Hot Water in Water Heater not lasting as long as it used to.

[casualfc]

Water Heater is a gas-fired AO Smith Power Shot, 40 gallons, made in 2006. I have not changed the temp settings or any settings in years. I have cleaned the corrosion in the ignitor area a few times, and it's worked fine.
In the past few weeks, the hot water in the morning is gone in like 10 minutes, where prior to this, it lasted quite a while.
I'm thinking it needs to be drained (need to look up instructions).
Suggestions? Other thoughts?

 

[stevemachine]

I'd say dip tube is a possibility as well

 

[havasu]

My guess it that your anode rod / dip tube are in need of replacement. Turn off the gas, completely drain your tank (to remove any sediment) and install them.

 

[casualfc]

So I went to my local plumbing supply place who didn't have a dip tube and the anode rod they had was probably the wrong size. In talking further, we further determined it was probably not the dip tube. Over the course of the past night, all hot water is gone. My water heater is not igniting. I have the left light lit, 2 unlit, 1 lit, right unlit warning, which means the System is in lockout. I get this once a year and I usually just get the steel wool and clean the ignitor. After a few attempts it usually starts back up and returns to normal. Now the lights stay in this position. It starts to ignite, and occasionally I got a slight flame, but it never held. My next thought is that the whole ignitor burner setup is bad, but after several days of cold water, I've considering calling in a service call. I'm finding that AO Smith parts are not so readily available in actual plumbing stores. Suggestions? Getting frustrated.

 

[stevemachine]

So it's fires up for a few seconds then goes out? Well sounds like a flame sensor to me if it doesn't have a standing pilot. I hope you didn't clean the igniter those things are so damn sensitive, maybe you meant the flame sensor. I'd replace the flame sensor based on what your saying. However with it being in lock out I'd unplug it for a minute and re plug it in. See what the error code says. If its the same thing then see what the manual says to do next. Those things are anyone's best friend on these direct vent water heaters.

 

[IFIXH20]

Not sure what model you have ,but AO Smith upgraded some of the smart control. I would call AO Smith customer support to see if your water heater fall under the upgrade or call a plumbing contractor for repairs.

 

[casualfc]

Not sure what model you have ,but AO Smith upgraded some of the smart control. I would call AO Smith customer support to see if your water heater fall under the upgrade or call a plumbing contractor for repairs.

Thanks all. Over the course of the night, error lights went out and we had a whole tank of hot water. Went on a ten minute errand, and when I came back, the error lights were back on. Had one hot shower and one hot fading to warm halfway through. now hot water will be out for a while.

 

[casualfc]

Not sure what model you have ,but AO Smith upgraded some of the smart control. I would call AO Smith customer support to see if your water heater fall under the upgrade or call a plumbing contractor for repairs.

I am calling for service today. Model number is GPSH 40 200 with a build date of 6/14/06, so out of warranty.

 

[Caduceus]

Check the troubleshooting section of your owner's manual for an indication of the problem.
This may not be your manual, but I will post the link anyways, just in case you don't have one. Page 18 is where trouble codes start, but check model first as codes change over the years...or you could call AO Smith and they may help
.A. O. Smith Water Products
500 Tennessee Waltz Parkway
Ashland City, TN 37015
United States of America
Phone: 800-527-1953
Fax: 615-792-2163

Link to manual: http://www.hotwater.com/lit/im/res_gas/185171-001.pdf

 

[Plummadrumma1]

Change your igniter, had same problem on a State HWH . The igniter will glow and light the tank and then go out, what's happening is the igniter is not producing enough ohms to keep the signal going to the gas valve. Change it on the problem I had and worked great. Good luck

 

[johnjh2o]

What ever happened to good old pilot lights? Never had as many problems with them as we are having with today's new generation water heaters.

John

 

[IFIXH20]

What ever happened to good old pilot lights? Never had as many problems with them as we are having with today's new generation water heaters.

John

Technology John -- I do agree we did not have many problems with the old style setup , but the up side to the new ones is saftey. Heck, look at the Boilers/HVAC systems nowadays they're all ran by circuit boards, back in the days they where hard wired with a switch or two.

 

[casualfc]

Thanks all. Hot water is now back. I expected the sensor needed replacing. Not wanting to wait several days to have one shipped to me, I broke down and had an AO Smith service tech install it since he had it on the truck.

As for the pilot light piece, I hear you, mainly because when Hurricane Sandy hit, we lost power for like 9-10 days and had no power, so no hot water, no pilot light to re-light.