We just moved into a brand new condo which has its own water heater. We went to take a shower this morning and the first few seconds of the shower were very hot, then it went cold after 10 seconds. We tried again after half an hour, same thing. There was enough hot water for my husband to shave but it was impossible to take a decent shower. Each time we'd have to turn on the shower, we'd get the hot water for 10 seconds, then turn it off again, wait a minute then turn it on andget hot water again, then it goes cold and so on and so on to piece a normal shower together!
Any advice?

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Originally Posted by leilap

We just moved into a brand new condo which has its own water heater. we went to take a shower this morning and the first few seconds of the shower were very hot, then it went cold after 10 seconds. We tried again after half an hour, same thing. There was enough hot water for my husband to shave but it was impossible to take a decent shower. Each time we'd have to turn on the shower, we'd get the hot water for 10 seconds, then turn it off again, wait a minute then turn it on andget hot water again, then it goes cold and so on and so on to piece a normal shower together!
Any advice??

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I just answered a question just like yours on another Q&A site. Your unit should be under warranty. You have a bad element in the heater. Usually it's the harder working lower one. Get some one out there to check them out. This should come as no charge to you. Good luck and watch those cold showers. Tom

Hi all..

I'm thinking you may have an issue with the DIP TUBE.

Tom, what do you think here?

Mark

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Originally Posted by massplumber2008

Hi all..

I'm thinking you may have an issue with the DIP TUBE.

Tom, what do you think here?

Mark

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If the installer put heat directly on the cold water inlet and melted the plastic flange securing the dip tube so it falls down into the boiler then you're bang on.
A much better question would be Why are we fooling around with a five year old thread?? But I think you nailed it. On a new heater that's about all it could be. Have a good one, Tom

Hey Tom...

Someone came in this morning and posted to the question. The answer was complete nonsense so I reported it for removal and answered the question presented above.

Obviously, I didn't note the date... just that someone had answered it poorly (answer gone now).

Amazing!

Thanks... Mark

Here's the post Rick deleted,

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Info
Yesterday 07:51 AM POOOOOOO
Well if you had a brand new heater I will just say that the new heater needs to get used to the house or it wasn't installed properly.

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Oddly enough the last sentence nailed it. I think you're 100% correct about the dip tube so it wasn't installed properly. And a good morning to you, Tom

You have a lower element burned out. The water on top heated by the top element is used first and that is all you are getting right now. Check the element with a meter and you will find the problem. DrTom4444

Hi Drtom...

Going to have to disagree with your assessment here as the original poster said they ran out of hot water after only 10 SECONDS. They then mention that this is a pattern that repeats after waiting a minute... clearly a diptube issue.

If the lower element is bad you would have reduced hot water but since the top element would be OK there would be around 20 gallons (or more) of readily available hot water as hot water rises and would collect at the top of the water heater at the hot water outlet.

Also note that the original question dates back to 2005 so pretty sure that they are all set by now, huh?

Thanks...

Mark

Any chance the heater is connected backwards. When it is full of hot water, the water drawn off the bottom would be hot until the replacement water coming from the top settles to the bottom and is cold?

Hi Skip...

We'll never know here as this post is from way back in 2005... ;)

Check the dates in the upper left of the main question if you actually hope to get a response, OK?

Have a good day!

Mark