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I have recently let a townhouse to a couple who complain of running out of hot water with approx. one dishwash and one shower. Up until this a single person resided there and never complained. The power is off-peak (coming on at 11pm & off at approx. 6am), and the cylinder is 180 litre Mains Pressure. I have tripped the relief valves and tested shower flow and all is normal. The more I think about it I'm wondering if the cylinder is large enough considering the input of HP cold as soon as say, the kitchen tap is turned on, and of course it wont matter what the thermostat does because there's no power until 11pm. Am I barking up the wrong tree? I thought there used to be a booster system here in Christchurch where you could do a daytime boost, but have not been able to verify this.
Any help would be appreciated.
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so what does the shower flow at? whats normal?
use the water in the morn when its at hottest
check hot water temp
check for hot water pipe leaks
restrict flow at shower to minimum acceptable/fit 6lpm restrictors/some mixers have inbuilt flow restriction
mains pressure showers will chew through anywhere between 12L-20L+/min = 9L-15L+/min of hot water mixed = 1 x 20-25minute shower @ 38-42deg from a 180L hwc
the k.sink wont be the prob its only approx 1 dump of water @ 20L (unless there is a massive pipe run for draw off?)
the cylinder is large enough for 2 people - on average under normal well set up systems you would go through approx 50L per person/day
yes you can have a 4pm arvo boost
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Thanks for those points Intergrated...sorry for not stating the flow from the shower but its 11 litres p/m, and I'd been told the figs. you quoted before, so figured it was within normal margins. A couple of points you raise are worth following up though - the temp. (goddam so obvious!) and the arvo boost which I will follow up with Meridian & see what they can do, or perhaps I have to get my sparky to fit something. Anyway thanks heaps!
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No worries - 11L/min probably a little less than norm
fit 6L/min flow restrictor to the shower and you are pretty much doubling your hot water capacity for showers - as long as the plumbing is up to it you should be able to get away with it, then they would have 40-50min of hot water to use
I dont think they should need arvo boost unless they are doing all showering/cleaning @ night?
cheers, Integrated