We have 2 40 gallon electric Water heaters in Parallel on opposite sides of house. The amount of hot water we are getting from shower time for example leads me to believe we are only getting 40 gallons worth and not 80. Can they even be plumbed in parallel not directly next to each other? Should temperatures be set same or one less/more. I understand in series it can be beneficial to have 1st tank lower but I’m not sure. The second water heater was an add on when the master was redone. Thanks for any help or suggestions!
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2Do the hot water pipes actually connect anywhere? Or are they two separate branches?– manassehkatz-Moving 2 CodidactCommented Mar 18 at 3:07
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They don’t connect, two separate branches. My farther in law said to make a slight restriction with the valve on hot water heater that is used more but not sure if that will work. Very odd setup,– Spanky69Commented Mar 18 at 3:54
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You could turn the temperature up on both tanks if you have pressure balance valves in the showers.– RMDmanCommented Mar 18 at 11:44
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Can put a tempering valve right on the water heater, and set it hotter without scalding at any output. In any case, this does not seem to be set up in parallel, and it would be difficult to set it up in parallel (to work well) with the heaters on the opposite side of the house (at minimum there would be a long patch of cooled water in the pipe between them.)– EcnerwalCommented Mar 18 at 12:21
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When you say the two are in parallel do you mean that both WHs contribute hot water to every hot water delivery point in the house? This would never done in original construction AFIK, but with a remodel maybe. First thing would be to see if this is the case. This should be easy to check. Does each heater have a shutoff valve for the cold water inlet? Shut off the inlet to one of the heaters and see if you get flow from all the hot water faucets in the house.– Jim StewartCommented Mar 18 at 21:07
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1 Answer
If they are truly separate then there after the hot water runs out in one tank, then you would still have hot water from the taps connected to the other hot water tank.
Or on other words, you can have a hot shower in the master bathroom even after the hot water ran out in one of the other bathrooms.
If the hot water branches are sanely distributed then that's perfectly reasonable.
answered Mar 18 at 12:24
