Not sure what is wrong with hot water in my house..

ExcelPrem · Nov 12, 2011

My kitchen sink was leaking 3 days ago and we got someone over to fix it up. All good and dandy(he did cut off all the water supply in the house when he was fixing the leaking sink)

A day after I noticed that the water is luke-warm...even when you let the tap run on HOT for minutes, it'll still be luke-warm and this goes for all the faucets/taps/showers upstairs and downstairs(we live in a 2 floor house)

We've never had this problem before, the water is boiling hot if we want it to be but now, the water isn't even close to hot..just warm...very luke-warm..

Do you guys happen to know what's wrong or how I can fix it? I checked the water heater and it was sitting 2 clicks away from "Hot!!" and moving a click closer to it, did nothing..same temperature of water.

Thanks a bunch guys!

Edit: Sorry for the double post, I'm not sure which sub-section it should be in.

Dlarrivee · Nov 12, 2011

I have a gas hot water heater, and I turn the temperature control dial to "vacation" anytime I shut the water off to the house.

It could be that whoever fixed your leak, turned the temp down or all the way off on the tank and forgot to turn it back up?

Edit, I didn't read the whole post obviously, sorry.

The pilot light is on? Or is it electric?

Sponsor · 2022-01-29T12:20:58-0800

Jadnashua · Nov 12, 2011

Some faucets when they fail can cause a cross-over situation where it always mixes the hot and cold. Since the kitchen sink was the last thing touched, try shutting the individual shutoffs off for it. If there are no shutoffs, and this is a single handle faucet, if it can be off and turned all the way to cold, turn it there and then see if the problem goes away. It may be that that one will be the only one where you can adjust the temperature properly. If you have a tempering valve on the outlet of the WH, it could be stuck, and now adding way too much cold water.

ExcelPrem · Nov 12, 2011

I attached some images of my Water Heater and the dials. Is one of the switches in the wrong place?

It's a Gas heater.

Thanks!

ExcelPrem · Nov 12, 2011

Uploaded pics! are the dials correct?

Jadnashua · Nov 12, 2011

They look okay. Does the burner actually come on? Is the pilot lit? The more likely problem, if the tank is working, is a cross-over or bad tempering valve.

ExcelPrem · Nov 12, 2011

^ how can you check if the burner actually comes on or if the pilot is lit?

Jadnashua · Nov 12, 2011

Follow where the lead goes from the pushbutton for the ignitor...it goes near the pilot light. There's a cover you can remove to check it. If you use a lot of hot water, it should be obvious when the burner turns on both from the sound and that that flue will get hot. The pipe coming out the top would also be warm to hot (actually, hot, since you have the aquastat turned up to HOT). It might cool off a little when no water is being drawn, but conduction will keep it pretty warm regardless, if the thing is on.

Jimbo · Nov 12, 2011

It sounds like your burner is off. The control is now set at on ( little tab on the front of valve is the indicator.)
First, remove the metal cover below the valve. Peek through the little glass window. You should see a small pilot flame. IF NOT:
> turn the gas control to off, temp to "vacation"
> set control so the word 'pilot' faces front. The half-moon cutout in the control will allow you to depress the red pilot button. Holding that down, now press the black sparker, observing through the glass window. Repeatedly press the sparker until the pilot flame appears. CONTINUE holding the red button for one minute after you get a pilot flame. Now turn the control to "on", turn temp to 'warm'. You should see and hear the main burner ignite,

ExcelPrem · Nov 12, 2011

Sorry I'm not sure if I answered all the question but!

I removed the metal flap thing and theirs a clear window of a orange/red flame, it seems to be burning pretty hard. So it is lit and I could feel the flat part being warm-ish.

Dlarrivee · Nov 12, 2011

This might be out-to-lunch, but what sort of valves are on the top of the heater?

Any sort of mixing or anti-scalding devices, as well as ball-valves?

ExcelPrem · Nov 12, 2011

^ that I'm not sure, is it clearly visible at the top? I can take a picture right now for you.

Dlarrivee · Nov 12, 2011

Should be quite obvious where the cold water comes in and hot water leaves the tank.

ExcelPrem · Nov 12, 2011

Done!

Thats the top.

ExcelPrem · Nov 13, 2011

Weird...about 3 steps away from the hot water tank(located in the basement suite) the tiled floor is quite hot, not burning hot but it's warm...that's really odd...could their be a leak..?

But the floor portion around the hot water tank is normal.

Tom Sawyer · Nov 13, 2011

Shut the water to the tank off and wait an hour. If the floor cools down you have a leak under the slab

JerryR · Nov 13, 2011

To rule out water heater as problem just turn on a faucet in the house to run " hot" water then go back to the heater and feel the hot pipe coming out of the heater. It should be very hot. If it is then your heater is working fine and the problem is somewhere else. .

LLigetfa · Nov 13, 2011

Stop all water use and see if the water meter still moves. If it moves, you have a leak. I fail to see how a leak would cause your water to be less hot unless it's leaking so fast the heater cannot keep up. When not using hot water for a while, the hot outlet should feel less hot and the cold inlet, less cold.

Looking through the sight glass, it should be apparent whether the burner is on or just a pilot light. Same thing as mentioned, just listening to the heater or feeling the exhaust vent.

Ballvalve · Nov 13, 2011

From the looks of the corrosion between copper and perhaps iron nipple made by some dope, I would say you have a leak.

ExcelPrem · Nov 13, 2011

You guys are real quick with the replies. Thank you!

We decided to bring a plumber in and apparently theirs a leak underneath the slab...from my understanding, they have to cut a piece of tile and dig to find the pipe that's leaking and fix it. Or option B is cut a piece of the wall and try to find the pipe to repair the whole pipe since they said the pipe is getting old and it might leak in the future, no guarantees though. It'll be $400 for option A and Option B would be $600 USD.
Which method would you guys choose?

Damn this sucks!

Not sure what is wrong with hot water in my house..

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