We have just finished a renovation project that included moving the water heater. The new location is in the crawl space which is 51 inches tall from the gravel to the bottom of the floor joists. With that size limitation, my contractor picked out a 38 gallon tank without consulting us. The water heater that he replaced was 50 gallons and we never ran out of hot water with a family of four. We are now only two people and our shower heads are 1.5 gallons/minute, but the second shower starts out not quite hot and ends cold.
Is that what we should expect from a 38 gallon electric tank?
We are upset to have this problem and we are wondering:
1. could something be wrong with the tank?
2. the maximum temperature on this Rheem tank is 150 deg. If we got a tempering valve, how much additional hot water would we gain?
3. If we insist that the tank be replaced with a 50 gallon tank, would a 46 inch tall unit fit in the 51 inch space?
Thanks for any help and advice!
Is that what we should expect from a 38 gallon electric tank?
We are upset to have this problem and we are wondering:
1. could something be wrong with the tank?
2. the maximum temperature on this Rheem tank is 150 deg. If we got a tempering valve, how much additional hot water would we gain?
3. If we insist that the tank be replaced with a 50 gallon tank, would a 46 inch tall unit fit in the 51 inch space?
Thanks for any help and advice!
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