<p>We have one of those <em>huge</em> corner tubs that were popular in new house construction in the late 1990’s. One child used it as a swimming pool when small. It has never been used as a tub since then. I asked the builder for a larger hot water heater and he said they didn’t make them. (was the early point when we trusted contractors…) Ours is 40 gal LP and it won’t fill the tub.</p>
<p>During the winter months I use it once in a while to clean large things I’d do outside during the summer. That is the only thing that keeps me from tearing it out.</p>
<p>If you like/use the tub, I think tankless is the way to go.</p>
<p>I have a 42 gallon storage tank, and my boiler heats the water for it. My boiler is something like 130,000 BTU so the recovery time is ridiculous, something like 150 gallons per hour. We have never run out of hot water, taking showers one at a time.</p>
<p>If you crank the temp up high enough (like 140 degrees) a 50 gallon tank would produce 90 gallons of 100 degree water (assuming an input temp of 50 degrees).</p>
<p>140 is unsafe though, a more reasonable temp of 125 would produce 75 gallons at 100 degrees.</p>
<p>So a 50 gallon tank is going to be barely adequate unless you crank up the temp.It will leave nothing to refresh the tub though.</p>
<p>DStark: Now I feel like I have to explain my 100-gallon heater. It wasn’t my idea. The previous owner was a commercial real estate developer; my guess is that our hot water heater would normally be used for small apartment buildings, which is what he built. However… I love it.</p>
<p>I second, or third, or whatever the tankless suggestion. We have one of those corner tubs and use it several times a week. Never run out of hot water.</p>
<p>I raised the temperature of the heater…and I think that will do the trick for the initial water in the bath. Refilling may be a problem. I am not sure yet.</p>
<p>I am sure I would love a tank of 100 gallons.</p>
<p>I have the same problem with a whirlpool tub, I have a 60 right now, Home Depot goes to 70 I believe. I am going to try the trick of turning the water temp up, we don’t have young children any more.</p>
<p>I looked into the tankless heaters and they are not as great as claimed, you have to be careful (consumer reports has some decent info on their web site, plus I talked to Home Depot about it). Among other things, Consumer Reports and other home magazines said the energy savings may be dubious. More importantly, it depends on where you live, the continuous systems like that have problems bringing water up to temperature in colder climates, they seem to work better in places like Florida where the groundwater temp is not that low. </p>
<p>The other downside is the cost, they are very expensive to install compared to a standard unit. The units themselves are not that expensive, but with installation I was quoted between 3500 and 5000 dollars, and I already have a natural gas hot water heater, the flu is right there and so forth. These units don’t vent well, and require an active venting system to be installed (basically fan driven) plus need electricity brought to it for the fan and for the ignition, which is why it is so expensive. Given the cost savings CU projected, I suspect for most users it would take a long time to recoup the cost.</p>
<p>We have a 50 gal. It is normally set at about the temperature I like to shower. When we have a houseful (holidays and football weekends) with eight adults we just warn everyone that the hot water is very hot, turn it up and never have a problem. We considered a tankless (our utility room is very small), but I can’t remember why we didn’t go that route.</p>
<p>We have a 40 gallon and there is not enough hot water to cover the jets on the jacuzzi, at least not as hot as I like it. I looked into a bigger tank and discovered the issue and expense would be the venting and the size of the pipes, that change could be very expensive.</p>
<p>Does anyone notice that the heat of the water varies over the time of day? I swear it is not consistent, but sometimes the hot water from the hot water only tap would be too hot to touch, other times I use 100% only the hot water tap and it is not even hot enough. I have taken any restrictors out of the shower, but still, sometimes the hot water is tepid.</p>
<p>We have recirculating hot water, which is lovely, but I get really grumpy when I look forward to a hot bath or hot shower and end up with tepid water. I do ensure no one else is bathing, doing dishes, or laundry.</p>
<p>^ How old is your tank? There could be several problems with your water heater.</p>
<ul>
<li><p>The control that sets the hysteresis curve may be malfunctioning. It may be letting the water in the tank cool off too much before kicking back on to heat it back up.</p></li>
<li><p>The cold water supply pipe within the tank may have corroded off. When this happens, the cold water enters the tank at the top rather than the bottom, cooling off the hot water at the top (giving you tepid water) but not cooling off the water at the bottom so that the heater comes on.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>somemom-
That could be caused by a lot of things. If the hot water heater is older, it may take it a while to heat a tank of water once hot water is used up, so you may experience tepid water if for example someone took a long shower not too long back, and it is struggling to catch up (and if it is electric, they tend to take a lot longer to heat the water).It could also be the thermostat the tank is going fluky and the water is not necessarily heating to a consistent temperature (one thing i recommend, try moving the dial back and forth on the thermostat on the water heater then set the temp a bit higher, and see if that helps).</p>
<p>Also, have you flushed the tank anytime in the recent past? If not, attach a hose to the output spigot, and flush the tank (you should turn off the hot water, turn the thermostat to the off position), hopefully you have a drain or window you can run the water off from. Sediment and such can build up in the heater, and by flushing it it will run better. I usually flush it until the water runs cold, then flush for another 1/2 hour or so.</p>
<p>Hopefully one or the other will help this. My unit doesn’t recirculate it, so I am not sure if there is something unique with that.</p>