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calzeton · Dec 9, 2007, 10:23 AM

Hello,

I am at my wit's end with this problem. Our 10 year old electric hot water heater broke a few weeks ago (54 gallon). We never had a problem with hot water until this broke. We decided to go with an 80 gallon tank, and had one installed. The water was always luke warm and didn't maintain the temperature so they replaced it with a new one... same problem, neither of them would maintain the correct temperature. They then told us that it might be our electricity cannot handle an 80 gallon so we should go back to a 50 (weird though that the circuit breaker never tripped). We decided to give it a shot anyway to try to put this behind us. I should also note that in all 3 cases I set the temp on the heaters to 145 degrees! We have a colonial style house, and the water in our kitchen sink comes out at 140 degrees, so there is no problem there. In our upstairs bathroom however, the shower does not maintain the hot temperature, and is nothing like the water temperature our old hot water heater put out. Also, the sink in the bathroom becomes luke warm after a shower as well. I am not sure where to go with this or how to troubleshoot any further. The place that installed the heater is now telling us that the problem is "elsewhere"... One thing that I noticed is that both inlet tubes into the heater are hot... I thought that the cold water one should be cool but am not sure... any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

CC

doug238 · Dec 11, 2007, 08:01 AM

OK, let's review. Breaker never tripped- breaker OK. Satisfactory hot water in sink- water heater producing correct temperature. Let's start with a basic test. Can you open a hot only in a bath tub? If so, run hot only and when it turns warm, stop up the tub and see how much 'hot' water you get. You can use a 5 gallon bucket to measure the amount of hot water you actually get. Do not put the hot water in the toilet. Let me know how much 'hot only' you get, and get a temperature reading on it.

calzeton · Dec 20, 2007, 07:27 PM

Thanks for the reply, and sorry for the delay, I have been out of town.

I ran the test you mentioned and at first got around 121 degrees out of my hot water for the first 2 buckets (5 gallon). Then the temp steadily started going down. After about the 5th one, the water temp was around 110 and getting colder. I then tested my other faucet in the bathroom by the shower and that was about 115 or so. I then went downstairs and tested bathroom... that came back at 115 or so. Then the kitchen sink... that started at 130, but after about 3 min was down to 120. Finally I tested the basement sink, which is right next to the hot water heater... that came back at 115 as well.

Some history... our old heater was a 54 gallon Kenmore and we did not have any of these problems until it "died" and we decided to have Lowe's install a new one. I wanted to mention too that when the installer installed the first heater and turned the power on, a lot of smoke came up from where the electrical was connected. He assured me no damage was done and blamed it on condensation on the wires or something. They did swap out the water heater 2 more times and the electrical seems to be working but I am not sure if what he did could have messed something else up. The tank we replaced it with is a Whirlpool 12 year 50 gallon. The only other thing I can think of is when he turned the new heater on for the first time the pressure did something? Or maybe the electric is bad (although it is working) and only one element is working? I am not sure what to do about this and appreciate the help.

doug238 · Dec 20, 2007, 09:39 PM

I personally do not like whirlpool water heaters. But, check the thermostat on the top, set it at 125. Check the thermostat on the bottom, set it also on 125. You are getting the first half of the tank plenty warm but the second half, controlled by the lower thermostat is heating but not enough. If it is already set right then have it replaced, it has malfunctioned.

calzeton · Dec 20, 2007, 10:26 PM

Thanks for the info. Yeah, I was wondering about the Whirpool thing too, the last one was a Kenmore but I heard that the same company makes all of them 3rd party for a lot of manufacturers. This is the one I have:

50 Gallon Energy Smart™ Electric Water Heater

It has only one temperature gauge at the top, and I have the energy saver feature turned off so it should maintain constant temperature. I currently have that set to 145 (it goes up to 150). This is my 3rd water heater, all installed brand new... they all had the same problem. Is there any chance the electricity could be messed up from when the guy installed it the first time ?