If your house or apartment water has been getting cold quickly, you are probably looking for why it keeps happening. There are a few most common reasons why you don’t have enough hot water:
1. Your water heater is too old;
2. Your water heater is too small;
3. Your thermostat isn’t working correctly;
4. Sediment has built up in your water heater;
5. Your pipes and heater aren’t insulated properly.
So now that we know what they are, we will delve deeper into why you don’t have enough hot water and explain them and give you a couple of ways they can be addressed.
Reason No1: Your water heater is too old
As we have previously stated, the first of the possible reasons why you don’t have enough hot water is that your water heater is too old. Every appliance in your home has some expiration date. The wood in your roof will go soft, and the motor in your washer will grow weaker. This is, of course, also true for your water heater. The approximate lifespan of a standard household water heater is from ten to twelve years. So if you find out that the heater was installed more than a decade ago, it is most likely time to get a new one. Especially if the heater had already been set up in your home before you moved in.
What makes investing in a new water heater even more important in this situation is those old heaters can start to leak. This can make you subject to losing even more hot water, as well as increase your water bill.
Installing a new water heater can be very tricky, so we advise that if you don’t have experience in home repairs, you should check whether your plumber offers this service and ask for their assistance.
Reason No2: Your water heater is too small
Every water heater has a specific capacity of hot water it can hold, and if yours is much smaller than you tend to use daily, it’s time to change this. Your hot water usage should always use up less than seventy-five percent of the water heater’s capacity.
There are two main ways to fix this problem:
• reduce your hot water usage;
• buy a bigger water heater.
Reducing your hot water usage and the other reasons why you don’t have enough hot water
The first way to maximize your hot water efficiency is to stop using all appliances that use hot water at once. This makes it so all your appliances (including your shower) get less hot water than they would individually.
Keep your water heater between 120 and 140 degrees. If it is set to less than 120, it is entirely safe to increase it a little. Get newer faucets and shower heads. Older faucets have a flow rate of 5.5gpm (gallon per minute). This can easily waste a lot of your hot water. Newer ones tend to be around 2.5gpm.
Buying a bigger water heater
Since your water heater isn’t necessarily old and unusable in this scenario, an excellent way to save your money on the purchase and service of installing a new one is to sell the one you have now. When it is a newer, working model, you can always sell it. Just because it was too small in capacity for you, that doesn’t mean it will be for someone else. If you have trouble finding a buyer immediately, you can rent a storage unit from services such as U. Santini Moving and Storage Brooklyn.
Reason No3: Your thermostat isn’t working properly
Your water heater uses a thermostat which allows you to control the temperature of your water heater. A problematic or broken thermostat can be one of the most common (and most easily fixable) reasons you don’t have enough hot water. This situation can come from three different reasons. The simple one is that your heat just isn’t turned up high enough. Again, if it is set below 120 degrees, you are free to turn it up to around 140 even.
The more complicated reason is that it may be miscalibrated. In this situation, it is best to try and reset it. If neither helps, then your thermostat is likely broken, and you should get a plumber to check it over and tell you whether or not it is time to buy a new one.
Reason No4: Sediment has built up in your water heater
Over time, the natural minerals and sediment in our water supply can collect on the bottom of your water heater. This happens because part of it turns into water vapor whenever water boils. Now the minerals are left over in their solid form. Those heavy minerals then sink to the bottom of the tank, causing your water heater to lose part of its capacity for hot water. It can even reduce its heating efficiency so that there is no hot water.
Because of this, you should drain your water heater at least once a year. If you aren’t sure of yourself enough when it comes to handiwork, make sure to call professional help at least once, so they can show you the proper technique.
Reason No5: Your pipes and heater aren’t insulated properly
The final one of these possible reasons why you don’t have enough hot water is your pipe and heater insulation. This is most important for people who live in the US’s colder cities, such as NYC. However, it is also good practice for everyone to do. In the cold winter, it is not rare for pipes that are not well insulated to burst open. Just call your plumber and ask him to check your insulation. If there is none, they can install it for you.
If it isn’t one of these reasons why you don’t have enough hot water, call for further assistance
After you have checked every one of these possible reasons why you don’t have enough hot water, and none of them fit your problem, it is time to call a professional plumbing service. If you don’t think you are qualified to go into any further investigation when it comes to this, or even if you are unsure how to check these problems, asking for advice and help is definitely what you should do.
