Water Heaters - wide variation in water temp

Sorry, but I originally posted this in the wrong forum! Our gas WH is 6 years old. The problem with it is that after several hours of no one using any hot water, there is only lukewarm water in the tank. If you run the tap for a while, it will trigger the tank to come on, and it will heat up pretty quickly. But that doesn't help the first one up in the morning for a shower, or after coming back from vacations, etc. Is it likely to be something wrong with the thermostat or something else that we can repair ourselves?

Kasia Wilson
Bend, OR

I have the same problem with my gas water heater. If we do not use it for a day we get luke warm water. Right after we use it the water is hot again. I'm thinking the low point on the thermostat is too low and it will only trip when cold water enters the tank and takes it down even further. Not sure if it the thermostat can be fixed or if it has to be replaced.

Can anyone confirm this.

This sounds like a thermostat problem. One option would be to raise the temperature (use caution with hotter water) and see if it helps. The other option is to replace the stat. Sometimes stats will develop wide temperature swings between on and off.