Since I installed a hot water heater 10 years ago I had occasional
problems getting hot water for a bath. It would come out hot for the
first few gallons, then slowly gets cooler until it is so cool I
needed to turn it off to keep the water I have, comfortably warm. Only
the first couple minutes was it fully heated.

I discovered if I turned on the hot water for a couple of minutes,
about a half hour before I take a bath, there will be enough for a
full tub.

A few months ago I had a energy efficient furnace installed and that
took the furnace's exhaust off the house's smoke stack, leaving only
the hot water heater to use the stack. -- that made the bath situation
even worse. It is luke warm from the start and gets cooler from
there.

I had our utility, whom we have a service plan, come out to check it
out. They couldn't find a problem, but decided to replace the
thermostat just to see if that helps -- it didn't. They finally said,
perhaps the heater needs to be moved so the ductwork will be
lengthened, since the hot water heater is now isolated on the stack.
They thought the heat might be being sucked out because of the short
distance from the heater to straight out the chimney.

Does this make sense? Should I really move the heater?

On Jan 29, 2:44�pm, pheo wrote:
Since I installed a hot water heater 10 years ago I had occasional
problems getting hot water for a bath. It would come out hot for the
first few gallons, then slowly gets cooler until it is so cool I
needed to turn it off to keep the water I have, comfortably warm. Only
the first couple minutes was it fully heated.

I discovered if I turned on the hot water for a couple of minutes,
about a half hour before I take a bath, there will be enough for a
full tub.

A few months ago I had a energy efficient furnace installed and that
took the furnace's exhaust off the house's smoke stack, leaving only
the hot water heater to use the stack. -- that made the bath situation
even worse. It is luke warm from the start and gets cooler from
there.

I had our utility, whom we have a service plan, come out to check it
out. They couldn't find a problem, but decided to replace the
thermostat just to see if that helps -- it didn't. They finally said,
perhaps the heater needs to be moved so the ductwork will be
lengthened, since the hot water heater is now isolated on the stack.
They thought the heat might be being sucked out because of the short
distance from the heater to straight out the chimney.

Does this make sense? Should I really move the heater?

tank is now 10 years old? likely sluged up. best solution is just
replace it.

go with at least a 50 gallon high BTU tank, 75,000 BTUs will likely
double the hot water capacity you currently have.

the furnace change probably had nothing to do with the trouble

before wasting more money replace the tank

On Jan 29, 2:44*pm, pheo wrote:
Since I installed a hot water heater 10 years ago I had occasional
problems getting hot water for a bath. It would come out hot for the
first few gallons, then slowly gets cooler until it is so cool I
needed to turn it off to keep the water I have, comfortably warm. Only
the first couple minutes was it fully heated.

I discovered if I turned on the hot water for a couple of minutes,
about a half hour before I take a bath, there will be enough for a
full tub.

A few months ago I had a energy efficient furnace installed and that
took the furnace's exhaust off the house's smoke stack, leaving only
the hot water heater to use the stack. -- that made the bath situation
even worse. It is luke warm from the start and gets cooler from
there.

I had our utility, whom we have a service plan, come out to check it
out. They couldn't find a problem, but decided to replace the
thermostat just to see if that helps -- it didn't. They finally said,
perhaps the heater needs to be moved so the ductwork will be
lengthened, since the hot water heater is now isolated on the stack.
They thought the heat might be being sucked out because of the short
distance from the heater to straight out the chimney.

Does this make sense? Should I really move the heater?

FWIW, when I moved into my house I had the same symptoms as you
described in your first paragraph.

Turned out that the water heater had been installed incorrectly, with
the hot water pipe connected to the cold inlet and the cold pipe
connected to the hot outlet. This resulted in splashing cold water
over the top of the hot water, cooling it substantially. The paperwork
that came with the WH showed that it had been installed 5 years
prior. That meant that the family of 4 that lived in the house before
us, put up with luke warm water for 4 years. I often wondered how bad
their previous WH must of been if they thought new was working right!

Granted, I don't think I ever tried the process you described in
papragraph 2, but I don't see how it would have helped my situation.

On Jan 29, 12:44*pm, pheo wrote:


Does this make sense? Should I really move the heater?

Before you do anything else, Google "dip tube".

Jerry

On Jan 29, 3:57*pm, Jerry wrote:
On Jan 29, 12:44*pm, pheo wrote:



Does this make sense? Should I really move the heater?

Before you do anything else, Google "dip tube".

Jerry


Since it has been that way for 10 years, right from the start, I'd
agree with DerbyDad that it's more likely that it was installed with
the hot and cold lines reversed. Now how anyone could put up with it
that way all these years is beyond me. If it's not reversed, then
missing dip tube is next suspect. Definitely nothing to do with the
furnace exhaust being eliminated and the chimney now being used only
by the water heater.

On Jan 29, 2:44�pm, pheo wrote:
Since I installed a hot water heater 10 years ago I had occasional
problems getting hot water for a bath. It would come out hot for the
first few gallons, then slowly gets cooler until it is so cool I
needed to turn it off to keep the water I have, comfortably warm. Only
the first couple minutes was it fully heated.

I discovered if I turned on the hot water for a couple of minutes,
about a half hour before I take a bath, there will be enough for a
full tub.

A few months ago I had a energy efficient furnace installed and that
took the furnace's exhaust off the house's smoke stack, leaving only
the hot water heater to use the stack. -- that made the bath situation
even worse. It is luke warm from the start and gets cooler from
there.

I had our utility, whom we have a service plan, come out to check it
out. They couldn't find a problem, but decided to replace the
thermostat just to see if that helps -- it didn't. They finally said,
perhaps the heater needs to be moved so the ductwork will be
lengthened, since the hot water heater is now isolated on the stack.
They thought the heat might be being sucked out because of the short
distance from the heater to straight out the chimney.

Does this make sense? Should I really move the heater?

theres only one way the lack of a furnace could effect water
heating...... and its highly unlikely cause in the summer you still
had hot water and the furnace probably never trned on.

but imagine that large flue, with a small heat source

the flue might not draw properly, since it never gets hot enough

but the right solution is lining the chimney not moving the tank!

Again I believe that with a 10 year old tank the best soution is a
brand new tank.

lets say the new tank cost 500 bucks installed

with a average life expectancy of perhaps 10 years. the yearly cost is
50 bucks, thats less than a cheap candy bar a week.

On Jan 29, 2:34*pm, DerbyDad03 wrote:
On Jan 29, 2:44*pm, pheo wrote:



Since I installed a hot water heater 10 years ago I had occasional
problems getting hot water for a bath. It would come out hot for the
first few gallons, then slowly gets cooler until it is so cool I
needed to turn it off to keep the water I have, comfortably warm. Only
the first couple minutes was it fully heated.

I discovered if I turned on the hot water for a couple of minutes,
about a half hour before I take a bath, there will be enough for a
full tub.

A few months ago I had a energy efficient furnace installed and that
took the furnace's exhaust off the house's smoke stack, leaving only
the hot water heater to use the stack. -- that made the bath situation
even worse. It is luke warm from the start and gets cooler from
there.

I had our utility, whom we have a service plan, come out to check it
out. They couldn't find a problem, but decided to replace the
thermostat just to see if that helps -- it didn't. They finally said,
perhaps the heater needs to be moved so the ductwork will be
lengthened, since the hot water heater is now isolated on the stack.
They thought the heat might be being sucked out because of the short
distance from the heater to straight out the chimney.

Does this make sense? Should I really move the heater?

FWIW, when I moved into my house I had the same symptoms as you
described in your first paragraph.

Turned out that the water heater had been installed incorrectly, with
the hot water pipe connected to the cold inlet and the cold pipe
connected to the hot outlet. This resulted in splashing cold water
over the top of the hot water, cooling it substantially. The paperwork
that came with the WH showed that it had been installed 5 years
prior. *That meant that the family of 4 that lived in the house before
us, put up with luke warm water for 4 years. I often wondered how bad
their previous WH must of been if they thought new was working right!

Granted, I don't think I ever tried the process you described in
papragraph 2, but I don't see how it would have helped my situation.

I checked the water heater and the cold is connected to cold and hot
to hot, so unless it was manufactured wrong, that is not the problem.
I would think the service guy would have thought of the dip tube, but
maybe not.

I am glad to know though, that moving it is a waste of time. I guess
I'll be checking on new WH.

"pheo" wrote in message
...


I checked the water heater and the cold is connected to cold and hot
to hot, so unless it was manufactured wrong, that is not the problem.
I would think the service guy would have thought of the dip tube, but
maybe not.

I am glad to know though, that moving it is a waste of time. I guess
I'll be checking on new WH.



Before you bother with a new water heater, try to find out if you still have
a dip tube. Yours may have been made during the time that dip tubes
disintegrated due to a change in the formula for the plastic. Dip tube =
$10, water heater = $200 plus.

On Jan 29, 10:24*pm, Bubba wrote:
On Tue, 29 Jan 2008 19:26:41 -0700, "Bob M." wrote:
"pheo" wrote in message
...

I checked the water heater and the cold is connected to cold and hot
to hot, so unless it was manufactured wrong, that is not the problem.
I would think the service guy would have thought of the dip tube, but
maybe not.

I am glad to know though, that moving it is a waste of time. I guess
I'll be checking on new WH.

Before you bother with a new water heater, try to find out if you still have
a dip tube. Yours may have been made during the time that dip tubes
disintegrated due to a change in the formula for the plastic. *Dip tube =
$10, water heater = $200 plus.

$200?? Damn. Where you getting them.
50 gal gas is almost double that here.
Then its gotta be installed.
Bubba- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Isn't this a DIY newsgroup? Installation is free! g

On Jan 30, 4:02�pm, DerbyDad03 wrote:
On Jan 29, 10:24�pm, Bubba wrote:





On Tue, 29 Jan 2008 19:26:41 -0700, "Bob M." wrote:
"pheo" wrote in message
....

I checked the water heater and the cold is connected to cold and hot
to hot, so unless it was manufactured wrong, that is not the problem.
I would think the service guy would have thought of the dip tube, but
maybe not.

I am glad to know though, that moving it is a waste of time. I guess
I'll be checking on new WH.

Before you bother with a new water heater, try to find out if you still have
a dip tube. Yours may have been made during the time that dip tubes
disintegrated due to a change in the formula for the plastic. �Dip tube =
$10, water heater = $200 plus.

$200?? Damn. Where you getting them.
50 gal gas is almost double that here.
Then its gotta be installed.
Bubba- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Isn't this a DIY newsgroup? Installation is free! g- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

if you ever run out of hot water spend a little more and buy a high
output tank. most tanks around 30,000 BTU .... high BTU about 75,000
BTUs and the tanks are better made, ..........

doubles the amount of hot water

On Jan 31, 2:38�pm, "Stormin Mormon"
wrote:
YEs, they did have a defective run of dip tubes for a while I changed one
for a friend, or rather installed one as it was missing. It took less than
an hour.

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
�www.lds.org
.

"Bob M." wrote in message

. ..

Before you bother with a new water heater, try to find out if you still have
a dip tube. Yours may have been made during the time that dip tubes
disintegrated due to a change in the formula for the plastic. �Dip tube =
$10, water heater = $200 plus.

with a 10 year o;ld tank disturbing anything like attempting to
replace dip tube may generate leaks and is a fiancial loser.

buy a new tank its time