I'm hoping someone can help me with a problem I've been having. In March, I purchased an older home (built in the 40's). As a condition of purchase, I asked that the water heater be replaced, which was very old and completely shot. The former owners purchased a 50 gallon Kenmore PowerMiser. The water heater is gas.

From the day I moved in, I only got about 2-3 minutes (5 gallons) of hot water in all of my taps- bathroom, kitchen, washer, then the water turns warm. As the water heater was under warranty, I called up Sears to have them look at it. They replaced the thermostat twice- along with the thermal coupling and gas valve. After one replacement, I had plenty of hot water- but after a day, I had the same problem. After the second replacement, I just had the 2-3 minutes of hot water again. Sears recently replaced the water heater (same model), and *still* I have the problem.

Other information that might help is that the pipes are old, galvanized iron pipes, and I don't know when the last time the fixtures have been replaced, but it probably hasn't been for awhile. I also have the thermostat set to the highest temperature and the water initially comes out extremely hot.

Any advice anyone could provide on this issue would be greatly appreciated.

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Originally Posted by bexx33

I'm hoping someone can help me with a problem I've been having. In March, I purchased an older home (built in the 40's). As a condition of purchase, I asked that the water heater be replaced, which was very old and completely shot. The former owners purchased a 50 gallon Kenmore PowerMiser. The water heater is gas.

From the day I moved in, I only got about 2-3 minutes (5 gallons) of hot water in all of my taps- bathroom, kitchen, washer, then the water turns warm. As the water heater was under warranty, I called up Sears to have them look at it. They replaced the thermostat twice- along with the thermal coupling and gas valve. After one replacement, I had plenty of hot water- but after a day, I had the same problem. After the second replacement, I just had the 2-3 minutes of hot water again. Sears recently replaced the water heater (same model), and *still* I have the problem.

Other information that might help is that the pipes are old, galvanized iron pipes, and I don't know when the last time the fixtures have been replaced, but it probably hasn't been for awhile. I also have the thermostat set to the highest temperature and the water initially comes out extremely hot.

Any advice anyone could provide on this issue would be greatly appreciated.

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Did any one bother to mention that this problem sounds like a cross connection between hot and cold? If there were a cross connection the first draw would run hot until cold water was pulled into the hot water pipe. At that time the water would be tempered and turn cool. Since the focus has been on the new heater I should think that after practically rebuild it their attention would turn someplace else. Frankly, I can think of no other explanation. Regards, Tom

No, no one mentioned this as a possibility. Someone on the Sears water heater hotline also mentioned that this might also be a dip tube problem. They told me how to test for this. It would be kind of surprising if both water heaters had a bad dip tube, but then none of the techs who came out before bothered to check out the dip tube or run any tests to see if it was working. I'll probably need to have another tech, or better yet, an actual plumber come out to take a look at the problem.

Thanks for the tip,
Mark

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bexx33

No, no one mentioned this as a possibility. Someone on the Sears water heater hotline also mentioned that this might also be a dip tube problem. They told me how to test for this. It would be kind of surprising if both water heaters had a bad dip tube, but then none of the techs who came out before bothered to check out the dip tube or run any tests to see if it was working. I'll probably need to have another tech, or better yet, an actual plumber come out to take a look at the problem.

Thanks for the tip,
Mark

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Good morning Mark,

It would not only be a faulty dip tube but a complete lack of one that would cause your problem and two heaters that went through assembly missing dip tubes boggles the imagination.
Sears "techs" aren't licensed plumbers,( unless they contracted out your call)
So they don't "think outside the box".
If this were my service call I would start with all single handled faucets. The first thing I would do is shut off the hot water stop to EVERY FAUCET, (including the tub/shower and any other one handled valves) except the one furthest from the heater. I would then turn on the hot water side of that faucet. If the water didn't cool down after I ran it I would then open up, one at a time, the hot water shut off for each valve. If no change I would shut off the hot water supply and move on to the next faucet. Somewhere along the line the water will cool down and that's the faucet I would change out the cartridge in. Sound like a plan? Cheers, Tom

This sounds like a good plan, I'll give it a try. Thanks again Tom!