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March 3, 2009
hot water running out?
I have a tenant who says that the shower doesn't stay hot, and sometimes starts cold and stays cold. I get this complaint from tenants periodically but not very often.
Is it possible that this happens because the other tenants take a shower at the same time or earlier and use up the hot water? If so what do I do?
BTW, there are ten small apartments. I have two hot water tanks. If I need another tank, about how much does that cost?
Comments
Well I asume it is because it is winter time and the cold water that goes into the boiler to replace the hot water is about 15-20 degrees colder than spring and summer. During the winter months you should ask a plummer to raise the hot water heater temperature by 10 degrees. Don't raise it too much or water will be too hot and people can get scholded with the hot water. In the spring you can lower it back to normal range.
Posted by: hannible at March 3, 2009 6:51 PM
your hot water system is not sized for the drop in intake temperature during cold snaps like yesterday..do you have a hot water return loop?...that would help a lot
Posted by: eman1234 at March 3, 2009 7:34 PM
The poster didn't say it was a seasonal condition or related to cold weather.
There are probably a hundred reasons this person doesn't have enough hot water so to guess with the information given is at best a shot in the dark.
Posted by: Master Plvmber at March 3, 2009 8:49 PM
If you have two water heater tanks that are twinned together, it's possible that one of them are out. It can also be a dip tube problem in one of the tanks. A dip tube is a plastic tube that connects to the inlet side of the water heater. It extends down about 3/4 of the way to the bottom of the tank to allow the cold water to go to the bottom of the tank first to get heated. If the tube deteriorates or breaks off, the water doesn't get fully heated. If that water mixes with the hot water from the other tank, this could cause fluctuating temperatures. As MP says, there are several other possiblities.
Posted by: Brooklyn Plumber at March 4, 2009 8:27 AM
Hanible, your post here is reason enough for you to keep renting.
Posted by: curiositykilledthecat at March 4, 2009 9:22 AM
Gee, everyone is giving advice and no one has asked how big the tanks are, among other things. MP is right. Not enough info for advice.
Posted by: slopefarm at March 4, 2009 10:12 AM
I know I have a problem in my 8 unit buidling where if everyone is showering around the same time (like this past President's day around noon)there was no hot water or water pressure. I also know that if my neighbor is taking a long shower (since are bathrooms are next to each other I can hear) I have very little hot water. My solution is to wait until she is done with her super long shower and then get in mine when the hot water works fine again.
If only one tenant is complaining, I wouldn't stress over it. If all your tenants are complaining, then it's something to look into changing. And no I'm not a landlord. Just a tenant who knows other tenants in the world like to complain a lot.
Posted by: Cobblehillbaby at March 4, 2009 5:17 PM
most likely you do not have enough hot water storage or any storage at all .Get a heating expert who uderstands the relationship between storage for hot water as it is related to the usage
Posted by: birchwoodc at March 4, 2009 10:16 PM
make sure you don't have any inter-mixing going on.
I have a sink with 3 valves - 2 for hot/cold shut offs and 1 on/off faucet. If you don't turn off the shut-offs after use, the cold water can get into the hot water line, and cause cold showers.
Posted by: joshdreier at March 5, 2009 1:32 PM
@ Cobblehillbaby - Really? You're a renter and you tell this person to ignore his/her tenant? That's a mess.
I'm a renter, living in a very similarly decribed building, with the exact same problem. I kinda have a suspicion that the poster is my landlord and I'm the complaning tenant! In any case, taking cold showers (at several different times of the day) is NOT fun, nor a problem that should be ignored. People rarely complain about lack of hot water just to be annoying.
In my case, it's not a problem relegated to the morning, when hot water runout can be expected,.or at least explained. I'm experiencing a lack of hot water at all times of the day, 9am, 12noon, 3pm, 5pm,..interestingly the water is boiling hot around 12midnight.
It has also recently come to light that several tenants have washing machines. I think in my building, there's a combination of things,..colder water coming in the pipes in the winter, the boilers heating up the water slowly (there are times when theres only cold/barely lukewarm water available for hours at a time, and the fact that people are using up all the hot water in their washing machines.
Maybe you have time and patience to wait out your neighbor's long showers, but that's unacceptable for me (unless it's morning). Taking a cold shower at 3pm, something is definitely wrong.
Telling landlords to ignore tenants isnt a good idea, because the NY housing inspectors at the other end of 311 don't ignore calls. It used to be like pulling teeth to get them to come out, but these days they show up quickly, with ticketbook in hand.
Posted by: Jagomidnight at March 5, 2009 11:46 PM
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