Water Heaters - 40 Gallons Electric Water Heater = 5 Minutes of Hot Water?

I have been going back and forth with my landlord about my hot water heater for one year now! Although we have a 40 gallon hot water tank (that my landlord promises is working fine), we can only take a 5-7 minute shower before we are completely out of hot water. Also, in order to keep the shower a comfortable temperature, during that short time we have to continually adjust the water, turning the cold water down until, by the end of the 5-7 minutes, the cold water is completely off. I say that a 40 gallon tank should provide more than one 5-7 minute shower. As it is, only one person can take a shower, and they have to do it fast. He sends maintenance men out here who insist that the hot water heater is working fine and who act like I am crazy. Today maintenance men came out, measured the temperature at 118 degrees from the hot water, and got the shower to run at 100 degrees for (supposedly) ten minutes. I have timed my showers on multiple occassions, and by the 5-7 minute mark I am completely out of hot water (with the cold water turned off). Help! If the heater is working, there must be a plumbing or electrical problem. Am I really crazy? I have never had this problem before, and I actually have to go to friends' and relatives' houses to take a reasonable length shower -which I do with no problem (and they all have 40 gallon tanks!).

You dont say electric are gas heater here. But for kicks say electric. The dip tube on the cold water inlet side, not there ,broke off ,not as long as it should be. Then are both elements good top and bottom. Are the tstat on the water tank working right? Top elements heats then turn off and turns the bottom element on This is what you would have to test out with a meter. As I say if this is electricsounds like the bottom element is bad or the tstat is not working right. What is the tstat on the water set at? can be that.

You have a lot of IFS. Post back if you have anything you want to ask about. Stay in same post

ED ;)

The hot water heater is a 38-gallon electric hot water heater by GE with "first hour capacity" of 45 gallons. The temperature is set at 120 degrees. Our shower has two handles, one that controls the hot water and one that controls the cold.

colima, Welcome to the DIY Forums.

I concur with ED, it sounds like the dip tube has failed or isn't there. The dip tubes purpose is to put the cold water at the bottom of the tank thus pushing the hot water out the top. If the dip tube is too short due to breakage or not being there it will dilute the hot with cold.

Have you been there to watch the repair personel work on the water heater? If they did not disconnect the cold water inlet, they did not check it. This is a quick and inexpensive fix that is often overlooked. The part is usually less than $2 and takes about 10 minutes to replace.

An energy efficent shower head would use approx 45 gallons of hot water(hot only) for about 15 minutes. Add the cold and your showers should last a lot longer.

Good luck and reply back if you have further questions

To find out if it might be the bottom element on the heater, do this, turn the power off to heater at power panel, remove bottom panel on heater, if there are two, if one large cover remove it, now feel bottom of tank, if it's cold to the touch then bottom element is out, if both upper and lower tank is hot to the touch, then look for it to be the dip tube.

I will try what you recommend. Right now the entire tank is cold to touch. I was wondering if it was supposed to feel warm or hot. The maintenance guys used a device to check the elements and said that both are working well. I am wondering if I should resort to solutions within my ability (which include increasing the temperature and installing a low flow/high pressure shower head)?

Thx, Lori

The upper stat should have a reset button, red in color, push on it, if it clicks then it tripped. Tank should not be cold to the touch.

Posted: Fri Dec 10, 2004 8:22 pm Post subject:

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A 40 gallon electric water heater only produces 28 gallons of ready to use hot water; water heaters only produce 12 gallons less than their capacity.



50 gallon would be 38 gallons of ready to use hot water.........the reason is the displacement of cold water entering the tank before a 20 degree variance.



Use a 4 gallon bucket and a thermometer and fill up/count the number of gallons before the temp drops below 100 degrees.....that will tell you if the water heater is malfunctioning or not. You should get 28 gallons of water between 120 and 100.
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