Hi…
I am a new house owner, I bought this 16 years old townhouse last
year. I don't know why for some reason, we never had enough hot
water. We have 4 people in the household, but we couldn't use the hot
water at same time. Even the hot water is not enough for only two
out source at same time (for example, washing dishes and taking shower
at the same time). There are two big machines, one is in the
basement, and the other one is outside of my backyard. I am not sure
which one controls the hot water and which one does the AC\Heater.
Moreover, the one in the backyard, sometimes makes weird and loud
noises. I know these questions may seem too stupid to ask, but please
help me out.

Kate

Most likely your hot water tank is in the basement. I know some plumbing
practice in LA put the hot water tank in the garage but as far as I know
nobody put it outdoor. Usually the first thing I'd check is the
temperature setting. Some people would like to set it low for that may
lower the operating cost but the end result is like what you described.
Other things amy be related are the capacity of your tank, is this the
original water heater and is the water hard?

FC

Kate wrote:
Hi…
I am a new house owner, I bought this 16 years old townhouse last
year. I don't know why for some reason, we never had enough hot
water. We have 4 people in the household, but we couldn't use the hot
water at same time. Even the hot water is not enough for only two
out source at same time (for example, washing dishes and taking shower
at the same time). There are two big machines, one is in the
basement, and the other one is outside of my backyard. I am not sure
which one controls the hot water and which one does the AC\Heater.
Moreover, the one in the backyard, sometimes makes weird and loud
noises. I know these questions may seem too stupid to ask, but please
help me out.

Kate

"FC" wrote in message
...

Most likely your hot water tank is in the basement. I know some plumbing
practice in LA put the hot water tank in the garage but as far as I know
nobody put it outdoor. Usually the first thing I'd check is the
temperature setting. Some people would like to set it low for that may
lower the operating cost but the end result is like what you described.
Other things amy be related are the capacity of your tank, is this the
original water heater and is the water hard?

There's really not much chance of finding your problem without being able to
see the actual devices in question--although if you were able to post
pictures of them somewhere it might be possible to make some guesses.

I would start by looking at the capacity of the hot-water tank. That
information is probably on a label somewhere on the tank. Next, I would
verify that it is actually possible to get that much hot water out of it.
One way to do so is as follows:

1) Turn on the hot water in the bathtub.
2) Estimate the flow rate by holding a large measuring cup (2 quarts,
for example) under the faucet and seeing how long it takes to fill.
3) Hold a thermometer in the water and see how long it takes for the
temperature to drop substantially.
4) Multiply the time by the flow rate you estimated in step (2) to
obtain an estimate of the heater capacity.
5) Compare your estimate with the actual heater capacity.

If the estimate and the capacity match, perhaps your water heater is too
small. But it may be that there is a big discrepancy between the two
numbers. In that case, something is wrong with the water heater. I would
start by getting someone to check the dip tube. That's an internal part
that controls where in the tank incoming cold water gets introduced. If the
water heater is original--that is, if it is 16 years old--then it is
possible that it was one of many that were built around that time with a
defective dip tube. The tube was made of a kind of plastic that eventually
disintegrated in water; the result would be that the heater would appear to
have only a fraction of its nominal capacity.

If that's not the problem, then we will definitely need more information in
order to be able to help.