No hot water after 4PM

My tenants are complaining they have no hot water after 4PM. I believe I have a electric storage system (315L).

Have they simply used all the water by taking too long showers? They cannot shower at night, and have to shower in the morning.

is it possible to extend the off peak time, or convert it to instantaneous?

 

Dunno. I would tell them to deal with it, pretend they are living in Uganda.

 

Of course you could upgrade the hot water system which you would do if it broke down.

You could also tell them to have shorter showers or put in ultra water saving shower heads if that was the primary culprit

 

Is it normal for hot water to be all used up after 4PM? They have about 6 people with a 315L system and they all take showers in the morning. I just want to know if there is anything wrong with my hot water system or if it is just not up to task/ they are taking long showers.

 

It sounds like there must be a setting on the HWS where it only heats up overnight and doesn't recharge itself during the day.

If there are 6 people having a shower then they could go through 315ltr of hot water but it should fill up and reheat so if they wish they can have a shower in the evening.

 

Off peak only hot water is unusual now but very common in the past.

Showers use anything from 7 to 14 litres per minute of hot water. Best case that would be 45 minutes of showers at 7 liters a second. So if they all had 3-4 minute showers they would be fine.

The HWS is undersized by modern standards but you don't have to change it. Mind you, perhaps it is almost at the end of it's life anyway?

 

Although it sounds like it is working OK, a 315L HWS is not very large for 6 people, more suitable for a family of 4 that take shortish showers. That is also not allowing for the washing machine that may take up to 60L per load if they use hot water.

Six people seems a lot, how many bedrooms in the house?

Then do you know how the HWS is wired and what electricity rate it is on?

Depending on the location and power company there may be different off peak rates. Consult the bill, although probably in tenant`s name, or the energy provider`s website.
Generally OP1 will be from 10pm to 6am while OP2 may be slightly longer and probably also comes on late arvo. If the meter box has an old fashion time switch it may be unsynchronised, easy to check. However if a modern smart meter is installed it will be correct timimg.

The other option is having the HWS on standard (more expensive) rate, but it will keep heating all day long whenever the tank water temperature falls below the thermostat setting. Sounds like it is not on permananently. Check the thermostat setting and increasing to maximum may help if below 85*. A job for a sparky if you do not know exactly where & what you`re doing. If the tenants can not change their habits perhaps they are willing to accept higher power bills for the priveledge. I expect it woud cost $100-200 for a sparky to rewire the HWS at the meter box assuming no additional cabling is required.

 

This does not need to be a maintenance issue unless you decide to make it a maintenance issue.

 

That's absolutely disgusting - going to bed stinking after a day of work.

Wow - that is a massive rate of water supply & consumption.

Based on the rinnai calculator that size is fine

What water efficiency measures does the house have ie water efficient efficient shower heads?

Tell the tenant to stop being a tight wad and change to a continuous tariff not off peak as this better reflects their usage.

A time clock on the hws may be a better option than the off-peak tariff.

 

Just get someone out there to look at the appliance , could be something quite simple to fix or may be a bigger problem .

 

The tenants knew about the HWS size when they moved in. No need for you to upgrade it.

As has been said above, it is reasonable to expect to be able to take a shower in the evening so get someone in to take a peek at he settings. Not sure if this has anything to do with their own elections on their electricity/gas account?

 

I would bet its a problem with the hot water only heating on off-peak. 100% of the time I have had the same problem, that has been the fix. I even had one tenant get it changed back because they didn't like the additional electricity bill .

 

I had a similar problem.
Solution: switch from off peak 1 to off peak 2. Slightly Higher rate, but it heats more frequently
315l tank, family of 4 adults