Water heater Problem

[luvglass]

We normally keep the Suburban 10 gallon water heater on electric only and just turn on the gas when we want a quick recovery. Lately the electric hasn't been heating the water very hot and the wife runs out at shower time. After 2 hours it recovers, but it doesn't seem as hot as it should be and if we add gas it gets much hotter.
Any idea what may be going on here?
Thanks,

[mikestock]

You may want to have a new 1500 watt heating element handy when you go into the heater. They are not very expensive and available at HD or Lowes. They also carry a, not too expensive, thin wall socket to extract and replace the element.

[YamaDooed]

Could be some scale build up on heating element or you may have a leaky bypass or check valve on your heater. Which maybe more noticeable on the electric heating operation only side of the heater. I've always used gas to heat the water and electric to keep it heated along with turning both gas and electric on initially to speed up heating or back to back showers.

[JaxDad]

Ditto on the drain & flush suggestion.

When I did mine after purchase I was amazed at the amount of very fine sand and clay that came out of mine. When I first pulled the drain plug no water came out, the layer of sediment was thicker than the height of the drain plug! I had to use an air line to blow it clear first, then use back washing and air combination to get it agitated to make it run out.

[Don___Carolyn]

That sounds similar to what happened to us a few weeks ago. We use electric for the heater when we are at a campsite. We had our heating element replaced. We have hot water now!

[BigDaddyHfx]

Thanks. Its 4 AM and we're camping 1200 km from home with only propane powered hot water. Can't wait for the sun to come up so I can check out the steps in the guide. I do have a multimeter with me but if I need to replace the element I'll have to wait until I get home next week.

[luvglass]

Thanks, that will help.

[shane772]

looks like a great guide, thanks old-biscuit!

[Old-Biscuit]

2 hour recovery on electric is way slow--should be closer to 20-25 mins.

How often do you drain/flush/rinse WH tank?
Change anode rod?

Electric elements work or don't BUT their ability to transfer heat can be greatly affected by scale/calcium build up.
Loose connections on element and on t-stats along with a loose t-stat can affect heating.

Here is a well written troubleshooting guide for Suburban WHs.
It is written in 'layman' language........LINK

[mlts22]

Burners lose effectiveness over time. It might be time to get a new heating element (and a 1.5 inch socket to pull it out such as the Camco 09883 socket.) Replacement isn't too bad a job (several YouTube vids on this.)

[2oldman]

Normal. Gas is much hotter.. have no idea why.