Plenty of hotwater in tank not enough in shower. Any ideas?

crazychef55

Hi,
This is the situation. When I am in the shower I have to crank up the hot water which is darn hot and then add just a touch of cold to make it comfortable. If someone else uses the hot water the shower gets cold. I have a brand new 50 gallon hot water tank so I know it is not running out. I was haveing the same problem with my previous boiler with summer winter hookup.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciatted.

willowgirl

Hi. I just want to make sure I understand correct. You mean your running out of hot water quickly if someone use's the hot water before you get in. If that's the problem I would say it sounds like one of the elements is either burnt out. If its new though that sounds like it shouldn't be the problem.
Did you have a plumber put it in for your or you hooked it up. I'm from canada so I'm not sure if your hot water tanks work the same as ours. But we have 2 elements and if the second one wasn't hooked up, (wired) that's why you would have some hot water, but would run out if you us to much.
Or if you mean your showering and someone turns the water on somewhere else in the house, it sounds like you don't have pressure balanced taps.

willowgirl

Hope these pics help explain what I mean.

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Red Squirrel

Is water hotter in the taps then it is in the shower? Your valve might be equipped with a safety device that limits the hot water flow. I ended up having to set mine to the highest setting (need to take the valve apart, probably varies from valve to valve but should not be hard) since I like scalding hot showers.

crazychef55

When I am showering and someone turns the water on somewhere else in the house, the water gets cooler.

willowgirl

It sounds like your taps aren't pressure balanced. If you change the taps on your tub to pressure balance I would think that would fix the problem. Your you probably have 2 tapes instead of the one you turn.
I think 90% of the properties I purchased didn't have the pressure balance. Its not to difficult to change over usually. Do you have a pic of the taps you have.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pressure_balanced_shower_valve
The pressure-balanced shower valve compensates for changes in water pressure. It has a diaphragm or piston inside that reacts with a change in hot and/or cold water pressure to balance the pressure. These valves keep water temperature constant, within a few degrees Fahrenheit. There are ball bearings in the valves to regulate forces

sdsester

Tank water heaters are ancient thinking. The huge one in my California house sat in the garage. After hot water finally flowed the length of the of the horrid place, all it took was someone earlier in the flow pattern to make the shower water chill down.

I installed on demand Bosch water heaters on both ends of the house. Problem solved I think. I sold the thing.

plummen

could be several things,but just adding a tankless water heater in place of tank water heater just means its not storing any water,its still covering same distance.if i run into a house where fixtures are far away rom water heater i usually install a recirc line on the hot side to cut the amount of time it takes hot water to get to fixture.anyway if your lav gets plenty of hot water id check tub/shower faucet to start with.

AllanJ

What year was the property built?

Perhaps the pipes have arteriosclerosis.

Conduct a gallons per minute test using just the hot turned on. How long does it take to fill a, say, two gallon bucket from the shower head. Try this with and without someone else using hot water elsewhere in the house.

The shower water turning cold problem will happen even if the clogged pipe is the cold inlet to the water heater. If you are suspicious of clogged pipes, try the timing test at different faucets to help narrow down the location.

For this the solution is to replace the pipework.

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crazychef55

The house is around a hundred years old and was prob. renovated in the 70s. This is a picture of the tap.

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DangerMouse

we installed scaldguard valve and never have the problem any more. Po)
no 'toilet shock' either.....

DM

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