Master of None
Member
Someone had a link on here the other day to a unit with a stainless tank that I was looking at but the link is gone now.
New Water Heater Failure
- Thread starter Master of None
- Start date
Help Support Plumbing Forums:
Being that you said only one light was on at a time.. that leads to believe you have a non simultaneous unit. And at 4500 watt elements 1 30 amp breaker at 220 v. Is plenty .
Try grabbing the outgoing hot line and see if it feels hot. Do you get flow when you turn on a hot at the kitchen sink, maybe you turned the incomming cold shutoff valve off.
It’s not that no one wanted to answer.
The problem is you didn’t like the answer you received and you didn’t have a clue about how a basic water heater operates from Home Depot.
One bathroom house with 7 people and a 400 amp electrical service…..and you’re an “ electrical engineer “
You’re full of ****.
Still... ouch, but I agree !
I’ll never believe that. That’s what he might call himself.
If a man can be a women and a women can be a man then why can’t he be an electrical engineer ? I think that’s the mentality here….
Degree from "I want to be an electrical engineer.com"I’ll never believe that. That’s what he might call himself.
If a man can be a women and a women can be a man then why can’t he be an electrical engineer ? I think that’s the mentality here….
Come on guys, be nice!
Yes, I was just reprimanded by my better half.
Back on subject a little.
Even with simultaneous operating elements electric recovery is slow when you’re feeding it with cold well water.
I’m almost positive we’re talking about a 50 gal water heater here.. With 7 users they’ll still have to space their showers far apart OR other options would be choke the flow down to 3rd world country levels, crank the temp up would to comply with code would also require a mixing valve at the heater.
I’ll do the math and post it on how long it takes to bring 50 gallons of the cold well water the OP stated he has. Then with simultaneous operation you could cut that in half. I don’t think you’ll be too impressed with the recovery time.
It’ll take basically an hour to bring 50 gallons of 50 degree water up to 120 degrees with 9,000w of water heater elements firing at once. 4500w each element simultaneously.
With 50 degree cold water mixing with 120 degree hot water that 50 gallons isn’t going to last very long. Most of your water to get to the target temp of 105 degrees will be HOT water. I’ll do the math on that and edit this post to include it.
Approximately 79% of the 105 degree 2.5gpm mixed shower water would be hot water. So approximately 2 gpm will be pure hot water.
You can get about 75% of the tank volume out of a water heater at the thermostat setting temp. Reason is that the cold incoming water to the heater diluted the temp a little. So you don’t get the whole 50 gallons at 120 degree thermostat setting.,,
So a 50 gallon would yield about 39 gallons of 120 degree water.
39 gallons divided by 2 gpm is about 20 minutes of shower time.
Divided by 7 people if they took showers back to back…..each person would get a 2.86 minute long shower.
Or more realistically 2 people would get 10 minute showers then you’d have to wait an hour for the next two showers or 30 minutes for 1 person to take a 10 minute shower. All at 105 degree shower temp. Take that temp up or down and it’ll affect your shower times longer or shorter.
With 50 degree cold water mixing with 120 degree hot water that 50 gallons isn’t going to last very long. Most of your water to get to the target temp of 105 degrees will be HOT water. I’ll do the math on that and edit this post to include it.
Approximately 79% of the 105 degree 2.5gpm mixed shower water would be hot water. So approximately 2 gpm will be pure hot water.
You can get about 75% of the tank volume out of a water heater at the thermostat setting temp. Reason is that the cold incoming water to the heater diluted the temp a little. So you don’t get the whole 50 gallons at 120 degree thermostat setting.,,
So a 50 gallon would yield about 39 gallons of 120 degree water.
39 gallons divided by 2 gpm is about 20 minutes of shower time.
Divided by 7 people if they took showers back to back…..each person would get a 2.86 minute long shower.
Or more realistically 2 people would get 10 minute showers then you’d have to wait an hour for the next two showers or 30 minutes for 1 person to take a 10 minute shower. All at 105 degree shower temp. Take that temp up or down and it’ll affect your shower times longer or shorter.
Last edited:
I checked mine this morning after a long shower.. I'm guessing I used 25 gallons. (Achy shoulder muscles... felt really good.. and hot) but it took 33 minutes to recover.. at 5500 watts., it really does need a better explanation of " i have no hot water" at all ? After a shower ? When ?
And just normail hand washing or whatever the heck she is doing. .tomake it kick on.. recovery time of 6 minutes.
If I was the OP I would consider a natural gas tankless or propane if possible.
If not possible I would do TWO 50 gallon water heaters OR 3 40 gallon heaters.
If needed I could convert these basic tanks to simultaneously operating elements to cut the recovery in half.
I could also upgrade to a higher wattage element.
I could also make all those tanks if non simultaneous operate off ONE 30 amp circuit. Recovery time would be slow slow.
I’ve been attending the School of WORK everyday for the last 40 yrs……I’m a senior. Hopefully one day I’ll become an Alumni.
If not possible I would do TWO 50 gallon water heaters OR 3 40 gallon heaters.
If needed I could convert these basic tanks to simultaneously operating elements to cut the recovery in half.
I could also upgrade to a higher wattage element.
I could also make all those tanks if non simultaneous operate off ONE 30 amp circuit. Recovery time would be slow slow.
I’ve been attending the School of WORK everyday for the last 40 yrs……I’m a senior. Hopefully one day I’ll become an Alumni.
We're not hearing back from the op.... he fled
Plus , he never said when he doesn't have hot water... does he run out, if so, when does he run out, does he have none at all (which I doubt) .. just makesfor an interesting morning.If I was the OP I would consider a natural gas tankless or propane if possible.
If not possible I would do TWO 50 gallon water heaters OR 3 40 gallon heaters.
If needed I could convert these basic tanks to simultaneously operating elements to cut the recovery in half.
I could also upgrade to a higher wattage element.
I could also make all those tanks if non simultaneous operate off ONE 30 amp circuit. Recovery time would be slow slow.
I’ve been attending the School of WORK everyday for the last 40 yrs……I’m a senior. Hopefully one day I’ll become an Alumni.
If I knew the players, maybe I'd go watch golf....
