Water Heater Service?

[Doohickie]

Is there any regular servicing that needs to be done on a regular basis for an electric hot water heater? My wife is convinced that our water heater needs something done to it. I haven't noticed any issues, but she says she runs out of hot water when she's taking a shower. (Yes, she likes long showers.)

If there is a regular servicing that needs to be done, what actually is done to the heater?

 

[Thatguy]

A 2.5 GPM shower head @ 20 minutes, depending on your heater temperature setting, will take almost 50 gals of hot water.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Jadnashua]

How big is the tank? What is the temperature setting on it? If you raise it, you should probably consider a tempering valve to protect people from potentially scalding water, but it will then operate as a larger tank, since you'll use less (and more cold) to achieve the same output temperature. it will also have larger standby losses. typically, you can only utilize about 75-80% of the water in the tank before it cools off too much, so a 50-gallon tank often has about 40--gallons if it is dumped quickly (the heating elements will extend the quantity a bit, but need time).

 

[Thatguy]

My wife and I watch a lot of movies and, along with a few other symbols, the movie symbol of a person taking a shower means the person "wants to get rid of something."

After searching the Web for a correlation between long showers and what it might mean in the real world I've decided that rather than pursuing this line of inquiry you might want to get a bigger water heater.

 

[hj]

There is no "regular servicing" required, but if the shortness of hot water is due to a heater malfunction, then it DOES need to be repaired.