Hot water question.

[buck]

Having some hot water issues in my new house. I haven't called my plumber yet because he's gonna think I'm an idiot. We all know I already am.

Here's the set up in the house. Two 80 gallon hot water heaters plumbed in line with each other. The temperature of the water is VERY inconsistant. There are times when it's scalding hot, other times it's just warm or about right, and other times it's not what I consider warm enough to take a shower.

I know what you're gonna say. Are you running the dish washer or washing machine while you take a shower? Is someone else taking a shower or bath at the same time? No. There is nothing consistant about any scenerio when it's not warm enough. Sometimes we're running said appliances and the water is scalding, sometimes it's barely warm at all. In the morning it's a coin flip. I take a shower about an hour after my wife so the water should be back up to temperature. There are times when it's fine, times when you can't get out quick enough. There are times it's warm outside and the water is luke warm and times it's cold outside and the water is hot as hell. Just nothing at all consistant that I can put my finger on.

Any ideas from the pros?

Buck

[MOBILEMERCMAN]

I can only suggest making sure the thermostats are set the same each will have a high and low as in height.

I haven't heard of plumbing in series. 80 is pretty big. Have you tried turning the power off on on yet.

My non plumber 2 cents

[masher44]

I had sediment build up in mine in Tennessee and drained it and flushed it and it worked fine.

No I didnt do it my self so I havent a clue how to.... at least thats what my girlfriend told me they told her they did....

[old377guy]

test

[waterboy222]

on the bottom of the water heater tank is a faucet looking valve, connect a water hose and drain it to the yard, hook it up to the outdoor faucet, backfill it, drain it, backfill it, drain it.. voila.. get that sediment out of there

[Griff]

2 80 gallon hot water heaters?????? Thats a ton hot water. I have one 60 gallon WH and its plenty.

How many sisters, brothers, wives, cousins, kids....I guess that could be redundant in some cases......are living with you????

New house??? Now you can get a new boat

[phragle]

go tankless, trying to runn 2 water heaters is doing nothing but making the gas company happy.

[buck]

go tankless, trying to runn 2 water heaters is doing nothing but making the gas company happy.

Or the electric company in this case.

House is only three months old so that should tell you how old the heaters are. Should I go ahead and drain them anyway just to be safe.

Couple of reasons for the amount of hot water. First off, there's three women in the house. Two of them are just a couple of years away from being teenagers. House has one tub/shower combo, a large shower with two heads, and a pretty good sized three person jacuzzi tub. Takes a lot to fill that damn thing up. Basement is currently unfinished but I had all the electrical and plumbing set up so that I would be set if we do finish out the basement. Not to mention, I just plain hate it when I run out of hot water.

Basement is framed for another living area, bedroom, full bath, kitchen, and dining. Planning for the worst I guess.

Edit...I'm back with egg on my face. They are 50 gallon heaters not 80.

Buck

[buck]

New house??? Now you can get a new boat

That was the original plan when we started building Griff. If this dang economy doesn't take a turn for the better you guys are gonna be giving me a hard time about being boatless for sometime to come.

Buck

[Griff]

2 50's I can see with what you have. I would have to think its something to do with being plumbed in line. By inline, I'm assuming that means the hot out one goes into the other and then into the house hot line. I don't know why they couldn't be run independently of each other with both tapped into the main Hot line right next to each other. I have a big jacuzzi in our master bath too. It takes a lot of hot water to fill and by the end of filling it the water is not nearly as hot.

[fund razor]

Just doesn't sound like sediment.

Not a plumber but done plenty of plumbing, including single tanks.
This two tank thing, in series....
You turn on the hot water... water starts running from tank 2 to the faucet while cold enters tank 1 and warm/hot flows into tank 2?
The ins and outs on most tanks are at the top.
I wonder if somehow the water from tank 1 passes through tank 2 without being fully "mixed" with the water in tank 2 in a case where both tanks are recovering.

I wonder if using the tanks separate in zones would have been better than in series. Maybe one for kitchen and laundry and one for bathrooms.

Just some coffee cup wonderings here.

[Chris]

If they're plumbed backwards, they'll do that. That is, if the IN side and OUT side are reversed. Or if the dip tube is missing. It will dump cold right into the same exact spot where it's drawing hot water from. It needs to fill at one end and draw from the other.

[Trim'd Up]

Chris called it, again. That is ALOT of hot water! You should never run of hot water. I would hate to see your electric bill though .

[Chris]

I would also pull one of the tanks and stick a tankless in it's place. Tankless will give you an endless supply of warm water into your tank which will mix into the hot and most likely will rarely have to cycle on.

[buck]

Just doesn't sound like sediment.

Not a plumber but done plenty of plumbing, including single tanks.
This two tank thing, in series....
You turn on the hot water... water starts running from tank 2 to the faucet while cold enters tank 1 and warm/hot flows into tank 2?
The ins and outs on most tanks are at the top.
I wonder if somehow the water from tank 1 passes through tank 2 without being fully "mixed" with the water in tank 2 in a case where both tanks are recovering.

I wonder if using the tanks separate in zones would have been better than in series. Maybe one for kitchen and laundry and one for bathrooms.

Just some coffee cup wonderings here.

You are correct in how they are plumbed.

[buck]

Ok, so we're thinking check and see if they are plumbed backwards as an option?

Keep in mind it's intermittent. There are times it's great, and times it's so so. When it's not scalding hot it's tolerable, just not what you would think it should be for having two heater together.

Surprisingly electric bill is very reasonable so far. Averaging $120-$140 a month.

Buck

[Chris]

They are not complicated devices. You probably have two elements on each one. Typical failures are going to be elements burning out or stats either sticking on or not working at all.


If cold water is properly flowing into the bottom of the first tank and the electrics are working correctly, you should get a flow of consistently hot water out of the top of the tank for at least 15 minutes. If that output is feeding a second tank that's properly plumbed and working correctly, you should have at least 35-40 minutes of uninterrupted flow. The only thing I've ever seen on a water tank that gives irregularity of the output water's temp is improper connection or missing dip tubes.

Thinking about electric- are these connected to a load-management system? If so are they connected on the same drop circuit?

[Audiofn]

Check the temperature that they are set to turn on to warm up and turn off to cool. I don't recall if you said if it was oil, gas, electric heaters. Mine has a temperature that they will turn on at to warm the water setting and another that it will turn off at setting just like the fan for a forced hot air heater. Most don't have this however. If yours are like mine then your settings could be to far apart. You also should check to make sure that both tanks are outputing the same temp water. Maybe one has a bad heater.

[buck]

They are not complicated devices. You probably have two elements on each one. Typical failures are going to be elements burning out or stats either sticking on or not working at all.


If cold water is properly flowing into the bottom of the first tank and the electrics are working correctly, you should get a flow of consistently hot water out of the top of the tank for at least 15 minutes. If that output is feeding a second tank that's properly plumbed and working correctly, you should have at least 35-40 minutes of uninterrupted flow. The only thing I've ever seen on a water tank that gives irregularity of the output water's temp is improper connection or missing dip tubes.

Thinking about electric- are these connected to a load-management system? If so are they connected on the same drop circuit?

By drop circuit do you mean on it's own circuit? If so, then yes, each unit is on it's own circuit. I actually have two different breaker boxes in the house with one unit being in each breaker box.

I'll look at the other possibilities you mentioned.

I'll check Jon's thoughts too.

Buck

[Chris]

Load management allows your electric company to switch off certain high-use appliances when their overall load demand peaks. For example, if it's 2 in the afternoon on a hot summer day and the local aluminum foundry is running all their furnaces, they can start dropping people's non-essential appliances, like dryers, water tanks, etc. to keep peak loads down. This is in exchange for a discounted "load management" electric rate. You would know if you had it- there would be a seperate control box next to your service panels.