Why can I not get continuous hot water?

Question

Hi. It seems that for some reason or the other my boiler is not able to give me continuous hot water. it will give hot water for 5 minutes and then it will give icy cold water it will then take another 5 minutes to heat up the water. I have an electric boiler, is this normal behaviour for an electric boiler? I have checked all the settings with in the boiler everything seems to be set up correctly. I have even tried letting the boiler run continuously overnight but still doing the same.

Any help would be really appreciated. Thank you.

Answer 1

normal , you need a boiler to suit your need and sounds like the boiler you have is too small and cant meet demand.

Answer 2

If the fault has always been there then the water heater may be under sized,if the fault has just started recently then the heater probably needs a new part such as a thermostat or a limit stat.

Answer 3

Well first off the only heater that gives continous hot water are the tankless type --this is why you have a tank its to store a reserve of hot water which on average can only heat 20 gal at 90 degree in 1 hour so thats all you can expect you may need a bigger tank size--the bigger the tank the more you store-- or get a tankless type, but before you assume that its to small make sure the one you have is working properly . let it run until cold water comes out then check the amount of wattage it uses on the name plate and watch you electric meter for an hour and compare to see if it consumes the specified amount of watts.  

PS pressure has nothing to do with this problem except raise the boiling point

Answer 4

check for water pressure in tank,also do a test on heating element,im pretty sure thats one of your problems,not knowing how long ago the problem started,good luck,

Answer 5

these have 2 or 3 heating elements.Over time they burn out and need to be replaced. It may be that 1 or 2 of the elements have burned out and need replacement.

An electrician or a handyman can turn off the power to the unit/disconnect the wires to each element/and with a ohmmeter chect to see which ones are burnt. If they find any that are bad i would advise you change them all together.

Answer 6

May be a thermostat problem - also how old is the unit?

Answer 7

we had a similar problem and it was because the pressure was too low or something.  the plumber came and showed us the k**b to twis to adjust pressure.

Answer 8

You need an electrician to look at it.

Answer 9

Have you checked to make sure you do not have an air lock.That can make the water go hot & cold.

Good Luck