What is a good temperature to set the water heater to?

Factory set to 120. The range us 90 to 150.

Its a one bedroom one bath I just pit in a 30 gallon and tenant who lives alone said its ok but when her boy friend stays over and they take shower one after the other the water runs cool towards the end of the second shower.

I would set it higher but wonder about liability if they get scold...

If I change it from say 120 to 130 how much difference will it make.

I am tempted to change the shower head to low flows, that saves ME money as I pay the water bill.

I run mine at 140 degrees.

my code says 125 max...

Charge the tenants for the water that they use and suddenly the water bill drops. You may find that they suddenly take shorter showers and it takes care of the hot water problem as well. If you don't charge them, I wouldn't change the setting anyhow; cold water in the shower will reduce water usage and help keep your water bill lower.

One-forty with a thermostatic mixing valve.If you change to low-flows, they're just gonna take longer showers.



Edited 1 times.

only way to charge tenants for water usage is to supply them with a seperate water meter.
i do agree that if they pay for their water their usage will drop.
same with heat. supply a tenant with heat and they turn the thermostat up and open the windows when they are too warm. conversely, if they pay their own heat, they turn it off when they go skiing for a weekend and freeze the pipes..
spoken as a former off premise landlord

I have no desire to be a landlord. Tenants can destroy something that should last 30 yrs, in five.Everything you put in new, has to be replaced, just so you can unload the place, when you're tired of the aggrevation. And you get to witness the abuse the whole time. What fun!

IMO: set 125 max

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"Measure Twice & Cut Once" - Retired U.A. Local 1 & 638

A 30 gallon water heater is usually only adequate for a single person anyway.

I think your problem has more to do with lack of volumne than temperature. You could set your t-stat at 150 degrees but if the tank is refilling or gets emptied the water will not be hot. There is no recovery time with a 30 gal. with a high demand.

It's volume and temperature.

If the temperature is set higher, and if they shower at the same temperature, then it will pull less hot water and more cold water into the mixing valve, the 30 gallons of hot water will last longer. Not much longer but slightly longer.

I checked today, the temperature is set at 120. I changed it to 130. We'll see what happens.

Oh, I changed both the top and bottom to 130. But only one element is on at one time right?

By the way, this is what I have at this point.

Everything is done except the T&P valve connection. Right now I have it connected to the old 3/8" soft tubing that runs under the slab to "somewhere".



From previous discussions, I know this is a NO-NO. In another unit, I was able to create a path to run a 3/4" pipe outside by using the space next to the apron of a bath tub. But this unit has no such luck. The closet is in the middle of the entire living space.

I think I will just run a 3/4" pipe down and end it, and put a bucket there. That's the only thing I can think of. Going up is out of the question, it's a flat roof no attic.

be careful if you ever shut that gate valve. those are the type that stick closed.
antway, 3/4 inch overflow run a foot off the floor is code approved in mass...

I once ran one on the floor, next to the wall, and used a "high" aluminum threshold where it crossed the doorway.