Hot Water Woes

[Ptlah]

Hi everyone!

We're having issues with our hot water, and I thought I would check in with you all to see if there's anything we could be missing!

Our hot water is coming out as lukewarm. Even if we open up the hot water all the way, on any faucet or shower in the house, still just warm. It occasionally gets hot for a few seconds out of our kitchen sink, but then back to warm.

We had a plumber come out and inspect the hot water heater and he said it could be a faulty thermostat or heating element within the heater. They replaced the two heating elements and thermostat, but we’re still having the same issue. The plumber said the next step would be to replace the hot water heater.

We’re going to get another plumber out here to get a second opinion, but I wanted to check with you all to see if there’s anything else it could be so I can point plumber 2 in the right direction. The last thing we want is to pay for a new water heater, and then we still encounter the same issue because something else was causing it in the first place.

Here are the important details:

1. We live in Minnesota.
2. We just bought this house and moved in last month.
3. There are only two of us living here (we’re not using a ton of water).
4. It’s a Richmond 50-gallon electric heater.
5. Built/installed in 2018
6. It’s currently set to 140 degrees (we tried 125, and the water was basically coming out cold)
7. I checked the mixing valves on each shower, and they’re all set to max hot
8. We flushed it already to get all the sediment out (there wasn’t a lot).
9. The water shut-off valve for the hot water heater doesn’t seem to be functioning correctly, but our plumber said that shouldn’t be causing the problems we’re having.

Any thoughts?

Thanks all!

 

[Twowaxhack]

Turn the cold water valve OFF to the water heater. Now go to the kitchen faucet and turn on the hot water. It should flow for a few seconds to a minute then stop completely.

If it doesn’t stop completely then you have a cross connection assuming the valve works back at the water heater.

 

[TomFOhio]

Or the dip tube on the cold side is gone.

 

[CT18]

My vote is dip tube. When he drained the heater to change the elements was the water hot.

 

[Twowaxhack]

Number 9 on the OP list may be mistaking a bad valve for a cross connection.

With a cross connection it seems like the valve doesn’t work because it’s being fed from two places.