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| Loss of Hot water | Rate Topic |
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| Posted: Fri Jul 4th, 2008 04:50 pm |
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1st Post |
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meebers Member 
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I have an AO Smith FSGT-50, natural gas HW heater. Just about every time I need HW, I have to go to the temp control and adjust it upwards slightly to get the tank to fire and produce HW. The pilot light is always lit, and once I reach the maximum temp setting, I can sometimes turn the dial all the way down and slowly adjust it up again and it fires around the "A" setting. Over the next couple of days and adjustments, the setting ends up at "very hot" and I repeat the reset. It does feel like a slight binding when adjusting the temp knob at the point where the burners light. Researching the AOS website, I came up with P/N 9004353105. I feel confident in replacing the unit with the exception of the tube connections to this unit. I think this is the problem. (Local plumbers recommend replacing the whole tank $950 from phone conversations with them) HW tank is 7 yrs old, I drained it without any sediment. Any suggestions welcomed.
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| Posted: Sun Jul 6th, 2008 01:41 am |
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2nd Post |
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eleent Member
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Hello: If the problem happens mostly at first hot water draw of the day, I'd suspect a deadband problem. Newer controls can have a 30 degree difference between on and off points. An example is if the heater puts out 130 degree water after it has just finished reheating it might put out only 100 degree water after sitting all night and before any water is drawn. One way to deal with this is to draw a little water ten or fifteen minutes before you head for the shower. That will kick the heater on and it'll bring itself back up to the higher set point. Replacing the control could help if the control were actually bad, but it might give the same performance you're getting now. The heater does need a new anode  Yours, Larry
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| Posted: Tue Jul 8th, 2008 01:33 am |
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3rd Post |
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meebers Member
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Ok..thanks for the reply, still wondering about troubleshooting this. Are you saying I need a new anode because of the age?? Lets just suppose that I do need a new one and am able to get the anode loose from the top of the tank, there is about 24" space to the ceiling, rods are 5 ft? do professionals make a hole in ceiling and re-patch or what.?? Maybe they un-plum it and tilt the tank over for install? :-)
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| Posted: Tue Jul 8th, 2008 05:36 am |
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4th Post |
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elenano Member
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If you can get the anode loose, pulling it out won't be a problem. Once most of the anode is gone, it is quite bendable. You'll need a flexible one to replace with. They are good down to 12 inches, so you probably won't even need to bend and straighten all the segments to get it in. Randy Schuyler
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| Posted: Wed Jul 9th, 2008 03:16 am |
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5th Post |
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Ej Member 
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By your description of having the heater "ALL" the way up and having to turn the control all the way down and slowly back up to A means to me an unacceptable range in temperature. Why not measure the temperature of the water at start and end times to see what the differential is. With luck maybe the cost of a new thermostat will be under warranty. In the field if I cam accross a heater that acted as you describe I would replace it.
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| Posted: Thu Jul 10th, 2008 01:31 am |
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6th Post |
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meebers Member
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After chasing this problem for 2 weeks now, called service man and he agreed that it was the gas valve(thermostat). I am out of warranty (7 yrs) now so I elected to install new tank. Turned out to be an all day job as my tank sits on a platform (28") high with the piping into/outof the wall just a couple of inches above the HW tank. New tanks were 4" taller presenting the problem of tearing out the drywall and repiping or lower the platform. Fortunately the platform shares the space with a water softner and the cold air return and air exchanger for my heat pump. The portion for the HW heater was seperate from the remainder of the platform so the destruct/rebuild was rather easy.  The tank platform sits about 6" below the other portion of the platform. A little drywall work and painting of the now exposed area was also easy. Thanks for all the help, wish it could have been a simple fix for less $$$$
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