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Your water heater is one of those home appliances that’s easy to take for granted. You depend on it to give you comfortable showers, and to ensure you have enough warm water on hand to wash your dishes. And so long as your water heater is working as intended, you probably don’t think about it too much. It’s only when there’s a problem that your water heater suddenly becomes top-of-mind. One question that’s worth pausing to ponder: About how long does it take for your water heater to heat the water? Or, more to the point… how long should it take for your water heater to heat water? Let’s take a closer look at that question, beginning with a quick primer on how water heaters function. Hot Water Heaters 101There are a number of different types of water heaters: Tank and tankless, electric and gas. Tank water heaters have a dip tube, which draws cold water into the tank. In a gas water heater, this cold water is heated by a flame, which is located in the center of the tank. This creates exhaust, which is pushed up through the roof of your home. Tank water heaters that run on electricity employ a heating element, as opposed to a flame; they work in basically the same way, except they do not create exhaust and thus do not need any kind of ventilation. Tankless heaters actually work in the same way, heating water with either a flame or an electric heating source. The difference is that they heat water on demand, as opposed to storing heated water in a tank. How Long Does it Take for the Hot Water Heater to Do its Job?Now, let’s get back to the question at hand: About how long should it take your hot water heater to do its thing? For gas water heaters, it usually takes on average 30 to 40 minutes for the water in the tank to be completely heated. This may sound like a long time, but remember that the hot water heater stores its heated contents and sends them through the pipes as you need them; so, unless you’re running hot water around the clock, you should generally have water in the tank ready to go. Depending on how well your pipes are insulated, and how close the water heater is to your faucet or shower, it may take a few seconds or a few minutes for the hot water to make it from the tank to where you need it. Electric water heaters actually take about twice as long to do their job. You can anticipate that your electric hot water heater will need an hour or more to completely heat its tank. Tankless water heaters are a little different. They work on demand, which means they heat and supply you with water only when you need it. In theory, this should only take a minute or so. Generally, a tankless hot water heater works really well, unless everyone in the house is trying to get hot water at the same time, in which case you may run into some issues. Does Your Hot Water Heater Take Too Long?Now, what happens if your hot water heater is underperforming? What steps should you take to address a hot water heater that takes too long to heat water? Reasons for a Slow Hot Water HeaterWhether we’re talking about a gas heater or an electrical one, there are a few basic reasons why your hot water may be running slow.
Other Options for Speeding Up Your Hot WaterThere are a few additional steps you can consider for speeding up your hot water delivery, including the following.
These are just a few of the ways in which you can potentially get better results from your hot water heater. About Hot Water Recovery TimeOnce you deplete all of the water that’s in your water heater tank, it takes a certain amount of time for the heater to replenish. This is what’s known as the recovery time. (Of course, this is only relevant to tank heaters, not tankless ones). A number of factors can impact the recovery time of a water heater. These include the size of the tank, the type of fuel, and the temperature of the water that’s being heated. (Naturally, it takes a little longer for your unit to heat exceedingly cold water.) As you think about your hot water heater and its performance, these are some of the factors for you to bear in mind. And remember, there are almost always options to improve the efficiency of your unit. If you have any questions about your hot water heater’s performance, we welcome you to contact Carter’s My Plumber at any time. We provide water heater repair in Indianapolis, Fishers, Carmel and Greenwood Indiana. Schedule Your Appointment NowHow long does a water heater take to fully heat back up?The average gas heater takes between 30 and 40 minutes to fully heat up the water in its tank. The average electric heater takes about twice as long as the average gas heater to fully heat up the water in its tank, so you can expect it to take between an hour and an hour and 20 minutes to heat up.
How long does it take for a 50 gallon hot water heater to heat up?A 50-gallon electric unit will take about an hour and 45 to an hour and 50 minutes to heat up. For a large, 80-gallon electric water heater, it will take about 2 hours for the water to heat up.
How long does it take to get hot water after reset?Once you've reset the system, you have to wait for hot water (unless you have an on-demand water heater), but for how long? It depends on the size of the tank, but with any unit, you should be able to get in a hot shower with gas water heaters within 30-40 minutes and with electric tanks, about 60-90 minutes.
How long does it take for hot water to come back after relighting?How Long Will It Take to Get Hot Water Again? The average gas heater takes between thirty and forty minutes to heat a full tank of water. The exact time depends on the capacity. For comparison's sake: An electric heater takes at least an hour, usually up to 80 minutes, to warm up.
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