tepid showers

[simba20]

Okay, we have cracked up the temp on our water heather to two lines past the "safe temp." The problem is the way our house is designed. The garage is on one side of the house, where the water heater is located and the master bath is waaaaaaay on the other side of the house. About a 1,000 mile trek for the water heather using yaks.....LOL!

We have no problem getting hot water in the laundry room (our entry from the garage). No problem in the kitchen (next room next to the garage), and no problem with getting hot water in DD's bathroom (located in the middle of the house), and yes, we do watch the temp of her water when drawing her bath.....but the master bath takes FOREVER.

Lately, all of our showers have been tepid. Just warm enough water, but you still get the shivers. By accident, we discovered Saturday morning while I was taking a shower, that if the tub facet is run, the water in the shower heats up (my husband drew a bath for DD in our tub in the master bath. So now, every morning while I wait for the shower to warm up (make it's Himalayan trek all the way across the house), I run the bathtub faucet for a few seconds to make the water in the shower HOT (I like to be able to turn the faucet up or down to control how hot my shower is).

Any ideas of what can be done to fix this, so I don't have to run the bathtub faucet to get the shower water hot? Is it my showerhead? Something in the wall (both the shower faucet and head share the same wall with the bath faucet)? What is it?

Oh our house is fairly new, around 7 years old, so we are not dealing with any old/outdated/antique fixtures or anything. Oh, our house is on a slab if that info is helpful.

 

[Zerosinthecloset]

Go to Heatinghelp.com and under Ask Questions post your situation in the Domestic Hot Water section. Some pretty smart people there.

 

[amez]

Our knobs on our showers also had something that told the shower head how much hot water to put out. We lowered the water heater temp and then raised the amount of hot water that was allowed to come out. We had to take off the handle and adjust it how much hot water could come out. Maybe that would help. Sorry I'm not good at explaining it, but I remember when my husband did it.

 

[AKL_Megs]

Sounds like you should have had a second HWH in your house. I forget from college the recommended maximum feet from HWH to the source of its use, but I think if it takes THAT long, no matter what you do, aside from adding a smaller HWH on that side of the house, it will always take a while.

Could you add a HWH?

Have you ever thought about changing to a tankless HWH? On demand hot water. Of course, it will still take time for the hot to reach that side of the house.

 

[Zerosinthecloset]

Our knobs on our showers also had something that told the shower head how much hot water to put out. We lowered the water heater temp and then raised the amount of hot water that was allowed to come out. We had to take off the handle and adjust it how much hot water could come out. Maybe that would help. Sorry I'm not good at explaining it, but I remember when my husband did it.

This is absolutely right. A while back I responded to a call exactly like the OP is describing. The bathroom sink had hot water, but the tub/shower was tepid. We were getting ready to take the tub faucet apart, when we noticed a small lever on the lower part of the single lever faucet. It was to adjust how hot the water would be able to get so one would not get scalded.

There are those that have the adjustment internally as the PP stated.

If you know the manufacturer, you can probably find a manual on the internet.


On another note, you can install a Laing Autocirc 303 under one of the bathroom sinks in the master bath, and it will circulate hot/warm water so you don't have to wait for it to come from Timbuktu. Another option is something called a Chile Pepper pump/valve. It also goes under the bathroom sink, but it provides you with a push button that when you push it, pumps hot water to the cold water line until the hot water is hot enough. It then shuts off, and you have hot water available.

Good luck.