Help! Only lukewarm water

[kdpodus]

I recently moved into a cape cod built in 1949, and the hot water heater (about 4 years old) has started producing only lukewarm water. The water pressure has not diminished, but all of the faucets in the house produce only one temperature in the hot range: slightly warm.

I tried releasing the pressure relief valve, but the water ejected from the heater was the same temperature as the water coming from the facuets. A plumber suggested that I do a couple of things:

1) check the pressure relief valve. Did it. Water ejected. Nothing changed.

2) check for leaks by watching to see if the water meter shows water being ejected from a pipe somewhere in the house. Nothing.

3) check to see if the heater needs to be flushed. I haven't actually tried this myself.

The only complicating factor I can think of is the fact that there are a couple small sections of pipe in the house that are still made of galvanized steel. However, the supplies leading to the heater are made of copper, and all but one of the output pipes going to the faucets are made of copper as well.

The plumber said that it could also be the thermostat. He said that he could, if necessary, provide the thermostat and install it for $350, or he could, if necessary, provide a new heater and install it for $650. Difficult decision considering the fact that the thing is only four years old.

Any advice?

Thanks a million.

 

[Jadnashua]

Is it electric or gas? In either case, a thermostat parts are a lot less, and, aren't that hard to install. If it is electric, you could have a bad element(s), or thermostat. Again, those aren't that hard to replace, nor do they cost too much. If it started out hot but got warm very quickly, it might indicate that the dip tube was shot, but that doesn't sound like your symptoms. Plus, if the dip tube was shot, it would have left white flecks of plastic caught in various screens and orifaces in the plumbing system. Galvanized lines would only slow the water.

If you turn a faucet to only hot, is the flow decent, or is it a trickle? If there isn't enough flow, it might seem warm vs hot since many showers (at least the new ones) could be adjusted so you can't get full hot out of them.

If it is electric, are you sure that the circuit breaker isn't tripped? Try turning it off then back on. Depending on where you live, the water stored in the heater would eventually get to room temp, and if it was 80-degrees, it would be warmer than the cold.

A little more info would help...

 

[Sponsor]

 

[kdpodus]

It's a gas heater.

But the strangest thing happened...

I've had my sprinkler running for a few days to get this new grass going. Thinking back on it, the problem started when I started watering my grass. I turned off the sprinkler around 4:00 yesterday and within a couple of hours, full hot water was back. Just for the sake of experimentation, I turned the sprinkler back on for a couple of hours, and the hot water was back to lukewarm. Soooo, I turned the sprinkler off before bed, and when I woke up this morning, the hot water was back again.

I see a pattern, but I don't know if all the events are actually related. Have any of your heard of that kind of thing before?

 

[Jadnashua]

Are you feeding hot water to the sprinklers?