Let’s say that you like taking long baths that are so hot you could boil potatoes in there. In an ideal world, you’d fill the tub to the brim at the faucet’s hottest setting. You’d emerge from your soak red as a lobster and happy as a clam. You have skin comprised of asbestos and the stuff they make kid’s pajamas out of. Your showers are so hot that stepping into them makes your boyfriend scream like the Wicked Witch of the West when Dorothy pours all that water on her.
Not that he’s a witch, mind you, just allergic to 900 degree showers.
Let’s say that you are blessed with a lovely home that houses a less than lovely hot water heater. Even with the dishwasher and washing machine firmly in the off position, your tank can only support half a tub or so of skin blistering goodness.
What do you do?
Do you fill the tub part way and let the water be its hottest?
(Do you really hate your knees and wish them to be exposed to the cold, cold air?)
Do you fill the tub most of the way with lukewarm water and then turn the tap up at the end?
(From a physics perspective, this is a terrible idea as all of that lovely hot water then has to heat up the rest of what’s in the tub)
Do you fill the tub in stages?
(Patience, I don’t has it)
What do you do?
Me, personally, I fill the tub most of the way at a slightly less than hot setting and then turn the heat up when I get in. I have no idea if this is the most efficient method, but it seems to work for me.
The best option would be to replace the hot water heater with one that holds more than two gallons and isn’t powered by hamster wheels. In an ideal world, we would do this… along with all of the other stuff that needs to be done around here and is both very expensive and not so very practical.
I suppose that I could also learn to love less than scalding baths. Or start taking showers. But that’s just crazy talk.
Don’t forget that water heaters have an effective life of about 10 years before they start to fail.
Oh goodness, we have the same issue with our hot tub. The way we usually do it is fill the tub with the scorching hottest hot water possible, then close the door and leave it alone for like a half hour or so until the heater can fill back up, then top it with the rest of the hot water we can eke out.
I guess our logic is that even if the water you’re pouring on top is not as hot, the heat will sort of rise up through it and overall heat the bath before escaping as steam. Or we forget about the limitation of the heater until the bath is already half full. 😉
Yeah, how old is your water heater? It may be time for a new one. Over time they get full of sediment and won’t hold as much water (and the water they are holding won’t heat effectively). I had the same problem in my house, there was barely enough water for one hot shower. Now I could take three hot baths in a row if I wanted (maybe more, I dunno).
Hot water heater = only a year old. 🙁
The previous owners replaced a broken one. But they knew that they were selling this place at a loss, so they didn’t bother putting in anything better than the cheapest one that they could find. I don’t blame them in the least, I just wish my baths were hotter.