Another Plumbing Question - Water Heater

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Author Message   jeffl Citizen Username: Jeffl Post Number: 314 Registered: 8-2001 Posted on Saturday, January 31, 2004 - 9:32 am:        Some mornings the water in the shower will be hot-ish but not really hot. Even turning on just the hot water doesn't produce very hot water. No other appliances have been used yet, no dishwasher, no washing machine, no one else has used hot water. I check the hot water heater and the pilot is on and the water is being heated. I've now turned the hot water thermostat to very hot. Can those thermostats break or need re-calibration? Is this the beginning of the end of my relatively new water heater?   Davegateway Citizen Username: Davegateway Post Number: 25 Registered: 2-2003 Posted on Saturday, January 31, 2004 - 10:51 am:        Your water heater thermostat is not very accurate, and may have as much as a 30 degree "differential" that is, the temperature below the set point at which it signals the burner to reheat the water. The first use in the morning is the most common time to experience this low temp. There's not much you can do, except run a few gallons of hot water 15-20 minutes before you want to shower. It's normal, and there's probably nothing wrong with your water heater. If there is something wrong with your thermostat, it's not hard to replace but it's usually only warranteed for 1 year, regardless of your tank's warrantee.   Mayhewdrive Citizen Username: Mayhewdrive Post Number: 760 Registered: 5-2001 Posted on Saturday, January 31, 2004 - 8:13 pm:        I had a similar problem & assumed it was time to replace the water heater. However, PSE&G came out & found that they was a lot of "gunk" (corrosion) on the thermostat within the hot water heater. They replaced that one part & now it works like a charm. (We had the "protection" program from PSE&G, so it didn't cost us anything)   jeffl Citizen Username: Jeffl Post Number: 325 Registered: 8-2001 Posted on Saturday, January 31, 2004 - 11:40 pm:        Thanks a lot. I'm going to call PSE&G on Monday. We have that plan as well.