# 50 Gal water heater, 10-15 min shower?



## Minich (Jul 14, 2011)

Grab a 5-gallon bucket and a watch, and in 10-15 minutes you'll know your answer.


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## Trucon01 (Jan 10, 2012)

If it has a low first hour number, should I just get a much better 50 gal or should I just get one of those Marathon 105 gal units from HD?


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## TarheelTerp (Jan 6, 2009)

Trucon01 said:


> I have a 50 gal GE water heater in a house that I just bought...
> I do not have the specs handy.


Some specs to get:
what sort of water quality do you have (minerals etc) ?
what is the raw water pressure to the house like (PSI)?

what is incoming water temp?
what is outgoing water temp?
what is the flow rate (GPM) through the shower head?
what temp water = "hot shower"?

how old is the WH?
has it EVER been serviced (flushed)?


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## Trucon01 (Jan 10, 2012)

Great. I'll get those tonight and post in the morning.


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## jfrotten (Aug 14, 2011)

Is it a double element electric water heater by any chance?


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## joecaption (Nov 30, 2011)

That would have been my first guess, one of the elements is blown.


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## Edgar214 (Jan 20, 2011)

If the water heater has some age the dip tube could be cracked and/or broken. This doesn't allow the cold water to go to the bottom of the tank to be heated.
Mike


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## Furd (Aug 26, 2007)

A tank-type water heater will only supply about 70% of its rated volume (about 35 gallons in your case) before a significant drop in the output temperature occurs. 

You can effectively increase the amount of hot water by raising the temperature of the tank and then blend in more cold water at the point of use. The downside to this is that you significantly increase the risk of being scalded by the straight hot water and it will cost more to heat the water. Installing a tempering valve (which mixes cold water with the hot as soon as it leaves the tank can reduce the risk of scalding while increasing the effective amount of hot water but the increased cost of operation will remain.


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## Trucon01 (Jan 10, 2012)

This is the water heater I have:

http://m.geappliances.com/GEAppliancesMobile/Dispatcher?REQUEST=Specifications&Sku=GE50M06AAG


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## Trucon01 (Jan 10, 2012)

So I just checked the temp settings (There are 2, top and bottom). The top was set at 125 and the bottom was set about 5-10 degrees lower. I just set them both to around 130, so we will see what happens.


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## Msradell (Sep 1, 2011)

My guess would be that with all those heads you're probably using all the water in that length of time.


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## Trucon01 (Jan 10, 2012)

No, we have 3.5 bathrooms and its just my fiance and I. And ever since we bought the house in April, we've only used the one shower in the house, never 2 at a time. I'll see what the temp change does. If all else fails, we are remodeling the basement and I will just put in one of these bad boys, 105 gallon.

http://www.homedepot.com/Plumbing-W...Id=10051&catalogId=10053&superSkuId=202894352


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## jfrotten (Aug 14, 2011)

Shut off the power, remove the wires to both elements and check for continuity. You should have continuity between the two screws on each element and you should not have continuity between any one screw and the tank itself. If any of these things do happen, you have a bad element. My guess is that your bottom element is bad our your water temp was just set too low...


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## Trucon01 (Jan 10, 2012)

I truly appreciate everyone's help thus far!! This morning for the shower, I noticed that I didn't have to turn the nob as far towards hot to take a shower. Maybe just turning the temp up on both elements did the trick... Thanks again for taking the time to help me!!!


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## Superrick (Nov 18, 2008)

jfrotten probably is right turn it off and check the elements. Even if they check good they are most likely covered with a crust of sediment. If you replace them call around and get "lifelong heating elements" (made by State Industries in TN, I bought mine at True Value Hardware). I replaced them about every two years (hard water) from the time it was new. After changing to these I haven't changed one in eight years. I keep them both set at 129.


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