Hot Water only lasts 2 minutes

EliteHVAC · 06-27-2008, 01:07 PM

I have a Salem 2006 27RBDS which we bought new in aug 07. The hot water only lasts 2-3 minutes. I called dealer he told me expect 5-6 minuutes max of hot water. I am concerned that a new unit would have limited capacity for hot water as we traded in a starcraft hybrid and it never ran out. I am going to call a second dealer to confirm his statement but if anyone has this problem or can confirm that yes 5-6minutes is the average that is great. But I know 2-3 minutes in not long enough.

eandsphotography · 06-27-2008, 01:33 PM

well, this probably wont be much help because i've never timed it,(but i think i'm going to now to just see). But i've never run out of hot water while taking a shower but i do turn off the water and then back on to rinse off.
The only time we did is when we both took back to back showers and didnt give the heater enough time to reheat the water.
That being said though, it is only a 6 gallon water heater and if you have nothing running but the hot water i would say it's flowing at least 1 gallon per minute so i think 5-6 minutes is probably pretty accurate.
Now if your only getting 5 minutes out of it and your taking a shower mixing cold water in with it also then i would have to think you probably should double that time since technically you should only be using half the amount of hot and cold equally.
Probably not much help, but just thought i'd give you my thoughts.

rockwood06 · 06-27-2008, 01:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eandsphotography

well, this probably wont be much help because i've never timed it,(but i think i'm going to now to just see). But i've never run out of hot water while taking a shower but i do turn off the water and then back on to rinse off.
The only time we did is when we both took back to back showers and didnt give the heater enough time to reheat the water.
That being said though, it is only a 6 gallon water heater and if you have nothing running but the hot water i would say it's flowing at least 1 gallon per minute so i think 5-6 minutes is probably pretty accurate.
Now if your only getting 5 minutes out of it and your taking a shower mixing cold water in with it also then i would have to think you probably should double that time since technically you should only be using half the amount of hot and cold equally.
Probably not much help, but just thought i'd give you my thoughts.

Very good reply, I agree, the thing is how in the world can anyone take a completely hot shower in an RV, the water is too darn hot!!!!!!

eandsphotography · 06-27-2008, 03:45 PM

Yep, you could boil a weenie with that water!!

EliteHVAC · 06-28-2008, 07:48 AM

Well that does help some. So I believe then that there is a problem because that 2-3 minute time frame is while mixing the hot and cold. And I do not expect unlimited hot water but atleast enough to give the baby a bath. Yes it is only 6 gallons storage but what everyone overlooks is the recovery rate. It should keep up with the demand. So if the dealer is just giving me the run around what could be some less obvious reasons for the lowered capacity. I have checked all the obvious ones. If anyone has some other suggestions please send them to me.

mule0001 · 06-28-2008, 09:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eandsphotography

Yep, you could boil a weenie with that water!!

**KyDan** · 06-28-2008, 03:38 PM

If your hot water heater hot and cold lines were reversed,
ie- the pump/supply line is going into the top of the tank
and the line that goes to your faucets comes out of the bottom-
it would have limited capacity.

The city water/pump supply should go into the bottom fitting.
The hot outlet line should come out of the top of the tank.
The bypass valve in between the two should be shut.
The electric heater can be checked with an clamp on amp meter
or Ohm meter but you need to have a meter and know how to use it.
(Of course if you turn on the electric heater and get hot water
an hour later, that would be a pretty good test of the electric
element also.....)

You can see/hear/feel the gas burner when it's on.

It will never be able to keep up with demand. If you are using water
continuously, it will run out in a few minutes but it should be more than
2.

If you have a dual heat tank with electric and gas and you have both
ON, you can get quick recovery but not continuous.

You have something wrong I think.

My suggestions are above.
Good luck!
KyDan

EliteHVAC · 06-29-2008, 07:17 PM

Yes all that was checked as soon as we had this problem(day one). Fortunetaly I am in the HVAC field and was able to determine all that you suggested was operational. But one thing I did not check was the electric side of tank I did not know it was duel fuel.

**Bama Rambler** · 06-29-2008, 07:51 PM

Check your outside shower. If the mixing valve is open and the head stop is closed you get exactly the symptoms you describe. You can also get it if the bypass valve is open or leaking by.

we can take a good shower and not run out of hot water with a 6 gal tank. At 2 gpm you'd have three minutes before you;d be out of hot water. At a 50% mix that'd give you 6 mins. Because the heater heats water before you're completely out of hot the time gets extended some so you actually get a few minutes more, especially at a 50% mix.

MRimmer · 06-29-2008, 08:19 PM

6 gallion tank and no restrictor in the shower, We get about 6 to 8 minutes nice hot shower then she gets cold VERY fast.

Mike

EliteHVAC · 06-30-2008, 05:53 AM

We do not have an outside shower and yes I did check the bypass and is is fully closed.

**Bama Rambler** · 06-30-2008, 06:38 AM

This is a puzzler. Have you actually measured how hot the water is coming out of the tank with no cold mixed in? It should be at least 140ºF.

I still am inclined to believe it may be the water heater bypass. There have been cases of them leaking through even though they're closed. There also should be a check valve on the cold water inlet to prevent the hot from backing out of the tank.

**KyDan** · 06-30-2008, 03:23 PM

It might not be dual heat.
I said "IF it was dual" you can get quicker recovery with both on.
You will have a circuit breaker marked water heater
and the water heater has a little rocker switch found hidden in the
outside burner area of the WH if you have electric.

KyDan

NDJollyMon · 06-30-2008, 08:23 PM

My Salem has a 20 gallon electric water heater. I never run out of hot water. :-)

I wonder if the hot water is backing into the cold lines somewhere? Is the cold water cold...or warmish?

OregonCamper · 07-01-2008, 11:11 AM

Using the gas we would have to stop the water and lather up so that the hot water would last enough for a single shower. We found out recently that our tank had the electric heat and was shown the small switch hidden on the outside at the hot water tank access. (could not get it to work but a friend found that the cable was out of the breaker)

WOW!

This past weekend we never used the gas for heating the hot water. On electric, the hot water lasted an entire shower and a second only after a 3-4 minute break before running out.

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