You all were so great helping me with my washer trouble, I thought I would ask you about some trouble I am having with my shower/tub combo. My husband and father keep telling me that I am crazy , and that this is not possible, but I can not seem to get enough hot water to fill the tub for my children. If I take a shower, I have enough hot water for more than a half hour shower. I have also filled a 17 gallon rug shampooer 4 times over without running out of hot water, from the kitchen sink. If I fill a bucket of water in the kitchen I can get enough hot water to fill a bath for the kids. Could you help me figure out what is going on. Or am I just crazy. Thanks Sarah

Sarah,
Are you saying you can take a 1/2 hour shower in the same tub that you can't fill with the spout? You are speaking of just one tub of hot water aren't you? I'm with Dad and Hubby. The shower operates from the same mixing valve the tub does. If the tub runs out of hot water then the shower should also. I would suspect the mixing valve until the bit about the shower. It's physically impossible for this to happen. There's some detail that I don't know that's in play. You do have a one handled valve with a pull up shower on the spout and not a three knob one with the diverter the middle knob don't you? What type of water doyou have? Gas or electric? Experts! What's your take on this? Cheers, tom

Ive never seen a 17 gallon rug shampooer. That would be pretty tough to move around. And it would take a long time to fill from a kithen sink. Just a thought

Ok, now here's what I think may be happening. All depending on the recovery rate of your water heater, your kitchen sink and shower HEAD are restricted to about 2 1/2 gallon per minute. Your tub spout is putting out a lot more water than this. So, (and like I said it all depend on the water heater recovery rate) you run a shower for half hour, no problems because the water heater is heating enough water to keep it hot with only 2 1/2 gall per minute, not to mention half that water is cold(because you use hot and cold when showering)). But, when you fill the tub, the water heater can't keep up with the amount of hot water being used.

Here is a good test. Let me know what size whater heater you have, and if its gas or electric. Then take a five gallon bucket, fill it from the spout of the tub,(with only hot side on) see how many times you can fill it before
The water starts cooling off. If you have a 40 gal gas water heater. You will get about 30 gallons of hot water before it starts getting cooler. If you only get 20 or so gallons of hot water, you have a water heater problem. Please let me know if you understand what I'm saying ,or if you would like me to clarify. Hope we can help you get a full tub of hot water for the kids.

Sorry you've never seen a 17 gallon rug shampooer. I'm not talking about a dinky black and decker or a rug doc. I'm talking about an indrustrial sized carpet shampooer. Yes it is hard to move around, which is why it has 100ft of hose. It pulls water out of a carpet at 100-300 pounds per inch. Costing slightly over $3000. One step below a van mount. Definitely not a spot shot. JUST A THOUGHT.

Here is my thought,we have the same problem but we have a cast iron tub/shower.The temperature in the cellar is mid 40 and in the colder months that cold tub will zap the heat from the water in a hurry.

If you live in a warmer area your problem could be as mygirlsdad said with the flow rate vs on the head and spout.Good luck keep us posted.

Sorry swerty. I shouldn't have mentioned the rug shampooer. My bad. I was only trying to help with the rest of my answer. I truly hope the other pros can help you out here. As I can tell I have offended you, I imagine you won't want my advice any further. Good luck.