Water heater temperature

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jhp1981

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Any reason why the kitchen faucet is giving water at 110 F when the heater is set at 120? Heater is 10 feet away.
 

DonL

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Could just be the difference in the thermostat cut on and cut off temperature.

There is a differential or it would cycle on and off to much if not.

That setting should be cut OFF temperature, but it will be below that before it turns back on.

Or maybe you have other problems.


Good luck.
 

Reach4

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How does that compare to the hot water temperature of other faucets?
 

DonL

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What are you using to measure with ?

How old is the heater ?

Electric ?
 

Reach4

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Turn up the thermostat on the water heater. Whether it is the case that the calibration is off on the water heater, or if the entire difference is cooling on the way to the faucents, or there is a combination of those two things, it doesn't matter. Your action is the same in each case.

Now if turning up the thermostat does not raise the temperature at the faucets, you have a mixing valve causing a problem.
 

jhp1981

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Ok. Any possibiity of a broken dip tube? I was told dip tube could have been broken during soldering (instalation) and I am getting hot and cold water through my hot faucet.
 

Reach4

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Ok. Any possibiity of a broken dip tube? I was told dip tube could have been broken during soldering (instalation) and I am getting hot and cold water through my hot faucet.

Is the water heater new?

If the symptom is not shared with other hot water faucets, I would not blame the hot water heater.

In figuring whether your problem could be a dip tube, the timing of the hot vs cold would be an indication. Cold then hot then cold is pretty normal. It's the time that the hot water part lasts that is important. 2 minutes? 20 minutes? During your tests, does the nipple at the hot water heater get cold before the faucet water gets cold? If so, then the cold is from the hot water heater. If not, then look to a mixing valve.

http://www.ci.eden.nc.us/diptubes.cfm is one description of a dip tube problem.
 

jhp1981

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Kitchen has the hottest water in the house. It is the closest to the heater too. Can the water cool 15 F in 10 ft of copper pipes (in slab)?

Water doesnt cool down at faucet after it reaches the max.
 

Terry

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Kitchen has the hottest water in the house. It is the closest to the heater too. Can the water cool 15 F in 10 ft of copper pipes (in slab)?

Water doesnt cool down at faucet after it reaches the max.

You can lose temperature in the slab. You may even have a cold water spring down there.
Some water heaters use A, B and C now. That way they don't have to worry about somebody back checking the accuracy. The only important measurement is at the faucet.
 

Reach4

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I don't know thermodynamics. If you want to know the answer to that, measure the temperature at the pipe above the water heater. An IR thermometer might do that job. Measure the water temperature at the pipe under the kitchen sink. If there is a 15 degree difference, then your answer is yes. But it may also be that you will show that the water pipe above the water heater is only 132 degrees. Then the answer is no.

It's academic, presuming that you are not going to replace your hot water path with an insulated path. Or are you wanting the installer to come out and calibrate the thermostat on your new water heater?

Your diptube is fine.
 

hj

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quote; Any possibiity of a broken dip tube?

The possibilities range between slim and none, especially with a 2 month old water heater. Thermostats are notoriously inaccurate, which is why they no longer put numbers on them, just letters.
 

jhp1981

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Used a cup of crushed ice. Waited for it to melt a bit and set thermometer to 32 F. Thermometer is pretty close to HVAC thermostat.
 

Reach4

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I was told dip tubes could melt during soldering.
I don't know about that, but if that happened, your hot water at the sink would only stay hot for a limited time before the cold water coming into the heater flowed to the hot water output. Your hot water stays hot many minutes once hot, so you are not having a dip tube problem.
 

Reach4

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Used a cup of crushed ice. Waited for it to melt a bit and set thermometer to 32 F. Thermometer is pretty close to HVAC thermostat.
Is that an electronic thermometer with a probe? If so, try taping the probe to your hot water pipe coming out of the heater. Wrap insulating material around the pipe and probe combo. Use that to measure the water temperature during extended flows.
 
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