Always running out of hot water
 

We have a very large Dux water heater that works on the gas cyliners that we buy, just in the last couple of weeks it has startedto run out of water very quickly. The other day my wife had Shower then me and it ran out hot water tonight the kids went in it together and after 12 minutes the water was running cold. We had a plumber out to look at it and all was working fine he just told us it was one of those things and that we should wait 20 minutes when someone had had a shower until thenext person had one, not east to do when you have to get 5 of you out if the house in the morning and everything is timed like a military operation. We have gne through a 45 kg cylinder in 3 weeks the last 2 we had lasted 8 weeks each. Is this normal, the boiler is onl number 6.

Re: Always running out of hot water
 

Find the bleed valve and purge the air collected in the top of the cylinder. It's usually a little lever about six inches from the top. Hold it up until water spits out of the overflow.

Re: Always running out of hot water
 

There are 2 bleed valves on the tank, they are called pressure valves I think we have opened them both and hot water comes out of one and cold water comes out the other, no air comes out

Re: Always running out of hot water
 

Hang on, gas. Refit with instantaneous water heating. It's worth the money.

Re: Always running out of hot water
 

The larger DUX can provide about 360 litres of hot water in the first hour.

A 10 minute shower uses about 90 litres of water, with the standard low flow head, therefore you should have 40 minutes of showering, if the system is working correctly. Or, if you have an old style shower head, only 20 minutes.

What you are getting does not sound good at all. I know that with our Heat Pump type we can get over 1 hour of hot water for showering, my teenage daughter proved it recently :frown:

Re: Always running out of hot water
 

Just checked the tank size and it is only 135 litres, what use is that in a really large 4x2 with a family of 5

Re: Always running out of hot water
 

We have a Stebel Eletron Heat Pump hot water service. We run it at night on the dedicated (cheap rate) circuit. Our 3 month hot water bill for Jan/Feb/Mar was $22.00. There are three of us in the house showering sometimes twice a day. We also have a bath now and again. We got the heat pump with a government rebate costing us about $800.00. It has a 300 litre capacity. It works well in winter running only at night.

Re: Always running out of hot water
 

Have you thought about solar hot water with an off peak booster? And probably staggering shower times - some people manage with a shower before bed rather than in the morning (dont get that myself but each to their own).

Re: Always running out of hot water
 

Ask you OH and they may explain the shower before bed:wub:

but you work colleagues may appreciate a morning shower even if it is cold or maybe if it is cold :o

Re: Always running out of hot water
 

We also had one like that installed, costing us about $400 after rebates, and it is excellent, but unfortunately for the OP, they appear unable to get the rebates as they have a gas system.

Re: Always running out of hot water
 

My apologies for missing the salient point, i.e. gas instead of electricty. For what it is worth I have an instantaneous gas hot water system at my office. It is a Bosch and doesn't need an electricity supply. The flow of water turns a small generator which provides the spark for the ignition. So you only have to wait for the plumber, not the plumber AND the electrician when you get it installed.

Re: Always running out of hot water
 

Can't do anything about it as it is a rental property, it is a new build and a fabolous house - they obviously skimped on the water heater :(:(

Re: Always running out of hot water
 

That's interesting - we specified the Bosch for our build *because* of the self-ignition, then changed to a Rinnai because we heard that the Bosch has a habit of the generator freeing itself from the spline. Have you had any problems with that? It does sound better not to have to have both gas and electricity at the same time to have a shower!

Re: Always running out of hot water
 

I've had the Bosch for four years. It doesn't get a great deal of use but so far have had no problems at all.

Re: Always running out of hot water
 

I think when we replace the Rinnai I will go for it.