Robert wrote:

Jeff Wisnia wrote in message news:

Robert wrote:

Now the new problem:
We replaced a 66 gallon with a 50 gallon water heater
The problem we are facing right now is, the hot water is not even
sufficient for two people to take a shower. The second person will end
up with chilling cold water. We did not run our washer or dishwasher
in the morning and hot water was not used for any other purpose.


in the morning, start filling the tub with "full hot" water and
see how many gallons you put in the tub before the water starts cooling
off to the point where you'd consider you'd "run out" of hot water.


Thanks for your reply and time. Sorry for the delay in replying. I
took your advice and measured the output from the heater using 5
gallon buckets. I got 5 buckets full (25 liters) hot water. The 6th
bucket was lukewarm - could use it without mixing with cold water. The
7th bucket onwards it was just chilling cold water.


Are you sure that when the new heater was installed it was plumbed
correctly and haven't accidently run the cold feed into the "hot"
fitting on the heater, so the dip tube is working against you?


I checked the plumbing and the cold water pipe is connected to the
cold connection (marked by "C") and the hot water pipe is connected to
the hot connection (marked by "H").

The water heater is just a month old. Now, what recourse is available
for me? Whom should I talk to (1) the plumber - who installed it or
(3) Lowes - from where I bought it.

Thanks for your valuable advice.

Robert

If the installer was slipshod and "took a chance" by soldered fittings
on the inlet piping close to the tank while they were connected to the
heater's inlet fitting, he might just have melted the plastic dip tube
so it fell off and is loose inside the tank.

If the intial water flow is nice and hot, then it probably isn't a
thermostat setting problem, or no water at all could reach that temperature.

I'll bet it's a dip tube problem. If you remove the piping from the
"cold" tank fitting you should be able to stick a finger or something
into the dip tube and lift it up and out enough to see it. If it's not
there, you've found the problem.

Let us know what it turns out to be,

Jeff


--

Jeff Wisnia (W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)

"If you can smile when things are going wrong, you've thought of someone
to blame it on."