New water heater, water lukewarm..help

[ChelletheSouthernBelle]

My old water heater had developed a leak...we used it for yrs with the temp setting of 120...plenty warm enough to use hot water only while showering and only come away looking slightly like a lobster...lol...so I purchase a new AO Smith Proline 50 gal 240 electric water heater ...with a 6 yr warranty...uses 2 heating elements at 4500 watts each...it came preset to 120 degrees as well...plumbed it and wired it up...filled up with well water and turned on breaker...waited several hours...maybe 3-4 before taking shower... lukewarm... meat thermometer in a glass showed it at a balmy 98 degrees!!! So I turn it up a little at the top element...still no better...today I checked the elements making sure I did not dryfire the top one...current good to both...the water temp today is getting to about 108...after I had turned it up a few more degrees...anybody have any advice...able to take a couple of 20 minute showers with no loss of temp...just not able to get it up to 120 although both thermostats are set at about 130.

 

[Reach4]

The elements work one at a time. The top element has priority, and once it is hot enough up there, power gets switched on down to the bottom element. Then that heats to its shutoff temperature as long as the water up top is still hot.

I would suspect the calibration indicator(s) may be a little off, so I would turn the thermostats hotter still.

Actually, there is another possibility. You may have a mixing valve above the WH that combines hot from the WH with cold to produce the hot that gets sent to the shower. That mixing valve might need adjusting.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[ChelletheSouthernBelle]

So you mean that the thermostat dial is off a bit?

 

[Reach4]

So you mean that the thermostat dial is off a bit?

That was one possibility that I suspected.

The other was that plenty-hot water might be coming out of the WH, but a mixing valve was mixing in cold water to bring the temperature down. Usually such a mixing valve would be atop the WH, if you have one at all.

 

[ChelletheSouthernBelle]

no mixing valve that I'm aware of... :/

 

[ChelletheSouthernBelle]

no mixing valve that I'm aware of... :/

Other than the valve at the shower...and since its the same one before the new water heater and the kitchen sink as well...I would mark that off the list as the problem.

 

[Dj2]

Maybe it's the thermostat(s).
Have you called AO Smith's customer service?

 

[ChelletheSouthernBelle]

I turned it up to 130ish...both thermos...called the dealer I bought it from ...he said it could be the thermostats are just off...water's heating...but still not up to 120 out the faucet...might be 110...that's stretching it a little...but have not thought about AO's customer service...thnks for the advice

 

[hj]

Current good TO BOTH, is one thing, but whether they are doing anything with it is another. Two bad thermostats in the same new heater is stretching credulity quite a bit. IF you had "dry fired the elements", it would have burned the top one out, but it could still heat with 120 v. power which WOULD give you the problem you describe. Turn the top thermostat DOWN, and see if the bottom one gives you better temperature.

 

[ChelletheSouthernBelle]

thanks I might give that a try...when I get the time...been too busy lately with another project...lol

 

[hj]

MIGHT give it a try? You mean you LIKE taking cold showers?

 

[MACPLUMB]

If your shower or kitchen faucets are Moen then you have a bad cartridge that is mixing cold though the inside

 

[Dj2]

MIGHT give it a try? You mean you LIKE taking cold showers?

Home is not the only place to take showers.

 

[ChelletheSouthernBelle]

MIGHT give it a try? You mean you LIKE taking cold showers?

108 is not cold...just not hot either...lol

 

[hj]

Well, if you ever get tired of "warm" showers, and decide to turn the upper thermostat DOWN, so the lower element can work and it DOES get hot, be sure to check the lower thermostat so you do not get the water so hot it scalds you.

 

[Master Plumber Mark]

something else to consider .... we find that sometimes the heater goes out
because it is working too hard
due to a leak in the concrete floor..

Do you live on a slab home?? If so , then there is a good chance that you might have a slab leak
on the hot side of the system and the heater is trying to keep up with the water pissing into the
gravel as best it can....

 

[Reach4]

on the hot side of the system and the heater is trying to keep up with the water pissing into the
gravel as best it can....

Interesting possibility.

When hot water has not been used for a long time, the pipes from the heater will cool down when no water has been drawn for a long period. Feel the hot pipes farther from the heater output to see if any are running warm/hot.

 

[FullySprinklered]

Other than the valve at the shower...and since its the same one before the new water heater and the kitchen sink as well...I would mark that off the list as the problem.

I've been through Naylor a few times. I doubt there's a mixing valve within 100 miles. I did run into some bad boys from Naylor who wanted to give me a free haircut back in 1967. I gave them the finger before I realized there were six of them in their car and the smallest one was twice my size.
You may need a dip tube.

 

[hj]

Dip tubes have NOT been a problem for over a decade.

 

[FullySprinklered]

Dip tubes have NOT been a problem for over a decade.

Except for the one I installed last year on a 6month old Rheem.