:
what this means is that Hot and Cold get mixed by a valve; that valve has a handle operating the mechanism. That is what i wanted to know. You do not have two separate handles one for hot and one for cold.

Now you want to figure out whether or not the problem is here in point A or there in point B or somewhere else. Instead of asking internet people, "can it be this can it be that can it be all of the above," just proceed methodically by elimination. You will have more certainty and less sussing guess assessing from strangers.

Markts30 has given you the ultimate bestest way to see whether the mixing valve is acting up intermittently. -- "Next time it happens, turn on a faucet in the bathroom and see if there is hot water.. ..." -- Let me repeat this to make it clear. I'll add a twist. Every time you take a shower, first get hot water from the faucet at the bathroom lavatory sink and keep hot water coming out there. Leave it on a trickle, not so much that it interferes with the quantity of hot water going to the shower. Then, when the problem happens again, in the shower, leap out of the shower and go feel the temperature of the water at that tap and stay there for a minute to see if the water from that tap has the varying temperature problem too. Is it as hot as it has always been, or does it have a cooler temperature too? To be really scientific about it, you get another person to babysit that tap all the time so you don't have to try to be in two places at the same time.

After you do this check once, wait till the next time it happens, and check again. Repeat. Repeat again. When you have a number of incidents, report back here for your next assignment.

david

What a hoot. You sound like a computer programmer (that is what I am).

I HAVE done this, but not repeatedly. I will test other parts of the house even. I do have one handle. I have had an issue with that type of problem before, so did try to turn off/on multiple times.

Note: So far, all my tests (whether in the sink of the bathroom, the kitchen, the other bathroom etc.) point to the fact that there is an issue with the Water Heater.
But, before I go there, I thought that maybe, just maybe, there is some other thing I have not thought of (i.e. I fixed the water pressure - it was WAY too high, so I bought another water pressure valve and got it back in line).

I will do some more tests. It actually has not had an 'episode' for a couple of weeks now. So, I'll do some more tests and report back for my 'next assignment'

dnkenyon · Apr 4, 2008

OK
Finally back with some data.

I still get this condition periodically. That is why it took so long to collect the 'data'.

To recap: Every so often, we will turn the shower on in the morning. It will get lukewarm at best. After that first shower (and waiting for 10 minutes or so), the water will now be piping hot and everything will be fine.
I have even turned on the shower to see if it will be hot. Once the 'cooled' water from the pipes is flushed through and the water turns luke warm, I have turned it off, waited 10-15 minutes, try again and it is hot.

I have tested this with the other shower in the house. When the first shower has this issue, the 2nd shower also has the issue.

Any ideas? Anyone seen this type of behaviour before?

Jadnashua · Apr 4, 2008

You may need a new thermostat for the WH. It sounds like it is just not reacting to the cooling off of the tank overnight with no use, and letting it get cold. Adding really cold water from the supply as you try to tap off hot, cools it enough more so that the thermostat finally trips and warms it up to normal.

Shower not hot in the morning - sometimes

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