AlaJoe wrote:

I have a 50 Gallon electric water heater that is just not getting the
job done. One person can shower as long as he wants but the recovery time is
just too long between users and My wife, My kid and ,myself are trying to
take showers within one hour and it just will not keep up. So I am looking
to either add an additional water heater and split off one bathroom or
increase the size of the one. My question is about energy usage.
I have looked at 30-80 gallon heaters and there does not appear to be
much difference in energy usage. The 30 Gallons heater have an annual energy
estimate of about $405 to $410 and 80 gallon heaters about $440 to $450.
Does this mean if I add a 30 gallon water heater in addition to the 50
gallon I already have to seperate one bathroom I will spend about $820 to
$850 a year to keep 80 gallons of water heated to where I could buy just one
80 gallon and only spend about $450?
Would one 80 gallon allow three people to take back to back showers?
Which set up would work best?

Joe

In addition to what everyone else said about replacing the probable
burned out element, flushing sediment, checking for a broken dip tube,
etc. another trick to boost capacity is to add a tempering valve to the
output of the water heater and set the water heater temp a little higher
which effectively increases the volume of 120 degree water available.