Why Your Hot Water Heater Might Not Be Producing Enough Hot Water For Your Needs
A typical hot water heater will last only 6 to 10 years, and the age of your water heater can be a good indication of whether to replace it or fix it if it acts up. If your water heater is not very old and doesn't seem to be producing enough hot water, the water heater itself might not even be the problem. Your problem might be that it simply cannot produce enough hot water for your needs, and here are a few things to know about this.
Factors That Affect How Much Hot Water You Have
The first thing to understand is that a hot water heater has a limited capacity for producing and storing hot water. The amount of hot water it can store is limited to the size of the tank, and sizes can vary. On average, a home will usually have a 30 or 40-gallon hot water heater, which means it will store 30 to 40 gallons of hot water, but this is not the only factor that can affect the amount of hot water you have in your home.
The other factors that affect this are the temperature you have it set on and the recovery rate. One thing you can check is the temperature on the system, and you might want to try turning up the temperature. If it can make hotter water than what it is currently producing, it might result in offering enough hot water for your needs.
The recovery rate is also a vital factor to consider, and this refers to how quickly a hot water heater can produce enough hot water to fill up the tank after all the hot water is used. In many cases, the recovery rate is around one hour. This means that if you use all the hot water in the tank, you will have to wait one hour to have enough hot water to use for whatever you need it for.
The Options You Have To Solve This Problem
If you determine that your hot water heater is working properly but just isn't able to keep up with your demands, you have two main options:
- Add a second hot water heater – One option is to keep the current system you have but add a second one to it. This would instantly double the amount of hot water you have available for use.
- Replace it with a bigger system – If you do not have space for two hot water tanks, you could always replace the one you have with one that is bigger. When doing this, be sure to choose one that has a fast recovery rate.
If you are not sure what is wrong with your hot water heater, contact a plumbing company like First Class Plumbing LLC to come to your home and fix the problem.
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