Hot water goes cold after a few seconds even after installing new water heater

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nemanich

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Hot water would go cold after a few seconds. This was from all faucets in the home (small house - 1000 sq ft). Thinking it was the water heater, we have just replace with a Whirlpool water heater. Having the same problem.
 

hj

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Well, if you were in this area, I would tell you that you have a serious hot water leak under your concrete floor slab. I once knew a plumber whose customer had the same symptom and when a new heater did not cure the problem, he tried to return the heater because he said it was defective. I had to REALLY talk seriously to convince him the he DID have a water leak, and nothing would stop the problem until he found, and fixed it.
 

6t7gto

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We thought we had a defective water heater. Called for service and he shut the supply off to the water heater. Waited a few minutes and turned it back on. You could hear the water running, filling the pipe that was leaking under the crawl space in the rear of the house.

david

p.s. maybe your new tank doesn't have a dip tube in it. or it is connected backward.
 
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hj

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quote; maybe your new tank doesn't have a dip tube in it. or it is connected backward

A "missing" dip tube is almost impossible these days because it is a part of the inlet nipple, (besides the improbability of it happening with both an old AND new water heater). If it were connected "backwards" there would be considerable hot water in the tank before the cold water reached the bottom of the dip tube to change the user's temperature. Diagnosing the cause is almost impossible without being there to see the conditions as it happens.
 

LLigetfa

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Hot water would go cold after a few seconds...

Well, if you were in this area, I would tell you that you have a serious hot water leak under your concrete floor slab...

I would think that if there was a leak, the water would start out cold and stay cold, not start hot and go cold after a few seconds.

Prognosis #1. A tankless unit with inadequate gas supply, exhaust balance issue, etc..

Prognosis #2. A bad balance spool causing a crossover.

Prognosis #3. A recirc loop gone bad.

Like the early talking computers would say "insufficient data, does not compute"
 
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