Why does our hot water heater sometimes not have much hot water in the morning?

Question

This morning it was 8 degrees outside and the room with the water heater was warm and we had plenty of hot water. Last week it was 40 in the morning and the room with the water heater was warm and there wasn't much hot water. What gives?

This morning it was 8 degrees outside and the room with the water heater was warm and we had plenty of hot water. Last week it was 40 in the morning and the room with the water heater was warm and there wasn't much hot water. What gives?

Also, this only happens in the winter time when the weather is colder but it is obviously not linked to temperature.

Answer 1

as above the element usually is the problem. but you also can have a a lot of calcium deposites in you tank which will only be corrected by getting a new tank(hot water heater). have you tried to turn up the temp. setting? if its a gas it will probably have a dial and electric usually has a screw behind the cover plate which can be turned with a flat screw driver. be careful thou. it does have marks to tell you how hot the water will be.

Answer 2

What the problem is, and there is not much you can do about it, is, the thermostat.
The thermostat is near the top of the tank, and that is where the hot water sits. If you are not using hot water, the tank starts to cool off, and the hot water is near the top and doesn't trigger the heating cycle until it cools off enough. When it triggers the heating cyclce, the flames are at the bottom of the tank, heat the water there, it gets less dense and goes up and turns off the thermostat before all the water is heated.

once you start using hot water, new cold water entering the tank stirs everything up so all the water gets heated

Answer 3

Because the hotwater heater its self is going out

Answer 4

You probably need new heating elements. They can be replaced by a plumber.