Water Heaters - Oil Fired tank is too hot
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doobiess
03-16-09, 08:45 PM
Well I bought this house about 8 months ago and has a John Woods oil fired hot water tank that is about 2 years old. Its a 32 gallon if I recall but I was doing a bit of research and found our water to be way too hot so I went to lower the temp at the thermostat.. Well its just a hair above the min. on the hot water tank but just tonight I checked and the temp at the faucet is 150-155 degrees.. Well we just had a newborn too so super hot water isnt something i want in a few months time. So could it be the temp. probe that goes into the tank from the thermostat or the thermostat itself? and I read that 120 degrees is ideal. Well Im way past hot since I can almost handle full temp electric hot water tank temp.. this one I can barely touch without burning. Any help please is much appreciated
furd
03-17-09, 08:21 PM
Yes, it could be a faulty thermostat but rather than monkey with that I would suggest adding a tempering valve to the outlet of the water heater. This will allow the water heater to operate at 150 degrees yet limit the temperature at the faucet to the setting on the tempering valve. The upside is that you will definitely know that no bacteria will be living in the tank, something that CAN happen in tanks set at 120 degrees, and that you will never run out of hot water. You could also run new piping from the water heater outlet (ahead of the tempering valve) directly to the dishwasher to get maximum cleaning and disinfecting from the dishwasher.
Watts: 70A, L70A | Hot Water Extender Tempering Valves for Residential Installations (http://www.watts.com/pro/_productsFull.asp?catId=64&parCat=271&pid=717&ref=2)
Watts: 70A, L70A | Hot Water Extender Tempering Valves for Residential Installations (http://www.watts.com/pro/_productsFull.asp?catId=64&parCat=271&pid=717&ref=2)
plumbermandan
03-17-09, 09:31 PM
the thermostat needs to be replaced if it is set to low and is still that hot. it should not heat the water more than 140 deg. when turned all the way up.
doobiess
03-23-09, 08:41 PM
ok I did one other test and it showed that when I ran the hot water into a container it was sitting at about 155-160 degrees which is way too hot. Also I have an oil fired hot water tank so its just waiting oil if its trying to maintain that temp. Also I have a 4 month old and when she able to walk I cant have her accidently turning on that scalding water. Ok thanks
But when I moved in there was a thermo stat that is identicle to the one installed already on a shelf in the basement. Well it appears to be never installed but is there any way to bench test it before install to find out if its ok. Such as an ohm test? thanks
But when I moved in there was a thermo stat that is identicle to the one installed already on a shelf in the basement. Well it appears to be never installed but is there any way to bench test it before install to find out if its ok. Such as an ohm test? thanks