Ask Experts Questions for FREE Help !
Ask
    missk's Avatar
    missk Posts: 517, Reputation: 44
    Senior Member
     
    #1

    Mar 5, 2011, 10:16 AM
    Gas Water Heater Hot Water Runs Out Too Quickly
    Hey you! My husband is off this weekend and ready to work on stuff! Yayyy! Please help me help him!
    So we have a gas water heater. It's about 10 years old. The temp works just fine. I can put it on the highest temp and the water will burn the you know what out of you. Problem is, that it doesn't last. My showers can get kind of long especially when I have to shave and shampoo and condition. By the time I'm ready to rinse my hair and stuff, I have had to turn the cold water all the way off, the hot water is still on, but barely warm... like lukewarm. Same goes with washing dishes, dishwasher, and washing machine. We thought it may have been from the unusually cold weather we have had hear. But that cold weather is long gone and we are still having the same issue.
    Any suggestions?
    missk's Avatar
    missk Posts: 517, Reputation: 44
    Senior Member
     
    #2

    Mar 5, 2011, 10:20 AM
    *here* not *hear*. Silly me. I'm just excited that we are working on stuff...
    missk's Avatar
    missk Posts: 517, Reputation: 44
    Senior Member
     
    #3

    Mar 5, 2011, 10:22 AM
    I keep seeing information about a dip tube, but I have no idea what or where that is, and I doubt my husband knows what that is too. We're still learning all this stuff!
    ma0641's Avatar
    ma0641 Posts: 15,675, Reputation: 1012
    Uber Member
     
    #4

    Mar 5, 2011, 10:39 AM
    Hey Missk, From a fellow southener, a dip tube is a plastic pipe that delivers cold water to the bottom of the tank. It is attached to the cold water input side. If it breaks off or deteriorates, you "short circuit" the water and only a small portion heats up. How big is your heater 40 Gal? If you have an older house with old style shower head, after doing your "stuff", you could be running out of hot water capacity. Children eat up water with showers and baths. A washer can use 50% capacity with only 1 wash cycle and not recover fast enough. If you heater is located in an unheater basement or crawl space, install insulating sleeves on the hot water piping. Do you use hot water rinse? That eats up almost the same amount of water as a wash cycle. Don't turn up the temp above 120, you risk serious danger of a burn. Make sure your T&P valve isn't opening, look for a pipe on the side of the heater that should run outside or to a drain. Make sure it isn't leaking.
    parttime's Avatar
    parttime Posts: 1,440, Reputation: 113
    Ultra Member
     
    #5

    Mar 5, 2011, 10:48 AM

    Missk, here's info on the dip tube


    How to Repair a Broken Dip Tube
    missk's Avatar
    missk Posts: 517, Reputation: 44
    Senior Member
     
    #6

    Mar 5, 2011, 10:59 AM
    Yes it's 40 gallons. I rinse my wash in cold water. I just turned it on the highest just to see if it gets really hot and yes sir it sure does! I turned it back down though. I'll pass the info on to my hubs. Also from reading other answers here, I had a flashback from when it was just my mom and I when I was in high school, I remember draining the hot water heater and that seemed to help, so you think I should to that? I suppose that would be a good thing, since apparently it should be done yearly and I haven't done that in the five years we have lived here. Our shower heads are pretty new and I clean them out regularly. Thanks so much for the information, neighbor!
    ma0641's Avatar
    ma0641 Posts: 15,675, Reputation: 1012
    Uber Member
     
    #7

    Mar 5, 2011, 11:14 AM
    Comment on missk's post
    Yearly draining, particularly if on a well, is a good idea. Remember it's under pressure so be careful.
    ballengerb1's Avatar
    ballengerb1 Posts: 27,378, Reputation: 2280
    Home Repair & Remodeling Expert
     
    #8

    Mar 5, 2011, 12:29 PM

    Draining no but flushing a big yes. Draining a heater the supply is shut off and the drain spigot is opened. Flush is with the supply full on and the spigot opened. This will power flush your heater, continue flushing for a full minute or until you see no more specs in the drained water
    ma0641's Avatar
    ma0641 Posts: 15,675, Reputation: 1012
    Uber Member
     
    #9

    Mar 5, 2011, 03:18 PM
    Comment on ballengerb1's post
    My bad! Flushing is a better choice of words. Brian
    missk's Avatar
    missk Posts: 517, Reputation: 44
    Senior Member
     
    #10

    Mar 13, 2011, 03:01 PM
    Ok so I'm draining the hot water heater now. One person says drain the whole thing, another says not necessary. Anybody know? Also, I'm supposed to turn the cold water back on and wait for the tank to fill up. How do I know when the tank is full? Sorry if these are dumb questions... I'm stay at home mom trying to help out here!
    missk's Avatar
    missk Posts: 517, Reputation: 44
    Senior Member
     
    #11

    Mar 13, 2011, 03:12 PM
    OH wow never mind. DUH. I don't need to do anything. The cold water stays on... duhhh lol.
    pghplumber's Avatar
    pghplumber Posts: 106, Reputation: 11
    Junior Member
     
    #12

    Mar 13, 2011, 05:09 PM
    Okay, missk, I need to ask a question before the advice on how to fix it gets out of control. First, is this a problem with the tank not giving enough hot water because it doesn't do the job it used to do or... is this a problem with the fact that you need more hot water than the tank can provide?
    From your first post it seems that you demand more of your tank than it can provide. In that case you need something that can produce more hot water faster or more hot water in storage.
    By no means should you turn up your hot water tank too high where you could scald somebody or cause other problems. Turning up your hot water tank doesn't give you more available hot water, just hotter water available... if that makes sense.
    Did the HWT perform normally before and this is a new problem or is it just a matter of getting a bigger hot water tank/tankless system?
    missk's Avatar
    missk Posts: 517, Reputation: 44
    Senior Member
     
    #13

    Mar 13, 2011, 05:37 PM
    Okay let me clarify. This all started in the winter time when we had much colder temperatures in south Texas than normal. We had several freezes. And I had no problems in the past taking long hot showers. So only to TEST the problem, I turned up the water heater on hot to see if it would last longer or whatever. I absolutely am very aware of the possibility of scalding someone, and I did not leave it at the hot temperature. I love my family lol. So I turned it down right after my shower after I turned it on hot. So what I have done so far is cleaned out the tank. The tank didn't have much stuff come out. Just some orange rusty stuff for no more than a minute. I let it run out for a while, so I will see with the next shower if that helped. Then I suppose I will look into the dip tube. Thanks so much for the info and I promise you don't worry, the temp isn't on hot. I don't even understand why they allow the tanks to get that hot... it's crazy.. why would you want to get the water that hot and risk burning people. So I totally understand your concern, but don't worry it's not set on hot anymore. Thanks so much everyone for the help! :)
    missk's Avatar
    missk Posts: 517, Reputation: 44
    Senior Member
     
    #14

    Mar 13, 2011, 05:40 PM
    I don't feel like I'm asking more from my tank than it can provide. I just want to be able to shampoo, condition, soap up my body, shave my legs and pits lol and not have to be rinsing in lukewarmish water at the end of my shower. Never had a problem with taking 10-20 minute showers before.
    pghplumber's Avatar
    pghplumber Posts: 106, Reputation: 11
    Junior Member
     
    #15

    Mar 13, 2011, 05:52 PM
    You seem to be really on the ball with what is happening in your home and the details are important. I didn't mean to imply that you were creating a hazard, just that safety is always a concern when giving advice online. As with flushing the tank there are a number of maintenance requirements for the hot water tank. A 10 year old tank may also need to have the burner assembly cleaned (which may effect heating the water), anode change and T&P valve testing (as some of us found out in an earlier PLUMBING post).
    Finding a good plumber to check your tank annually at a reasonable price may be hard to find, but the costs of tanks and installation are always on the rise and maintaining can be much cheaper than replacement.
    missk's Avatar
    missk Posts: 517, Reputation: 44
    Senior Member
     
    #16

    Mar 13, 2011, 07:42 PM
    Comment on missk's post
    Oops I guess I meant to say--flushing.

Not your question? Ask your question View similar questions

 

Check out some similar questions!

Censible hot water heater is turned all the way up but runs out of hot water. [ 1 Answers ]

A 20 year old Censible 50 Gal 510E hot water heater runs out of hot water after 1/2 showers. Temp control is turned to maximum. No leaks observed. Additionally, it appears to take a bit of time before hot water materializes at all faucets. Replacement contemplated but does it appear this is...

Can a gas water heater freeze. We have e cold water but no hot water [ 2 Answers ]

.can gas hot water tank freeze

Gas Hot Water Heater runs out of water [ 4 Answers ]

I have a 2 year old Gas Hot Water Heater in my house 50 gallon I believe. It runs out of water after about 5 minutes and the water does not seem as hot as it should be (It's turned to 3 on a max scale of 4 on the heater). The pilot light is on. Can you tell me what might cause the hot water to...

Hot Water Runs out quickly [ 4 Answers ]

I have a large hot water heater (approx 40 gallons) in my rented one bedroom apartment. The hot water runs out after a 7 minute shower. Once it does, it does not come back for some time. This happens even if no hot water has been used for the previous 20+ hours. After my complaint my landlord...


View more questions Search