Should you use 40 gallons of hot water in 5 minutes?

Question

I rent and the land lord was over trying to fix the hot water tank he said it only takes 5 minutes to empty the hot water tank. He said I should put on a water saver and that would cure the problem. The tank is on the hottest setting. Any ideas if the tank might be bad? He emptied it several times and refilled it. Ive lived here a year and never had a problem before.

I run out of hot water in the middle of a shower a trust me I dont stay in long.

Answer 1

First there is no need for the tank to be on the hottest setting. And putting it on a water saver could help but turning down the setting would help too. At that setting its too easy someone could get burnt. Your local water company can tell you what is a good setting. Or even your local hardware store

Answer 2

Well tell your landlord if he does the math, you'd have to use 8 gallons per minute to use up the hot water in 5 minutes. Most showers use around 3-4 gpm total, so assuming you use a 50-50 mix of hot and cold, your only using about 1.5-2 gpm.
Sounds like the water heater has either a broken dip tube, so the new incoming cold water is released at the top of the tank and doesn't get heated, or a heater element is failed. You might try increasing the water temperature setting.

Answer 3

I keep mine just hot enough to be able to hold my hand under it, about 110 degrees. I have never been out of hot water (gas) the tank is 12 years old and I clean it out twice a year.
You don't give much information. You should be able to take a shower for about twenty minutes and have a full recovery in a good tank. If it's electric maybe one of the elements is burned out, the full recovery element (usually the top) if it's gas maybe the thermocouple is getting bad and doesn't allow the regulator to re lite fast enough. You'd have to give more information or call in a plumber. Have the gas, electric company take a look, sometimes it's free as a service.

Answer 4

Do you have alot of calcium in your water? Or any other kinds of minerals? Sometimes over the years minerals build up inside the water heater tank. If that is the case the amount of water that you have in the tank is considerably less. You would be very surprised at the amount of crud that builds up inside of them. Ask the landlord if there has ever been a problem with the water. A new self cleaning water heater could be the answer. Good luck.

Answer 5

8 gallons a minute is a lot of hot water. I think that you have another problem. My guess is the dip tube has gone bad. the dip tube puts cold water on the bottom of the tank, forcing the hot water up to the top and then out to your water lines. If the cold water is going to the top of the tank, it seems like you're out of hot water, but you're really not. We had to replace the dip tune in our water tank and it made a LOT of difference.