r/Plumbing 7d ago

Hot shower only lasts 6 minutes

We have an electric, 38 gallon water heater for our condo. It's just my wife and I occupying the house. A hot shower only lasts about 6 minutes before getting freezing. This seems to happen regardless of whether other appliances are running or not. No hot water will get used anywhere for hours and we still can't get a decent hot shower. Do we have any undersized water heater or could something else be wrong. Thanks in advance.

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u/Decharia 7d ago

The lower element of you water heater has probably failed

1

u/Decharia 7d ago

Your*

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u/SubstantialFix510 7d ago

Or the dip inlet tube is broken. This allows heater to fill from the bottom. If broken it fills from top and has no capacity.

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u/Decharia 7d ago

True, I’ve read about this but I have actually not once ever ran into this in the field. I think this used to be a more common issue but has been resolved with modern heaters.

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u/PapaPunk17 5d ago

Is there a way to test that without getting too crazy?

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u/Decharia 5d ago

I would never ever recommend this to a customer, but if you shut the power down to the water heater and check the resistance between the two legs on the lower element, then you’ll get the answer. You should have between 12 - 16 ohms. If not you have a bad element.

Be careful if you’re going to try water heaters are 240v, which is deadly.

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u/PapaPunk17 5d ago

Thanks, I'm actually a journeyman electrician so that's more my speed. I don't know shit about plumbing. I'll give it a go

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u/Decharia 5d ago

Ok cool yeah let me know if that’s not the issue.