Residential Water Heater Problem Repair And Reviews

Question: Hot water heater issues?

(Posted by: gamer1612 on 2010-03-10 09:37:56)

For the past few years my wife and I have just been dealing with the fact that we only have 10 minutes of hot water to take a shower, it was like that when we moved in so we thought it was normal, but then when talking to some neighbors about this issue it turns out the most of our neighbors have taken long showers and NEVER run out of hot water, they just got out because they were done not because the water turned cold. The past couple of months though has been a little worse. The biggest problem was the short shower time, but it also took a decent bit to get hot when you turn the water on and also the max temperature was hotter than I would like to shower in, but it wasn't so hot that I couldn't shower in it if I wanted to. I finally called the landlord and they sent someone out. He said that both elements were bad, and he replaced them. Now, the water gets hot much faster and the maximum temperature is much hotter, but it still only lasts about 10 minutes. I only turn the water on just enough that it comes out at a halfway decent pressure, so not much at all, but it still runs out very fast. Here is an example, this morning my wife got in the shower at about 8:45am, got out of the shower at about 8:55am because the water had gotten cold. I waited until 10:00am then got in the shower, got out at 10:05am because the water had already gotten cold. Last night I thought I heard a dripping noise coming from the utility closet the hot water heater is in and I checked it right away but the floor and everything I could see was completely dry. Any ideas?

Posted by: BobS on 2010-03-10, 09:45:35

The water heater is to small and you need a bigger one.

Posted by: Designer~Wife on 2010-03-10, 09:43:36

Do you have hard water? I ask because if you do and the water heater is old, you may very well have a huge lime/ calcium buildup in the bottom of the tank. When that happens, there is less room to store water (because it is displaced by the lime/ calcium) so you run out much faster. Replacing the heater will give you the full capacity back and the hot water will last much longer. One clue that there may be a buildup is a "ticking " sound in the tank during and for awhile after the heating cycle - The ticking is the lime.

Posted by: hollifieldrobert on 2010-03-10, 09:49:34

Sounds like the dip tube in it has gone bad fallen off a dip tube takes incoming cold water to the bottom of the tank once it breaks off the cold water coming in just mixes with the hot water at the top of the tank time to get a new water heater

Posted by: Corky R on 2010-03-10, 10:25:42

Lots of things in play here. First, while it's entirely possible to have a water heater tank that gets nearly half full of lime, IF the landlord had both of the elements replaced, whoever did that replacement certainly should have removed as much of the lime buildup as possible, although I have heard of jobs where they only quickly cleaned out just enough to jam the new element back in and screw it down. IF that was the case, and you'll never know unless you take the lower element out and inspect, (probably not happenin'), then it's marginally possible that the lime buildup would come into play. Other than that, it is also possible that the wiring was messed with and reattached incorrectly. This would depend solely on how much you think you can trust your landlord. Many hire anyone who knows how to turn a wrench, or pound a nail, without checking to see if they're qualified. Then,, lastly, although in 35 years of doing this sort of work, I've never personally seen a broken dip tube, it is possible, and would cause a loss of hot water volume, no doubt. The method of checking to determine if yours is indeed broken is to disconnect the top piping of the installation, so one can insert some long straight item like another smaller piece of pipe or a wood dowel, and try to move it side to side. If it moves much at all, with any sort of ease, then the dip tube is most likely broken. I believe they are most likely available for replacement, although I've never seen them. So, to wind this all up, your landlord would have to either do it himself, hire someone who's qualified and trustworthy to check the thing out and if I were you, I'd invest in one of the new water saver shower heads and install that. Also, the water heater will possibly make a frying or sizzling sound when it kicks on to heat water, but it shouldn't tick, or sound like a drip. It may be something else. Keep a check on it.