We have a fifty gallon electric hot water heater. I notice that the supply of hot water is deminishing. Does anyone know what's going on? This heater is about 6 years old. Should I fix it? or buy a new one? lp gas? electric? or demand type heater?

Thanks for your help.

Also can't figure which category to place this thread?

-- Annie Miller (annie@1st.net), December 28, 2000

Answers

Sounds like either an element is out or both are limed up. I prefer gas water heaters because they have a lot quicker recovery time. If you have a lot of lime in your water, electric's not the way to go. Gary, Tiller's husaband

-- Cindy (atilrthehony_1@yahoo.com), December 28, 2000.

Cindy is probably right on the money.

I had one that only had one element to it, in the lower location. The element burned out and when I went to replace it I noticed a tremendous build up of lime in the bottom of the heater. I used a wet or dry vacuum to suck the lime flakes out. I did have to reduce down the hose by placing a short stiff chunk of garden hose inside of the regular one just to get it inside of the heater.

When I replaced the entire water heater some time later with a gas model, my electric bill went down by 50%. This was for a family of three.

Oh almost forgot, the elements are not difficult to replace at all. Be sure to turn all electricity off to the heater before working on it.

-- Notforprint (Not@thekeyboard.com), December 28, 2000.

You want to be sure and drain it also before working on it. You might try to shut the power off to it, then use the hot water, (so as not to waste it)then hook up a garden hose to the drain on the bottom. Then with the water pressure still on, turn on the drain. I've done this and it cleans out a lot of the crud in the bottom. Don't know if it gets it all though.

-- Darren in Idaho (darrencindy2000@yahoo.com), December 28, 2000.

Annie! Check the hot water line leaving the water heater. By turning off the water and bleeding off the pressure-you should be able to break the connection at the top of the heater. I believe you'll find that lime and other minerals have almost completely closed off the line. I'm sure there is some inside the heater too. More than likely you won't have a problem with the "cold" line as minerals seem to congregate in the "hot" line and fittings. I'd replace with a gas heater. You may need to put in a softner to remove all that nasty stuff BEFORE it gets to the water heater. My $2. worth. hoot. Matt. 24:44

-- hoot (hoot@pcinetwork.com), December 28, 2000.

Check your fusebox. Quite often a water heater will be like a dryer and run on partial power feed. Your problem may be as simple as a tripped breaker on one power leg. Other than that, it will take a plumber.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), December 28, 2000.

We're in the same position here. Been limping along, knowing I need to put in a new element but tried to get through the holidays first. Will probably need to replace the waterheater, it's about 20 yrs old and have replaced elements about every year for last several. I really wonder if it's necessary to keep 40 gallons of water at 120 degrees 24/7. We don't use enough hot water some days to say so, only two people, and I really would like to go to a system that doesn't heat all the time. How do the on demand heaters work? Do they have to be installed close to the faucet, under sink, etc. or can they be put in the basement like a regular one? You would think with the microwave technology there would be a water heater that would heat as you go. Considered switching to gas but that would mean putting in a tank, line, etc. Don't think with the cost of gas going up this would be cost effective. I've thought of turning the heater off and on as needed. It seems a person could do all the things needing lots of hot water on the same day and heat small amounts of water for dishes, etc on the stove as needed. Pardon the rambling, having a hard time gathering thoughts this morning. Keep warm!

-- Betsy K (betsyk@pathwaynet.com), December 29, 2000.

Betsy: I have been thinking of starting a thread asking a similar question. 30 years ago some friends spent a year in the Canary Islands and were talking about the way they heated water right at the faucet. I have never seen anything like it here and was wondering if anyone has. diane in michigan

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), December 29, 2000.

While I was in the Navy, stationed in Iceland and Puerto Rico, I have seen these on demand heaters. We even have one installed at work and I an not overly impressed with it. The one at work is electric and is electric and it draws a realitively large load. Actually it draws more current than the water heater we replaced it with but, it is only on when there is a demand which is light. The other units I have seen heat the water to be sure, but not as hot as I would have liked. As a part of regular preventative maintenance on my house, I drain my water tank every six months. I make sure the power is off otherwise one would burn out the elements. Once completely drained, I run a couple of gallons in and drain again. I also do this with the pressure tank from the well while checking for the correct air pressure which is done while it is empty. Your water will stay hot a remarkable time. While in Puerto Rico, after a hurricane passed, we were without power and I took a shower about 24 hours and still had to blend in some cold water. I have bought a water heater timer at Lowes this week but I haven't installed it yet but, the Hot Water tank blanket has made a difference.

-- Ed Holt (goat@sssnet.com), December 30, 2000.

My father in Alaska has a Paloma demand water heater, which runs on propane. It works well, except that you get a couple of minutes of hot water, then it cools off for a minute or two -- no problem if you are washing dishes, but a little annoying when taking a shower. His is installed in the wall at the head of the bathtub (opening onto the hall, though, not the tub) so heat isn't lost from the pipes on the run to the tub. Right now we have demand hot water from our oil furnace, which is wonderful as long as the power isn't out, or we aren't out of oil! In our next house we plan to have solar hot water with wood-fired back-up.

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), December 30, 2000.

Annie, there's one possibility which I didn't see mentioned: perhaps your thermostat just needs adjusting. This is very simple. Usually, if you remove the bottom cover plate on the front of the water heater, there will be a little screw with a pointer on it, and some calibration marks. This would be your lucky day, if this is all that's wrong.

I'm not clear, though, whether you are experiencing a diminished amount of hot water, or a lower than normal temperature in the hot water itself.

If it does turn out to be an element (which would result in a longer recovery time, but not a cooler temperature, assuming you let it get to full heat before using hot water, it's pretty simple to change an element, and the new element will only cost ten or fifteen bucks. Go to a plumbing supply house, and they will explain how to do it. Mine encourages people to buy an element wrench, then return it for full value when you're done, since you won't need it again for many years, if ever.

Do try flushing the tank out, regardless. If you have lots of sediment in your water, or sometimes iron, it can fill up the bottom of your tank, thus decreasing the amount of hot water availabiltiy.

Betsy and Diane, I've got two "instant" water heaters. Both electric. One is made in Brazil, by Corona. It is used almost universally from Costa Rica down to Bolivia. I have yet to see them north of Costa Rica, for some reason. I bought mine in Costa Rica seven years ago for $19.00. The Corona is actually the shower head itself; it has electic heating coils inside it, and thus, only heats water for the shower itself. You adjust the water temperature by turning the cold water up or down (there is only a cold water line coming in) It is simplicity itself.

The other is called "ELF", and is made in Great Britain by IMI Santon, LTD. http://www.webzero.co.uk/webzero/Secure-WWW/Secure-html/da tabase/1223.html OR do an altavist search for IMI,santon for dealers.

I have never used this one; it was a gift, and I'm going to put it into my son's house when he gets ready for it. It is designed to take the place of a conventional water heater, unlike the Corona. I suspect it costs more.

If kWh costs go up much more I'm going to make another wood fired water heater, as I have a virtually unlimited supply of wood. I will probably do this anyway, since my honey likes to take LONG, HOT showers!

There are commercial wood fired water heaters, too. Real Goods has one (Mexican, imported from Texas) for just under $300. I found the same thing at other locations (did a search for it on altavista (wood,water,heater or something like that) for around $225. No surprise there, unfortunately. Sorry, realgoods.

Good luck!

JOJ

-- jumpoffjoe (jumpoff@echoweb.net), February 03, 2001.