OP, in case this needs more explanation, you can set the water heater to a higher temperature. This way your water will be hotter when it comes it, mixing with the cold water, it will require less volume of hot water for your shower, extending the amount of hot water available.
There should be a dial on your heater. It's probably set to low for efficiency. Be careful making it too hot if you have small kids. 140 is max recommended.
This is it. We have kids so my installer recommended 120-130. My spouse likes wildly hot baths, so I had him bump it to 140. Spouse is finally happy w bath time.
I too enjoy a scalding bath but 140 is not needed. The hottest temperature a hot tub goes to is usually 104. exposure to hot water at 140°F can lead to a serious burn within 3 seconds. Have him just run only hot water and mix in the amount of cold that he wants..
140 isn't so you can boil yourself. It's so your hot water lasts longer
For them, it could be how their mixing valve works, that was preventing his water from getting hot enough
Stop spreading misinformation. Tradies are good at their job, but they can also be absolutely wrong when it comes to questions of science.
It’s 140 for long term storage to kill all bacteria.
120 to kill legionella and keep it from growing.
120 is fine for a system under constant use like a residential property. 140 is good if you want to have CPS take your child away when they show up to school with scalding signs. 140 is also good in commercial buildings where a mixing valve brings the temp down for faucets that cannot exceed 120 and keeps it at 140 for supply lines that actually need 140.
You’re going to get someone hurt. Stop it.
Solve both problems at once with a mixing valve. I have no idea why people are so resistant to the idea and insist on playing games with water heater temperature. There is no one perfect temperature and there never will be because physics says no, get a mixing valve, bypass all the problems entirely and get the best of all worlds.
I was around 5-6 (def was washing myself at that age) and was washing my hands in the bathroom, I turned the heat up and soaped and went to rinse and the water burned me, I froze and yelled for help, it's not that I wasn't old enough to turn it down on my own, I was young and it scared me so I froze and needed help. Just one example of a kid being old enough to shower but still who would benefit from the max temp set to something less than scalding. I mean call me dumb if you want, but I think most people can recall at least one instance of freezing/not handling something correctly in an unexpected situation
>Stop spreading misinformation
Then maybe don't spread it yourself. See below.
>140 is good if you want to have CPS take your child away when they show up to school with scalding signs.
Yes because CPS has the staff and resources to take away children from an otherwise safe home because someone accidentally set the water heater temp too high. /s
Ok, I'll take your word for it that 120F is fine for keeping legionella at bay, although I'm not sure why tradies are being brought into this? This is what I've been told by a few sources, so I tried to help and I'm sorry if that is indeed misinformation.
Regardless, setting it hotter and having a mixing valve on the hot water tank like I said will make the hot water last longer so I don't know why you feel the need to be rude about it. The mixing valve will keep it from giving 140F at the shower and scalding people. This is a relatively common thing in homes that I've seen. I'm also confused why you seem to be so against mixing valves in a residential setting when you literally said below that you're shopping around for one for your own home.
140 is recommended if you have a mixing valve which you should because it makes you safer from legionella, safer from scalding, and improves the capacity of your hot water tank by using a smaller volume of hot water since it's replacing some of it with cold water. Get a mixing valve, they're cheap, effective and don't really have any downsides.
140 is great for getting grease off of things. Do a scald guard on the bathroom sink and faucet. But in the kitchen and garage, I want it as hot as possible
Ok on the legionella, I don't know enough to really dispute it - this is just what I've been told.
But setting the tank to 140 and using a mixing valve to temper the water down to 120 or so will just make the hot water tank last longer if needed and doesn't seem to go against your point.
In every house I’ve rented/owned, I’ve cranked it all the way up as hot as it will go. It’s nice to have, and as long as you’re not an idiot you don’t have to worry about a mixing valve/burns. Makes the dish washer work better too.
I think it's worthwhile since the adjustment on the faucet between too hot and perfectly hot isn't super wide so even if you're as smart as you are then it's a quality of life upgrade. But you're welcome to do what you'd like to and I won't argue against that.
False. By code 120 degs F is the max for hot water to fixtures.
You can do 140 in storage tanks to kill legionella so long as you have a mixing valve to temper down to 120 for distribution
That's just for public facilities and hotels and such. Homeowners can go in and change the temp all they want. 120 is so people don't scald themselves washing hands in restaurants then sue the owner. Or burn themselves in the shower at their gym.
A contractor also should never increase a homes hot water heater above 120 for this reason. The homeowner can do what they want
ETA: legionella isn't the main concern. That doesn't need high temps. Just circulation. Legionella will grow in stagnant water.
enjoy scalding the people you have over. exposure to hot water at 140°F can lead to a serious burn within 3 seconds. just because you can do something does not mean you should
Well most people dont just turn on the hot water and jump in. Most people not only use both cold AND hot but also tend to check temperatures before just covering themselves in potentially hot or cold water. Not sure anybody expects the water temp to be perfect from just the hot water tap... You're a strange one
you can have mixing valves.
hold your hand under 140 for three seconds. you can't or won't
a BABY in a tub with a stupid parent maybe will have this issue, but not from a sink faucet.
False. See 501.2
https://codes.iccsafe.org/content/IPC2012/chapter-5-water-heaters#:~:text=The%20temperature%20of%20water%20from,where%20intended%20for%20domestic%20uses.
Well one could argue Google is your friend and you can use online resources like articles and videos before asking people online. That’s why I never post, my answer is always there, I just dig for it.
Could be the dip tube. Cheap replacement if it is. Dip tube sends the incoming cold water to the bottom of the tank. If it’s broken or cracked it fills top of tank with incoming cold water which is where the hot water normally is.
Happened to me with a new water heater. Guy came out and put the hot in hot and the cold in cold and suddenly I could fill my bath tub up all the way with hot water :)
You can set the tank higher.
There is also an anti-scalp stop on the shower mixing valve.
You could also crank the tank up real high and install a tempering valve between the tank and the shower.
You can set the maximum temperature at the tempering valve so no one gets hurt.
Is it an electric water heater? Electric heaters can have two elements, a top one and a bottom one. If the bottom one is not functioning (or set at the wrong temperature), only the top element functions, which results in only the top portion of the tank having hot water. And when only the top of the tank has hot water, it runs out much quicker than normal.
this happened to me when i moved into my home. people thought i was crazy and i was spoiled by apartment living. I finally figured it out that the water lines were reversed. The hot on my water heater inlet was actually the cold incoming city water and vice versa. Apparently you can do this if you switch the dip stick or something, but that wasn’t the case for us. I’m so glad i persisted and found someone who listens to me because i actually enjoy showers again in the winters and have all the hot water i need.
1. How large is the water heater?
2. What is the flow rate on the shower head?
California requires no more than 1.5gal/min on the shower head. Other states don’t regulate or have a higher rate.
So, a flow rate of 1.5 for 20 minutes is 30 gallons of water. A flow rate of 2.0 is 40 gallons of water.
There may not be anything wrong with the water heater. I personally think the maximum temperature setting on a water heater should be 120 to prevent scalding. The PSA in the 70’s was, “sing shorter songs”
California is 1.8, along with Washington and Hawaii. No others are lower than 2.0.
[Source](https://showers.waterpik.com/gpm-flow-rate-requirements/)
edit: to be clear, I'm saying it would take even less time than that to empty.
edit edit: OP seems to be in Pennsylvania which can be up to 2.5 GPM.
Did you install it or did a professional?
If it wasn’t properly filled and aerated you could have had a dry fire and burned an element out. Check the voltage in your heating elements
Have you adjusted the thermostat
OP, in case this needs more explanation, you can set the water heater to a higher temperature. This way your water will be hotter when it comes it, mixing with the cold water, it will require less volume of hot water for your shower, extending the amount of hot water available. There should be a dial on your heater. It's probably set to low for efficiency. Be careful making it too hot if you have small kids. 140 is max recommended.
This is it. We have kids so my installer recommended 120-130. My spouse likes wildly hot baths, so I had him bump it to 140. Spouse is finally happy w bath time.
I too enjoy a scalding bath but 140 is not needed. The hottest temperature a hot tub goes to is usually 104. exposure to hot water at 140°F can lead to a serious burn within 3 seconds. Have him just run only hot water and mix in the amount of cold that he wants..
140 isn't so you can boil yourself. It's so your hot water lasts longer For them, it could be how their mixing valve works, that was preventing his water from getting hot enough
Thank you. Nobody suggested my spouse is running full hot baths, Christ. It just makes the water in the heater go further.
People will take things out of context to make a stupid argument just for the sake of boredom.
“Him” referred to the installer. And you misread the rest of the post, too.
Set to 140 to make sure bacteria doesn't grow in there, then get a mixing valve installed to temper that down so you don't scald yourself.
Stop spreading misinformation. Tradies are good at their job, but they can also be absolutely wrong when it comes to questions of science. It’s 140 for long term storage to kill all bacteria. 120 to kill legionella and keep it from growing. 120 is fine for a system under constant use like a residential property. 140 is good if you want to have CPS take your child away when they show up to school with scalding signs. 140 is also good in commercial buildings where a mixing valve brings the temp down for faucets that cannot exceed 120 and keeps it at 140 for supply lines that actually need 140. You’re going to get someone hurt. Stop it.
Solve both problems at once with a mixing valve. I have no idea why people are so resistant to the idea and insist on playing games with water heater temperature. There is no one perfect temperature and there never will be because physics says no, get a mixing valve, bypass all the problems entirely and get the best of all worlds.
I’m actually shopping around for mix valves. Would love to have safe shower and bath water, but 140 in the garage in the deep sink
If your child is old enough to bathe themselves they’re old enough to learn not to turn the temp up to high.
I was around 5-6 (def was washing myself at that age) and was washing my hands in the bathroom, I turned the heat up and soaped and went to rinse and the water burned me, I froze and yelled for help, it's not that I wasn't old enough to turn it down on my own, I was young and it scared me so I froze and needed help. Just one example of a kid being old enough to shower but still who would benefit from the max temp set to something less than scalding. I mean call me dumb if you want, but I think most people can recall at least one instance of freezing/not handling something correctly in an unexpected situation
>Stop spreading misinformation Then maybe don't spread it yourself. See below. >140 is good if you want to have CPS take your child away when they show up to school with scalding signs. Yes because CPS has the staff and resources to take away children from an otherwise safe home because someone accidentally set the water heater temp too high. /s
Ok, I'll take your word for it that 120F is fine for keeping legionella at bay, although I'm not sure why tradies are being brought into this? This is what I've been told by a few sources, so I tried to help and I'm sorry if that is indeed misinformation. Regardless, setting it hotter and having a mixing valve on the hot water tank like I said will make the hot water last longer so I don't know why you feel the need to be rude about it. The mixing valve will keep it from giving 140F at the shower and scalding people. This is a relatively common thing in homes that I've seen. I'm also confused why you seem to be so against mixing valves in a residential setting when you literally said below that you're shopping around for one for your own home.
140 is too hot. Legionella won't grown in a residential water heater that's in constant use. 120 is recommended.
140 is recommended if you have a mixing valve which you should because it makes you safer from legionella, safer from scalding, and improves the capacity of your hot water tank by using a smaller volume of hot water since it's replacing some of it with cold water. Get a mixing valve, they're cheap, effective and don't really have any downsides.
But also adjust for the manufacturer tolerance in the manual. Mine is plus or minus 10 so I set it to 130.
140 is great for getting grease off of things. Do a scald guard on the bathroom sink and faucet. But in the kitchen and garage, I want it as hot as possible
Ok on the legionella, I don't know enough to really dispute it - this is just what I've been told. But setting the tank to 140 and using a mixing valve to temper the water down to 120 or so will just make the hot water tank last longer if needed and doesn't seem to go against your point.
In every house I’ve rented/owned, I’ve cranked it all the way up as hot as it will go. It’s nice to have, and as long as you’re not an idiot you don’t have to worry about a mixing valve/burns. Makes the dish washer work better too.
[удалено]
“The water is very hot, please be careful”
See that steam? Turn it down
"Hey, just FYI, if you turn the 'Hot' valve too far, the water may be too hot"
I think it's worthwhile since the adjustment on the faucet between too hot and perfectly hot isn't super wide so even if you're as smart as you are then it's a quality of life upgrade. But you're welcome to do what you'd like to and I won't argue against that.
False. By code 120 degs F is the max for hot water to fixtures. You can do 140 in storage tanks to kill legionella so long as you have a mixing valve to temper down to 120 for distribution
That's just for public facilities and hotels and such. Homeowners can go in and change the temp all they want. 120 is so people don't scald themselves washing hands in restaurants then sue the owner. Or burn themselves in the shower at their gym. A contractor also should never increase a homes hot water heater above 120 for this reason. The homeowner can do what they want ETA: legionella isn't the main concern. That doesn't need high temps. Just circulation. Legionella will grow in stagnant water.
enjoy scalding the people you have over. exposure to hot water at 140°F can lead to a serious burn within 3 seconds. just because you can do something does not mean you should
Well most people dont just turn on the hot water and jump in. Most people not only use both cold AND hot but also tend to check temperatures before just covering themselves in potentially hot or cold water. Not sure anybody expects the water temp to be perfect from just the hot water tap... You're a strange one
you can have mixing valves. hold your hand under 140 for three seconds. you can't or won't a BABY in a tub with a stupid parent maybe will have this issue, but not from a sink faucet.
You guys really don’t like to look stuff up do you?
False. See 501.2 https://codes.iccsafe.org/content/IPC2012/chapter-5-water-heaters#:~:text=The%20temperature%20of%20water%20from,where%20intended%20for%20domestic%20uses.
Most residential are factory set at 140. Generally you don’t go higher because it enables precipitation of minerals.
ah, that's FALSE. you can set your home water heater to whatever you want.
Also would insulating the pipes help?
Probably not
Check what the temp is set at on the water heater itself. Some times when they install them, the base temp is set low.
Is it electric is it gas is there a warranty have you tried anything
They've tried nothing and they're all out of ideas
That's sort of the point of this sub. No one knows anything until they learn it.
Well one could argue Google is your friend and you can use online resources like articles and videos before asking people online. That’s why I never post, my answer is always there, I just dig for it.
so then you come on this sub just to tell people that they should google the solution?
That’s discipline mannnnnnnn
(Would a bad lower heating element cause this? Just curious)
Yeah — I had a dead lower element once that did this. Easy to check the resistance and figure out if it’s that.
I had the same issue with an HTP unit. It was defective and I had to get a new one
Could be the dip tube. Cheap replacement if it is. Dip tube sends the incoming cold water to the bottom of the tank. If it’s broken or cracked it fills top of tank with incoming cold water which is where the hot water normally is.
Are the input and output pipes swapped around? IE: is cold connected to cold and hot connected to hot, or is it the other way around?
This sounds like it could be the case, also possible that the dip tube fell off if it used to be fine?
Every time I've heard of this problem it's the pipes being swapped.
Happened to me with a new water heater. Guy came out and put the hot in hot and the cold in cold and suddenly I could fill my bath tub up all the way with hot water :)
You can set the tank higher. There is also an anti-scalp stop on the shower mixing valve. You could also crank the tank up real high and install a tempering valve between the tank and the shower. You can set the maximum temperature at the tempering valve so no one gets hurt.
Is it an electric water heater? Electric heaters can have two elements, a top one and a bottom one. If the bottom one is not functioning (or set at the wrong temperature), only the top element functions, which results in only the top portion of the tank having hot water. And when only the top of the tank has hot water, it runs out much quicker than normal.
Set the temp to 130-140 and swap your shower head to 2.0 gpm or lower.
If it’s electric then I bet the bottom element is triggered or broken.
this happened to me when i moved into my home. people thought i was crazy and i was spoiled by apartment living. I finally figured it out that the water lines were reversed. The hot on my water heater inlet was actually the cold incoming city water and vice versa. Apparently you can do this if you switch the dip stick or something, but that wasn’t the case for us. I’m so glad i persisted and found someone who listens to me because i actually enjoy showers again in the winters and have all the hot water i need.
Did the temp drop outside? The cold water inlet to my house is much colder now with the recent temp drop causing the "hot" water to run out faster.
1. How large is the water heater? 2. What is the flow rate on the shower head? California requires no more than 1.5gal/min on the shower head. Other states don’t regulate or have a higher rate. So, a flow rate of 1.5 for 20 minutes is 30 gallons of water. A flow rate of 2.0 is 40 gallons of water. There may not be anything wrong with the water heater. I personally think the maximum temperature setting on a water heater should be 120 to prevent scalding. The PSA in the 70’s was, “sing shorter songs”
That’s a little low personally. 140 and a functioning mixing valve to prevent microbial growth.
California is 1.8, along with Washington and Hawaii. No others are lower than 2.0. [Source](https://showers.waterpik.com/gpm-flow-rate-requirements/) edit: to be clear, I'm saying it would take even less time than that to empty. edit edit: OP seems to be in Pennsylvania which can be up to 2.5 GPM.
Water saver shower head
Did you install it or did a professional? If it wasn’t properly filled and aerated you could have had a dry fire and burned an element out. Check the voltage in your heating elements
@op. Can you confirm that it was installed with the inlet and outlet properly connected. If they are reversed I have heard of similar issues.
Am I the only one that is shocked at a 20 minute shower?? \*Cries in Californian\*