My house is an older one story and I am currently having
problems with the hot water. The water heater is working
fine but two minutes after running the hot water it stops
and turns cold. If I wait a few minutes and turn it back
on, it's hot again but for only two additional minutes.
Does anyone have any suggestions on how to fix this I have
tried everything I can think. Any help would be a plus.

 

Hi,


Gas model reply only. I don't know bout electric ones.

Im no plumber, but it sounds like your water heater is filled with sediment and will only heat a portion of water before the tank sediment absorbs all the heat and shuts off.

Replace it if it is 5 or 7 years old.

Or try turning up the temperature dial on the water heater.
Maybe someone turned it down.

Did it just start this problem? Is it gas or electric?

Mark

 

Thanks for your reply. It's an electric heater, but
that is a problem I didn't consider. I'll take a look
at that. If you think of anything else I'd appreciate
it.

 

Sounds like the dip tube has broken off inside the tank, find this on the cold inlet side of the tank.

The reason for the dip tube is to send the cold water to the bottom of the tank, and pushes the hot water out. if the dip tube is broken, then the cold water enters the top of the tank and automatically transfers over and out the hot side outlet on the top of the tank. This leaving you with the hot water left in the tank and non useable.

Now when you wait a few minutes the hot water is back, this is cause there is not much recovery needed to reheat the water.

Plumber2000

 

I agree. Dip tube is most likely.

If you got 5 or 10 minutes instead of 2 minutes, I'd suggest you also check for a burnt out lower element.