phillyg
New Member
Hi folks,
I appreciate any advice you can offer.
I recently had installed a Kohler showering system that has multiple heads (main shower head, handheld, and 3 Water tiles). Each fixture has 2.5GPM, but the valve only allows two accessories at a time. The max requirement would be 10 GPM. The plumber increased the risers from the basement to the bath to 3/4" but also increased the feed from the hot water tank to the risers to 3/4" as well as the cold water input into the hot water to 3/4". This was all previously 1/2".
You can tell where this story is going... our new shower system is great, but we run out of hot water in about ten minutes. But here's the thing--we run out of water in a little more than ten minutes using just one shower head. When using another bath during construction, we noticed that the shower started to run out of hot water a lot more quickly after the plumbing work described above was done. Coincidence? We never had a problem before the plumbing to the renovated bath was done.
The water heater is a 50-gallon Bradford White installed in 2006. It looks like it is in good shape, but I am trying to figure out if it is going bad, our demand is too great, or what we should do next to increase the amount of hot water. Do you think that increasing the cold water inlet to 3/4" is dumping too much cold into the tank and limiting recovery, etc.?
What type of setup would you recommend to satisfy the hot water demand? I estimate that we need about 200-gallon FHR. Replace the 3-year old BW with a larger one? Add a second hot water heater -- what type and size? Go tankless?
Many thanks for your help -- just a lay person here who needs the professionals!
Greg
I appreciate any advice you can offer.
I recently had installed a Kohler showering system that has multiple heads (main shower head, handheld, and 3 Water tiles). Each fixture has 2.5GPM, but the valve only allows two accessories at a time. The max requirement would be 10 GPM. The plumber increased the risers from the basement to the bath to 3/4" but also increased the feed from the hot water tank to the risers to 3/4" as well as the cold water input into the hot water to 3/4". This was all previously 1/2".
You can tell where this story is going... our new shower system is great, but we run out of hot water in about ten minutes. But here's the thing--we run out of water in a little more than ten minutes using just one shower head. When using another bath during construction, we noticed that the shower started to run out of hot water a lot more quickly after the plumbing work described above was done. Coincidence? We never had a problem before the plumbing to the renovated bath was done.
The water heater is a 50-gallon Bradford White installed in 2006. It looks like it is in good shape, but I am trying to figure out if it is going bad, our demand is too great, or what we should do next to increase the amount of hot water. Do you think that increasing the cold water inlet to 3/4" is dumping too much cold into the tank and limiting recovery, etc.?
What type of setup would you recommend to satisfy the hot water demand? I estimate that we need about 200-gallon FHR. Replace the 3-year old BW with a larger one? Add a second hot water heater -- what type and size? Go tankless?
Many thanks for your help -- just a lay person here who needs the professionals!
Greg