I have a 40 gallon Rheem power vented gas water heater. When two people in the house take consecutive showers, the second person runs out of hot water. We recently purchased the house so we aren't sure how long the problem has persisted. The house and water heater are only 7 years old.
The thermostat on the water heater is set at medium which says its the equivalent of 125 degrees. I ran hot water from a faucet over a thermometer for a couple minutes and I get a reading of 115. We do seem to have excellent water pressure. Could this be part of the problem? Could it be that the pressure is too good? If so, is there a way to adjust it??
I did do a test to see how much water comes out of the shower head in one minute. After a minute we had approximately 4 gallons of water in a bucket. Could this be the culprit??
I have also considered draining the water heater in case there is sediment build-up. The problem is that the drain valve is plastic and has a large chip out of it, so I don't think I can connect a hose to it. Can this be replaced without making a mess?
Any suggestions to these questions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
cjc
The thermostat on the water heater is set at medium which says its the equivalent of 125 degrees. I ran hot water from a faucet over a thermometer for a couple minutes and I get a reading of 115. We do seem to have excellent water pressure. Could this be part of the problem? Could it be that the pressure is too good? If so, is there a way to adjust it??
I did do a test to see how much water comes out of the shower head in one minute. After a minute we had approximately 4 gallons of water in a bucket. Could this be the culprit??
I have also considered draining the water heater in case there is sediment build-up. The problem is that the drain valve is plastic and has a large chip out of it, so I don't think I can connect a hose to it. Can this be replaced without making a mess?
Any suggestions to these questions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
cjc