Hot Water Takes Long Time for 2nd Bath

Users who are viewing this thread

Derek VW

New Member
Messages
6
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Location
Mississippi
My guest bathroom takes forever to get warm. It takes close to 4.5 minutes to get warm. It never reached full temperature. My water heater is set at it's highest setting and it never reached that temperature even after waiting another 4 minutes for a total of 8.5 minutes. The master bath is located 20 feet from the guest bath. I can get 140 degree water in about 1.5 minutes. The hot water heater is about 15 feet from the master bath and about 35 feet from the guest bath. I do believe the guest bath was an addition. The home originally was a 2 bed / 1 bath and now is a 4 bed / 2 bath. The guest bath has the older two knobs for hot and cold water.

Any suggestions?
 

Jadnashua

Retired Defense Industry Engineer xxx
Messages
32,770
Reaction score
1,190
Points
113
Location
New England
How did they run the water to the addition? Is it in a slab, through exterior walls, in an attic? What insulation is around it, if any?

What kind of valves are in the original bathroom? Are they single handle ones or two separate valves? IF single-handle, what brand and models? Do you have a shutoff on your shower, and leave the valves open? How about the washing machine? If you have any two-handle valves in the house, try shutting the input to the water heater off, then open a hot valve (probably won't work with a shower valve, but sinks should work) and see if when you have the handle set to all hot, if you get any water out after the pressure is relieved. If it comes out continually, one (or more) of your single-handle valves needs servicing, and is leaking internally to cross-connect the hot and cold, which will dilute the hot further down the line.
 

Derek VW

New Member
Messages
6
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Location
Mississippi
I believe the addition water lines were run under the slab. I can double check that this weekend. Both bathrooms are two valve fixtures for the showers.

When completing the addition, would it be the most logical thing to assume that the water lines come from the nearest water source...my bathroom? There also was a laundry room added on on the total opposite side of the home. I'll also state, that we think that the extra 2 bedrooms, bath, and laundry room were added on later due to the way the brick is done on the exterior. It doesn't tie in correctly as if it had all been done at the same time.
 

Reach4

Well-Known Member
Messages
38,798
Reaction score
4,412
Points
113
Location
IL
Is there maybe a mixing valve atop the WH? How about a photo, if you don't know.

That test with the input water to the WH turned off -- that doesn't have to wait until the weekend, does it?
 

Derek VW

New Member
Messages
6
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Location
Mississippi
I can do the WH test today. Could you guys explain it a little more? Do I just need to turn off the incoming line and run the water long enough to drain the tank and see if any water comes out after that?
 

Reach4

Well-Known Member
Messages
38,798
Reaction score
4,412
Points
113
Location
IL
Any water coming out of a faucet will not be from the WH tank. Instead it would be from the cold water supply.
 

Derek VW

New Member
Messages
6
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Location
Mississippi
I'm a little confused. If I turn off the incoming cold water supply and turn on the hot water in a fixture, won't the hot water flow out of the WH since the tank is full of hot water?
 

Reach4

Well-Known Member
Messages
38,798
Reaction score
4,412
Points
113
Location
IL
I'm a little confused. If I turn off the incoming cold water supply and turn on the hot water in a fixture, won't the hot water flow out of the WH since the tank is full of hot water?
No.

The hot water exits from the WH at the top. With no new water coming in, no water comes out.
 

Derek VW

New Member
Messages
6
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Location
Mississippi
I feel like an idiot now lol.

Anyways, come to find out, I don't have a water inlet shut off valve near the tank. I'll have to see if there is one further down the line. If not, I guess I'll turn it off at the meter and add one in pretty soon.

Thanks for the help so far!
 

Jadnashua

Retired Defense Industry Engineer xxx
Messages
32,770
Reaction score
1,190
Points
113
Location
New England
With two-handle faucets, unless there's a secondary shutoff (some people adjust their shower valves then use an in-line one at the showerhead), that should not provide a means to cross-over between the two lines (hot/cold).

There are only a few reasons why water won't get hot at the end of the line:
- on a modern shower valve, there's normally a high temp stop...a simple tw0-handle valve does not normally have this. If there, it may need to be adjusted
- it cools off too much because of where and how it is run (uninsulated under slab - especially if the soil is wet, or uninsulated in the attic or an exterior wall)
- there's some source of mixing between the hot and cold - water will take the path of least resistance, and if that's backwards through the cold line into the hot, it can happen. Since they both start out at the same pressure, there's usually a valve along the way that limits flow, and thus working pressure to enable that to happen,.
 

Derek VW

New Member
Messages
6
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Location
Mississippi
So I went to try the hot water in that bathroom today and it worked just as expected. I got hot water in about 20-30 seconds. How can it take 5-10 minutes to get warm water one day and then instantly another day? A friend took a shower in there the day it took forever to get warm. I waited 3 hours after his shower to run my test and that's when I found out it took a long time to get warm.

I have a 40 gallon tank and both showers have 1.25gpm shower heads on them.

I've confirmed that I have 240V coming into the WH. I've tested continuity across the power strip for each element and that turned out fine. I ran an ohm reading across both elements and got about 13 ohms on each one.

Anything other suggestion or thoughts?

Thanks guys!
 
Top
Hey, wait a minute.

This is awkward, but...

It looks like you're using an ad blocker. We get it, but (1) terrylove.com can't live without ads, and (2) ad blockers can cause issues with videos and comments. If you'd like to support the site, please allow ads.

If any particular ad is your REASON for blocking ads, please let us know. We might be able to do something about it. Thanks.
I've Disabled AdBlock    No Thanks