"Jesse" wrote in message

Ours is a 40 gallon made for Sears in 1999, I've drained the tank then
refilled and turned up the temp a bit. We will know tonight as we are
both away in the afternoon and we will try the bath before running the
dishwasher.

Been thinking, although this may not be your situation.

In the past, I used to set the heater much hotter, so I could not hold my
hand under the hot water and easily compare.

With the present heater, I've been running it much lower, such that I can
hold my hand in the running hot water. Now I can tell the diff and confirm
with a thermometer, when it's hotter or not as hot.

Before it never occurred to me to measure the temp - it was always HOT.
Perhaps the differential was always there.

RichK