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Posted by N8N on February 7, 2007, 4:49 pm
Hi all,
i've got an older gas fired water heater in my house - came with the
house, I guess it's probably about 20 years old. It works fine, but I
do have one issue with it. If I am the *first* person to take a
shower in the morning, I leave the valve on full hot, and I have a
somewhat acceptably warm shower, but not quite as hot as I'd like. If
someone else showers first, they experience this same effect, but by
the time they've left the bathroom and I go in to take *my* shower, I
am rewarded with steamy hotness. It's like the hot water heater will
maintain a certain temperature if it sits overnight, but once someone
starts drawing off hot water it heats the water up even hotter.
I tried simply increasing the temperature setting on the HWH, but that
caused the pop off valve to activate a couple of times.
Any ideas if there's an easy adjustment I can make, or what the
problem might be? I can't really afford to buy a new hot water
heater, although I know that it's old enough that I will have to if it
ever stops working for any reason.
thanks,
nate
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Posted by Speedy Jim on February 7, 2007, 4:57 pm
N8N wrote:
show/hide quoted text
> Hi all,
>
> i've got an older gas fired water heater in my house - came with the
> house, I guess it's probably about 20 years old. It works fine, but I
> do have one issue with it. If I am the *first* person to take a
> shower in the morning, I leave the valve on full hot, and I have a
> somewhat acceptably warm shower, but not quite as hot as I'd like. If
> someone else showers first, they experience this same effect, but by
> the time they've left the bathroom and I go in to take *my* shower, I
> am rewarded with steamy hotness.
The gas control (thermostat) on water heaters
is purposely built with a wide "differential"
between on and off points.
Overnight, the tank temp drifts downward very
slowly and doesn't quite trip the control on again
until water is used.
There is no adjustment for this. A new control
*might* cure it, but not worth investing on an old tank.
BTW, when you get a new tank installed, ask about
a "thermal expansion tank". It's a small bladder
tank added to the piping and will help prevent "pop-off".
Jim
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Posted by Art Todesco on February 7, 2007, 5:25 pm
Speedy Jim wrote:
show/hide quoted text
> N8N wrote:
>
>> Hi all,
>> i've got an older gas fired water heater in my house - came with the
>> house, I guess it's probably about 20 years old. It works fine, but I
>> do have one issue with it. If I am the *first* person to take a
>> shower in the morning, I leave the valve on full hot, and I have a
>> somewhat acceptably warm shower, but not quite as hot as I'd like. If
>> someone else showers first, they experience this same effect, but by
>> the time they've left the bathroom and I go in to take *my* shower, I
>> am rewarded with steamy hotness.
>
> The gas control (thermostat) on water heaters
> is purposely built with a wide "differential"
> between on and off points.
>
> Overnight, the tank temp drifts downward very
> slowly and doesn't quite trip the control on again
> until water is used.
>
> There is no adjustment for this. A new control
> *might* cure it, but not worth investing on an old tank.
>
> BTW, when you get a new tank installed, ask about
> a "thermal expansion tank". It's a small bladder
> tank added to the piping and will help prevent "pop-off".
>
> Jim
Is this really true? I have a new water
heater (< 1 year) and
it does the same thing. My old one did
it also, but it sedimented
up pretty bad. I was disappointed with
the new when when
there were such wide swings. BTW, the
water heater 2 back
in time, didn't do this!
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Posted by Speedy Jim on February 7, 2007, 5:38 pm
Art Todesco wrote:
show/hide quoted text
> Speedy Jim wrote:
>
>> N8N wrote:
>>> Hi all,
>>> i've got an older gas fired water heater in my house - came with the
>>> house, I guess it's probably about 20 years old. It works fine, but I
>>> do have one issue with it. If I am the *first* person to take a
>>> shower in the morning, I leave the valve on full hot, and I have a
>>> somewhat acceptably warm shower, but not quite as hot as I'd like. If
>>> someone else showers first, they experience this same effect, but by
>>> the time they've left the bathroom and I go in to take *my* shower, I
>>> am rewarded with steamy hotness.
>> The gas control (thermostat) on water heaters
>> is purposely built with a wide "differential"
>> between on and off points.
>> Overnight, the tank temp drifts downward very
>> slowly and doesn't quite trip the control on again
>> until water is used.
>> There is no adjustment for this. A new control
>> *might* cure it, but not worth investing on an old tank.
>> BTW, when you get a new tank installed, ask about
>> a "thermal expansion tank". It's a small bladder
>> tank added to the piping and will help prevent "pop-off".
>> Jim
>
> Is this really true? I have a new water heater (< 1 year) and
> it does the same thing. My old one did it also, but it sedimented
> up pretty bad. I was disappointed with the new when when
> there were such wide swings. BTW, the water heater 2 back
> in time, didn't do this!
It's a crap shoot. The controls are fairly crude
mechanical devices and the tolerances quite loose.
Sorry, I don't have any "easy" answer for this.
Jim
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Posted by greg6755 on February 7, 2007, 6:38 pm
show/hide quoted text
> Art Todesco wrote:
> > Speedy Jim wrote:
> >> N8N wrote:
> >>> Hi all,
> >>> i've got an older gas fired water heater in my house - came with the
> >>> house, I guess it's probably about 20 years old. It works fine, but I
> >>> do have one issue with it. If I am the *first* person to take a
> >>> shower in the morning, I leave the valve on full hot, and I have a
> >>> somewhat acceptably warm shower, but not quite as hot as I'd like. If
> >>> someone else showers first, they experience this same effect, but by
> >>> the time they've left the bathroom and I go in to take *my* shower, I
> >>> am rewarded with steamy hotness.
> >> The gas control (thermostat) on water heaters
> >> is purposely built with a wide "differential"
> >> between on and off points.
> >> Overnight, the tank temp drifts downward very
> >> slowly and doesn't quite trip the control on again
> >> until water is used.
> >> There is no adjustment for this. A new control
> >> *might* cure it, but not worth investing on an old tank.
> >> BTW, when you get a new tank installed, ask about
> >> a "thermal expansion tank". It's a small bladder
> >> tank added to the piping and will help prevent "pop-off".
> >> Jim
> > Is this really true? I have a new water heater (< 1 year) and
> > it does the same thing. My old one did it also, but it sedimented
> > up pretty bad. I was disappointed with the new when when
> > there were such wide swings. BTW, the water heater 2 back
> > in time, didn't do this!
> It's a crap shoot. The controls are fairly crude
> mechanical devices and the tolerances quite loose.
> Sorry, I don't have any "easy" answer for this.
> Jim- Hide quoted text -
> - Show quoted text -
My tank water heater did the same thing.
If I came home and saw my wife had done laundry I knew I would get a
nice hot shower.
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>
> i've got an older gas fired water heater in my house - came with the
> house, I guess it's probably about 20 years old. It works fine, but I
> do have one issue with it. If I am the *first* person to take a
> shower in the morning, I leave the valve on full hot, and I have a
> somewhat acceptably warm shower, but not quite as hot as I'd like. If
> someone else showers first, they experience this same effect, but by
> the time they've left the bathroom and I go in to take *my* shower, I
> am rewarded with steamy hotness.