water heater problem


  #1  
Old 01-16-03, 08:32 AM
stevescott
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water heater problem

I have a 40 gallon gas water heater. Age is at least 12 years. Performance has been great, but recently we've noticed that we run out of hot water much sooner than we used to.

I drained all water, flushed, and scraped the bottom of the tank with a piece of vinyl-covered 12 ga. wire last week (first cleaning in at least 12 years); got a little brown scale and rusty water, but not as much as I thought I would get. We have soft water here, and mineral buildup is not a problem on any of our plumbing fixtures.

After refilling the heater, turning the gas valve from pilot to on, setting the temp. control about 2/3 of the way from warm to hot (it was about 1/2 way from warm to hot before cleaning), and giving it a 2 or 3 hours, the water at all faucets was too hot to hold a hand under, yet when running a bath the water cools noticeably before the tub is full. A hot bath is only possible when turning the tub faucet to nearly full hot. It does seem to reheat pretty quickly.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Steve
 
  #2  
Old 01-16-03, 01:48 PM
Jay11J's Avatar
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It sounds like maybe your t-stat is going out on you.. It's not kicking on sooner for you to heat that water up ahead of time..


Being it's 12 years old, that is about an avg for water heater to last.....

So mybe the best thing to do is just replace it with a new water heater..
 
 

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