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How to Safely Increase Hot Water Temperature your Water Heater
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InspectAPedia tolerates no conflicts of interest. We have no relationship with advertisers, products, or services discussed at this website.
Hot water temperature improvement: this article explains how to diagnose & improve the hot water water temperature that is too cool, and how to check water temperature safety in a building.
Green links show where you are. © Copyright 2013 InspectAPedia.com, All Rights Reserved. Author Daniel Friedman.
How to Correct Hot Water Temperature that is Too Low
Thanks to Carson Dunlop Associates, a Toronto Home Inspection Firm and to Alan Carson, a Home Inspection Educator, for permission to use sketches shown in this article. Contact us to suggest text changes and additions and, if you wish, to receive online listing and credit for that contribution.This article series describes various ways to improve hot water quantity, pressure, and flow are discussed beginning at HOT WATER IMPROVEMENTS and continuing at HOT WATER QUANTITY IMPROVEMENT. At ALTERNATIVE HOT WATER SOURCES we describe various water heating methods. The detailed characteristics of various water heaters themselves, such as life expectancy, cost, safety, and capacity are discussed at ALTERNATIVE WATER HEATER PROPERTIESIf your hot water temperature is just not ever hot enough here are some things to check:
First Check the Water Heater Temperature Settings
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Check the water temperature settings on the water heater control. You can increase the water temperature setting, but beware of scalding. See MIXING / ANTI-SCALD VALVES for a discussion of the installation and use of anti-scald valves to avoid hot water burns, and for a table of temperatures at which hot water burns occur.
The temperature control on the gas fired water heater shown in our photo at left has been set to "Low" and could be turned "up" to a hotter temperature if building hot water is found to be too cool. |
Check for long runs of un-insulated hot water piping
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 Long hot water piping runs can mean not enough or not hot enough hot water, especially if the piping runs through cold walls, basements, crawl spaces, or attics.If this is the cause of water not being hot enough, the problem will not usually occur suddenly, but it will vary by season, with "hot" water being "cooler" in cold weather.
Even sudden appearance of hot water running cooler could be caused by uninsulated water pipe runs if the water pipes happen to be located in an area normally protected from weather but suddenly left exposed, such as a basement door left open or a mobile home surrounding skirt falling off..
If the water is leaving your water heater at a high temperature but arriving too cool at the sink, shower, or tub, see Insulate Hot Water Piping for details.
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Check for a leaky or bad water heater tank dip tube
(Sketch courtesy Carson Dunlop) at your water heater tank. If your water is heated by an electric, gas, oil, or even solar-heated water tank, the tank probably uses a dip-tube to direct incoming cold water to the bottom of the hot water tank.
If the dip tube is leaking (metal dip tubes are often intended to corrode) it may be leaking incoming cold water into the top of the water heater tank.
Or the dip tube may have corroded away or dissolved completely, or parts of it may have fallen into the water heater tank.See WATER HEATER DEBRIS FLUSH for an example of a dip tube that dissolved and fell into the water heater interior.Either of these dip tube problems means that cold water running into the water heater tank is no longer delivered to thte tank bottom. Rather it enters at the heater tank top where it mixes with and cools the "hot" water in the water heater.
Watch out: a bad dip tube or a burned out electric water heater lower heating element both give the symptom of tepid hot water output.
Details about water heater anodes and dip tubes, how they work and why they are needed, are at ANODES & DIP TUBES on WATER HEATERS. |
Check for a burned out electric water heater heating element
if your water heater is electric it probably has two heating elements, an upper and a lower unit. It's easy to diagnose a bad electric water heating element, and you can suspect a problem with the heating elements in an electric water heater even before doing any testing: (Sketch courtesy Carson Dunlop)If the hot water coming out of the electric water heater is hot but runs out more quickly than previously, we suspect that the lower heating element has burned out. The upper water heating element is heating up just the water in the top of the water tank. So you have just a small amount of hot water before you run out.
If the hot water coming out of the electric water heater has become tepid when it used to be hot (and no one has changed any other hot water settings), we suspect that the upper heating element has burned out.When only the lower heating element in an electric water heater is working, it will warm the water but it will normally be unable to raise the temperature in the whole water tank to a high enough level. So you have plenty of tepid "hot" water.
Watch out: as we described just above, a failed water heater dip tube also causes "hot" water to come out tepid or at a lower temperature than normal. |
Check for an oil fired water heater that needs oil burner service & cleaning
Oil fired heating equipment, when properly adjusted, does not burn perfectly clean.
Burning heating oil produces soot which over time sticks to the interior surfaces of the water heater's interior. There the soot acts like an insulator, reducing the transfer of heat from the burning heating oil through the metal of the water heater's heat exchanger, into the hot water itself. You may have plenty of water but its temperature is not as hot as it used to be.
Often service people called to clean and tune an oil fired heating boiler do not clean and adjust the oil-fired water heater unless specifically asked (and paid) to do so.
Just as your oil fired furnace or boiler should be serviced annual (for safety and to lower heating costs), so should your oil-fired water heater be cleaned and tuned annually.
It's likely that this service will be earned back easily in reduced heating oil costs. See How To Cut Heating Costs for details.
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Check Water Heater Mixing Valve Settings and Aquastat Settings
Check the temperature settings at the mixing valve installed on your water heating system. See MIXING / ANTI-SCALD VALVES for a discussion of the installation and use of anti-scald valves to avoid hot water burns, and for a table of temperatures at which hot water burns occur. At the top of this page we show a photo of a mixing valve on a heating boiler.
Check the temperature settings at the aquastat combination control if your hot water is made by a tankless coil on a heating boiler.
The "low limit" control shown in our photograph at left maintains hot water in the heating boiler to assure that the tankless coil can produce domestic hot water.
During the heating season, the "high limit" will control boiler operation and boiler temperatures will normally be hotter than what was set here at the "LO" control. See MIXING / ANTI-SCALD VALVES for a discussion of the installation and use of anti-scald valves to avoid hot water burns, and for a table of temperatures at which hot water burns occur. |
Hot Water Temperature Safety Warning
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 Setting water temperature above 100 degF may cause serious scalding burns.A.O. Smith, the manufacturer of this water heater warns about water temperatures over 125 degF.
See MIXING / ANTI-SCALD VALVES for a discussion of the installation and use of anti-scald valves to avoid hot water burns, and for a table of temperatures at which hot water burns occur.
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How do we Improve the Hot Water Volume & Quantity?
As we discussed beginning in the previous section of this article, there are several different hot water problems:
- Poor hot water flow, or bad hot water pressure, which is usually a piping or clogging problem or an overall building water pressure problem. See CLOGGED PIPING & Hot Water Flow and see
- Poor hot water quantity: not enough hot water, or running out of hot water very quickly. Insufficient hot water quantity may be due to the way hot water is being made (a water heater that is too small, a tankless coil on a new small heating boiler, or an instantaneous water heater that is being asked to supply hot water too rapidly. We describe various ways to improve hot water quantity, pressure, and flow are discussed beginning at HOT WATER IMPROVEMENTS and continuing at HOT WATER QUANTITY IMPROVEMENT.
- Hot water temperature that is not hot enough: water temperature is just too cool. Insufficient hot water temperature may be due simply to the setting of a temperature control on a water heater or mixing valve, or it may be due to flowing water too fast through a tankless coil. Hot water that is not hot enough can be caused by quite a list of problems, some of which are easy to correct. See Temperature of Hot Water is Too Low for steps to correct water that just won't get hot.
Articles Describing Steps to Increase Hot Water Quantity
The articles listed below offer more details about steps one can take to increase hot water quantity, pressure, and flow in a building. Use links just below or at the left of each page to navigate this document or to view other topics at this website. Green links show where you are in our document or website.
A Comparison of Alternative Hot Water Heaters & Sources
The following articles discuss alternative ways to produce domestic hot water for washing and bathing.
The characteristics of various water heaters such as life expectancy, cost, safety, and capacity are discussed at WATER HEATER PROBLEM DIAGNOSIS
WATER HEATER PROPERTIES
Ways to improve total hot water quantity, pressure, temperature and flow are discussed beginning at HOT WATER IMPROVEMENTS and continuing at HOT WATER QUANTITY IMPROVEMENT.
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Technical Reviewers & References
Related Topics, found near the top of this page suggest articles closely related to this one.
- Thanks to Alan Carson and Bob Dunlop, Carson Dunlop, Associates, Toronto, for permission to use illustrations from their publication, The Illustrated Home which illustrates construction details and building components. Carson Dunlop provides home inspection education, publications, report writing materials, and home inspection services. Alan Carson is a past president of ASHI, the American Society of Home Inspectors.
Arlene Puentes, an ASHI member and a licensed home inspector in Kingston, NY, and has served on ASHI national committees as well as HVASHI Chapter President. Ms. Puentes can be contacted at ap@octoberhome.com
AO Smith produces AO Smith water heaters in addition to Reliance, State, Maytag and others.
www.aosmith.com/prod/wpc.htm AOS's gas water heater manuals offering advice and safety warnings about adding water heater insulation are available at
www.statewaterheaters.com/lit/im/res-Elec/184671-000.pdf and at
www.hotwater.com/lit/im/res_gas/184123-000.pdf
- Rheem who also makes electric water heaters provides a manual for electric water heaters at
waterheating.rheem.com/content/resources/documents/use_care/ResElecProfessional.pdf. Rheem says, as do other water heater producers, that their water heaters
meet the "National Appliance Energy Conservation Act
standards with respect to insulation and
standby loss requirements making an
insulation blanket unnecessary"
Rheem also warns consumers that adding an insulation product [or making any other modification to their equipment] is likely to void the product warranty and may be unsafe:
"The manufacturer’s warranty does not
cover any damage or defect caused by
installation, attachment or use of
any type of energy saving or other
unapproved devices (other than those
authorized by the manufacturer) into, onto
or in conjunction with the water heater.
The use of unauthorized energy saving
devices may shorten the life of the water
heater and may endanger life and property.
The manufacturer disclaims any
responsibility for such loss or injury
resulting from the use of such
unauthorized devices "
Books & Articles on Building & Environmental Inspection, Testing, Diagnosis, & Repair
 The Home Reference Book - the Encyclopedia of Homes, Carson Dunlop & Associates, Toronto, Ontario, 25th Ed., 2012, is a bound volume of more than 450 illustrated pages that assist home inspectors and home owners in the inspection and detection of problems on buildings. The text is intended as a reference guide to help building owners operate and maintain their home effectively. Field inspection worksheets are included at the back of the volume. Special Offer: For a 10% discount on any number of copies of the Home Reference Book purchased as a single order. Enter INSPECTAHRB in the order payment page "Promo/Redemption" space. InspectAPedia.com editor Daniel Friedman is a contributing author.
Or choose the The Home Reference eBook for PCs, Macs, Kindle, iPad, iPhone, or Android Smart Phones. Special Offer: For a 5% discount on any number of copies of the Home Reference eBook purchased as a single order. Enter INSPECTAEHRB in the order payment page "Promo/Redemption" space.
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