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Author:
mfroggie (TX)
I hope somebody here can give me some ideas because this issue is getting so old and frustrating. We had a new hot water heater installed in April. A 50 gal A.O. Smith eclectric hot water heater and it worked great for 2 months. Almost 2 weeks ago it stopped heating the water and water temp at it's hottest is 90 degrees then after a minute or two it starts to cool off. The plumber replaced the 2 elements the first time he was out. The 2nd time he replaced the T-stats. Still no change so I called an electrician to check that the power was all good coming from the panel. The hot water heater is only about 4 or 5 feet from the electrical panel in the garage. The electrical checked out O.K. so the plumber replaced the hot water heater. To no avail we still can't get over 90 degrees then cold water starts. I have adjusted the temp settings from low to high and it doesn't matter what the T-stats are set at the results always the same. This unit covers a part of the house that we don't use for our showers, we have our own hot water heater in our bathroom so we only use this hot water for the kitchen (washing dishes) and when we have company. Anyway I had the electrician replace the breaker today, just in case because I am thinking if all checks out on the water heater it must be electrical. While the electrician was here we called tech support for this new heater which is a Rheem. All the tests she had him do for power and ohm readings were fine and she says the unit is fine. I keep asking people if it could be the dip tube, but what are the chances a dip tube that worked fine for 2 months would all of a sudden spring a leak or deteriorate and the new hot water heater would have a problem with it's dip tube? All I know is it is getting old and we need to think outside of the box. BTW the breaker never has been tripped and the reset buttons on either water heater have needed to be reset. There isn't that much mechanical to go wrong and electrical is fine so does anybody here have any suggestions? I would appreciate any advice.
Thank you
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Author:
jblanche (WI)
Make sure it's not hooked up backwards.
*******************************
Links to the State of Wisconsin Plumbing Code:
[dsps.wi.gov]
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I am not a plumber.
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Author:
North Carolina Plumber (NC)
Maybe the water is going thru the heater faster than it can heat it, such as a bad leak on the hot side somewhere.
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Author:
Paul48 (CT)
Shut the cold water supply to the heater, and open the hot only at each fixture that uses hot water. If water does not stop flowing, you have a cross-connection.
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Author:
hj
You are describing a broken hot water line under the floor, and any plumber who would replace elements, thermostats, and water heaters without checking them first is NOT a plumber.
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Author:
mfroggie (TX)
I just tried this and no water came out of the faucets when I turned only hot on. Thanks for the suggestion, any other ideas?
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Author:
mfroggie (TX)
Perhaps a leak is worth a look but wouldn't that affect the pressure? The pressure coming out of the faucets when I turn full hot is very good as it always has been. The plumber did check everything when they came out. Both times I watched him with his voltage meter checking the readings. I don't know what kind of readings he was getting because at that time I didn't know what to look for. Now the electrician has explained it and when we had tech support for Rheem on the line she was also telling him where exactly to put the leads of the tester according to their manual. If I had known all of that when the plumber was here I would have known what kind of readings he was getting. He called his boss where I couldn't hear him and his boss told him to replace the elements and then the T-stats. I think maybe the boss should have come out himself. I just want it fixed and you wouldn't think it would be so difficult since there isn't a whole lot of mechanics to it. Thanks for the suggestion, I will look into the leak theory.
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Author:
hj
Yes, read my answer in the bottom posting.
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Author:
hj
The leak would have to be HUGE to affect your pressure, and by that time your house would be under water. You would be surprised how small a leak can be and still drain all the hot water from the tank. Usually, before it reaches your stage you would notice a warm or hot section of the floor somewhere.
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Author:
mfroggie (TX)
The plumber came out and shut the water off and the meter was still spinning. Then they shut the hot water heater water supply off and checked the hot water valve for the washing machine and said there was no pressure so they are going to have a leak detector guy come and look for a leak. As much as I don't want to have my floor torn up I do want this fixed so I hope you hit the nail on the head. Thank you.
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Author:
hj
The hot water valve to the washer has NOTHING to do with it. If it has low pressure it is because of something else. Once you find that you have a leak, contact your homeowner's insurance company to see what, if anything (if you happen to have ALlstate Insurance). Usually they will cover all the costs, except for the plumber actually fixing the pipe, and your deductible.
Edited 1 times.
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Author:
NICK (CA)
I think he is saying that the line that brings hot water to the hot valve at the washer has no pressure because that's where the break is.
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Author:
hj
If it were that big a break, the house would be under water. The break he has, has absolutely no effect on the water pressure to ANY faucet.
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Author:
dlh (TX)
why didnt they just turn off the water to the water heater and then check to see if the meter was still spining still spining? if they shut off the water to the building somewhere other than on the cities side of the meter and the meter kept spinning but the was no water pressure in the building then the leak is between the shut off valve and the meter and should not affect the hot water
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Author:
bluesabin (CA)
Hi....I didn't read any responses but I wanted to tell you what I did. I called several vendors including the vendor listed on the yellow tag which outlines problems and care of your water heater. Then I called my PG&E and told them the problem. They sent out a rep to my home to regulate the settings. This person explained everything to me by what the settings should be in accordance with the persons taking a shower, how long, etc. It didn't cost a penny, and they told me this upfront when I first called. FYI
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Author:
dlh (TX)
different settings for people? then this isnt your regular run of the mill tank type water heater or you left out some important details of your complete set up
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PLUMBERS "Protecting The Health Of The Nation"
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Author:
WC (VA)
For what it's worth --- Maybe not with this heater --- but somewhere out there someone else in a older 60's - 70's home may have this problem. My hot water heater (tank type) installed in 1972 - still has the original heating elements and no leaks. My 605 deep well water has very high PH. I seemed to be getting less hot water (off and on) than in the past. I at first thought it was one of the heating element thermostats. Everything SEEMED to check out electrically with a meter. I finally determined it was because I have aluminum house wiring (built in 1972) one of the wire nut connections at the heater attached to the heaters copper wiring had deteriorated internally due to dissembler metals with different coefficient of expansion. Although I had a complete circuit, the wire nut connection could not support the high amps that the heating element demanded. The heater is 240 volts. One wire which was OK supplied full power to one element. The wire nut connection to the other heating element had deteriorated and was causing my problem. I have since replaced all aluminum to copper connections with special "AlumiConn" connectors. It is a insulated metal block with 3 holes (with set screws) which allow any three wires (one per hole), aluminum/copper/etc to connect without touching each other. I also found another bad wire nut connection which had actually melted. You ABSOLUTELY should not connect aluminum wire directly to copper wire - it WILL deteriorate and fail - even when you use the special De-ox paste. There is a "special purple" wire nut for this but they are even more expensive and I still would not trust them.
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