This is a rental and the tenants recently began reporting that the hot water was running out quickly when taking showers.
I inspected the dip tube and it had holes in it, and was extremely brittle... couldn't pull it out because it broke, so i just pushed it off to the side and installed a new dip tube (no threads on the new dip tube, it just slid down in the hole).
They are still reporting short showers, but they also say that it seems like they can use the hot water in the kitchen for forever... it's just that the hot water runs out fast in the bathroom.
I dont know how much attention they are paying to everything, so i'm going to go over there today while they are away for thanksgiving and try to do some troubleshooting.
The shower is controlled by two handles... it isn't a one handle type of deal.
Water heater is a 30 gallon gas heater, manufactured in 1992.
1. There dont appear to be any leaks, but i haven't inspected underneath the house yet. Still, if they have plenty of hot water in kitchen, that tells me that there probably arent any leaks. Is there anything screwy that could be going on with the pipes/assembly of the shower that could cause this issue?
2. The burner fires properly when you turn on the hot water. Could the thermostat be malfunctioning and causing it to turn off too quickly (I have it set to the highest setting at the moment)?
3. I plan to go over there and test it with a 5 gallon bucket at the tub. I want to make sure the tank is fully heated before i drain it... am i correct in assuming that the burner will stay lit until the tank is fully heated? If so, then i will wait for the burner to turn off, and then i will run only the hot water and see how much i get. Is this the appropriate way to do a test like this?
This really sounded like a dip tube issue, and when i saw that the old one had holes in it, i thought for sure that replacing it would fix this problem. I'm trying to think if i could have messed up that installation, but it just sits down in the hole... so i dont think i could have. I suppose a little water might seep around the lip of the tube and enter the top of the tank, if it wasn't a tight seal, but i wouldn't think that that would cause a big problem.
Any ideas are very much appreciated. I may have some more info once i go over there and test it out more thoroughly. I'm most interested to know if my method for testing the hot water output is correct (i.e. wait for the burner to turn off, and then start running the hot water).
I inspected the dip tube and it had holes in it, and was extremely brittle... couldn't pull it out because it broke, so i just pushed it off to the side and installed a new dip tube (no threads on the new dip tube, it just slid down in the hole).
They are still reporting short showers, but they also say that it seems like they can use the hot water in the kitchen for forever... it's just that the hot water runs out fast in the bathroom.
I dont know how much attention they are paying to everything, so i'm going to go over there today while they are away for thanksgiving and try to do some troubleshooting.
The shower is controlled by two handles... it isn't a one handle type of deal.
Water heater is a 30 gallon gas heater, manufactured in 1992.
1. There dont appear to be any leaks, but i haven't inspected underneath the house yet. Still, if they have plenty of hot water in kitchen, that tells me that there probably arent any leaks. Is there anything screwy that could be going on with the pipes/assembly of the shower that could cause this issue?
2. The burner fires properly when you turn on the hot water. Could the thermostat be malfunctioning and causing it to turn off too quickly (I have it set to the highest setting at the moment)?
3. I plan to go over there and test it with a 5 gallon bucket at the tub. I want to make sure the tank is fully heated before i drain it... am i correct in assuming that the burner will stay lit until the tank is fully heated? If so, then i will wait for the burner to turn off, and then i will run only the hot water and see how much i get. Is this the appropriate way to do a test like this?
This really sounded like a dip tube issue, and when i saw that the old one had holes in it, i thought for sure that replacing it would fix this problem. I'm trying to think if i could have messed up that installation, but it just sits down in the hole... so i dont think i could have. I suppose a little water might seep around the lip of the tube and enter the top of the tank, if it wasn't a tight seal, but i wouldn't think that that would cause a big problem.
Any ideas are very much appreciated. I may have some more info once i go over there and test it out more thoroughly. I'm most interested to know if my method for testing the hot water output is correct (i.e. wait for the burner to turn off, and then start running the hot water).