The water heater is the next-biggest energy expense just after heating and cooling. If the unit is not the right size for your family size or water needs, you won't have enough hot water to do all the things you need to do using hot water. There are many possible reasons that you are running out of hot water fast. Does this Spark an idea?
Average Water Usage
The average water usage during a shower with a shower head that is newer than 1992 is about 10 gallons of water for a four-minute shower, according to Consumer Energy Center. If you take a 20-minute shower, which would use 40 gallons of water, and you only have a 30-gallon tank, you are going to run out of water in the last minutes of the shower.
Other Water Needs
If you have a 30-gallon water heater and you are taking a 10-minute shower, you will use about 25 gallons of water. If someone is doing a load of wash at the same time as your shower, she will use about 14 gallons of hot water if she is using warm wash/warm rinse or 40 gallons of hot water if doing a hot wash/hot rinse. The shower and the washing machine will run out of hot water before the job is finished.
Water Heater Type
Storage tanks are the most common water heaters. The water heater fills up with water. It is heated to the set temperature. As you use the hot water, the tank starts filing up again with cold water and the heater starts heating. If the water heater is small and you consume more hot water than the tank has available, you will run out of hot water. The tankless water heater supplies hot water on demand. As the cold water passes over the coils, it is heated and transported to the pipe that demands hot water.
Water Heater Size
When you have a tankless water heater, you can heat only 3.5 gallons of water per minute. If you run a shower while someone is washing dishes or doing a load of wash, you won't have enough hot water. The storage tank water heater comes in different sizes. If you have a family of two, you need at least a 30-gallon tank. Add an extra 10 gallons per person or if you use hot water from more than one source at a time to determine the size water heater you need.
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