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autumn leaves
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Posted: Mon Aug 4th, 2008 05:08 pm |
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| Installed in basement. Takes a minute or more for hot water to get to shower on 3rd level. Not so with old tank. Guaranteed for 12 years. GE won't do anything unless we run 'draw test' or they will charge $280 to do it. Any suggestions? Last edited on Mon Aug 4th, 2008 05:09 pm by autumn leaves
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Ej
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Posted: Tue Aug 5th, 2008 03:04 am |
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| I don't see how a draw down test will tell you the speed in which the hot water is traveling but only the amount of hot water available to you before a significant drop in temperature. So is your complaint about the time the water takes to reach you and once getting there you have normal supplies of hot water or the hot water is slow to reach you and you have below normal supplies of hot water once there? What was the reason to install a new heater? Maybe there are other outside factors and solutions. Many times I see a new cross over problem that just happened in the home be it a bad faucet or valve and the homeowner runs out to buy a new heater. They call for warranty service when the new heater fails to solve a cross over problem. You can do a draw down test yourself but if you hire someone to do it the price should reflect no more than a hour charge.
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autumn leaves
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Posted: Tue Aug 5th, 2008 03:44 am |
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Our hot water tank started leaking so we had no choice but to buy a new one. Our complaint is it takes so long for the hot water to get from the basement to the master bedroom on the third level. We have no problems with plenty of hot water once it gets to the bathroom. We are comparing the old hot water tank's response to the new. The old delivered hot water much faster and we are wondering why. We are under water restrictions because of drought and we are wasting about 3 gallons each time we take a shower waiting for the hot water. Any other suggestions? Thanks.
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Ej
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Posted: Tue Aug 5th, 2008 04:02 am |
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| Water heaters do not control the speed in which water travels. What ever pressure is entering a new heater will leave the heater in about the same speed and volume. So something else has changed. Maybe a recirculating pump that is no longer working. Cold water mixing someplace, reduced household pressure. Do you or did you have a recirculating pump? Last edited on Tue Aug 5th, 2008 04:03 am by Ej
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autumn leaves
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Posted: Tue Aug 5th, 2008 04:21 am |
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No, we have never had a recirculating pump. We have not made any other changes since putting in the new tank.
When we talked to Home Depot where we bought it, customer service man said there had been other complaints about the same problem. But, when we talked to GE they said not! Our old tank was on 'stilts' but the new one is flat on the basement floor. Regulations have changed, evidently. Thanks again.
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eleent
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Posted: Tue Aug 5th, 2008 06:19 am |
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Hello: There may be heat traps or some change in the plumbing hookups that prevents convection. This convection, or drifting of hot water up into the pipes, may have preheated much of the plumbing, giving you quicker hot water. If so, your new set-up is more energy efficient and less water efficient. What a deal 
Insulate as much of the hot side plumbing as you can. Make changes in pipes to allow convection to fill the lines with hot water. These changes might be the best compromise between water and energy efficiency.
Yours, Larry
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autumn leaves
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Posted: Tue Aug 5th, 2008 05:40 pm |
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Thanks Larry and EJ for your responses. It is great to get other people's input. We have had problems with several other GE appliances and GE has NEVER helped solve our problem. As we replace our appliances, etc., one thing is for sure..............no more GE. That is the best answer.
Any other suggestions will be appreciated. This is a great service. Thanks, again.
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elenano
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Posted: Wed Aug 6th, 2008 06:25 am |
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I have my own grumps about GE/Rheem, but I don't think beating them up here is much of an answer. They sold you a water heater. It heats water. How fast it gets to the third floor is simply not their problem. It's not a water heating problem but probably a piping problem.
Ej and Larry have suggested to you that there is something else going on, something that changed with the new installation. You should be concentrating on that. You will get heat-trap nipples with any new heater today because that is how the makers meet federal energy standards, so any other make would probably cause you the same problem.
Larry was hinting that maybe if you replaced the heat trap nipples with plain plastic-lined steel nipples and insulated the pipes, that hot water would rise by convection higher into the piping above the water heater and result in a shorter trip to the third floor. You should implement that and see what happens.
Randy Schuyler
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autumn leaves
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Posted: Fri Aug 8th, 2008 05:01 pm |
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Elenano, thanks for your input. I differ about 'this is not the place to beat up on GE/Rheem'. 'I am not 'beating up on them' just giving factual information to others. I would appreciate reading this if I were in the market for a hot water heater. Why did GE not caution buyers with "This hot water heater will not deliver hot water to third story houses." I stand by my critique.
Thanks again for all who commented.
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