Whats up with my water heater (house hold)

[Harleyrider_50]

Thanks for the replies everyone. Yes I did that and he came up with this lame excuse that I must have ran my washer or did a load with the dish washer. He told me all is good with it I have hot water end of discussion even though in roughly 3 min it will run out in the shower and that he insists I turn the temp up to 160 and that will fix it

?.....Don't you do it..........from a libility standpoint....I would'n touch it......let him turn it up.....an' then.....


(an' nahhh.....it won't 'fix it'.....)

 

[woowoo2]

OP, this is why you rent. Send the landlord a letter, state that you do not have enough hot water to take a bath. Wait for him to fix it. If he does nothing, I would hire a plumber to fix it and deduct it from my rent.

 

[88GT]

OP, this is why you rent. Send the landlord a letter, state that you do not have enough hot water to take a bath. Wait for him to fix it. If he does nothing, I would hire a plumber to fix it and deduct it from my rent.

just know if you do this, OP, you can be evicted for non-payment. IC does not allow for this as a remedy. You do have the option of defending your non-payment with the landlord's refusal to fix the problem, in which case the judge may rule in your favor. But understand that your landlord can take action against you if you go this route. Your legal remedy is to sue him in court to compel him to fix it. All things considered, it will probably be cheaper to pay a plumber out of your own pocket though.

 

[singlestacksig]

contact your local health department.
http://www.hhcorp.org/hhc/images/HHCcode/housing_code_book.pdf
Sec. 10-401.
Every dwelling shall have a room or area in which food may be prepared
and cooked equipped with the following:
a) A kitchen sink in good working condition and properly connected
to an approved water supply and sewer system. The sink must
provide an adequate amount of water under pressure, both
unheated and heated to no more than 120°F.

 

[Cameramonkey]

Thanks for the replies everyone. Yes I did that and he came up with this lame excuse that I must have ran my washer or did a load with the dish washer. He told me all is good with it I have hot water end of discussion even though in roughly 3 min it will run out in the shower and that he insists I turn the temp up to 160 and that will fix it

AANND he has the nerve to call you a liar. Sounds like a real winner.

I suggest two things. First, print out the health dept code (The one shown by Singlestack is for Indianapolis, but Im sure South Bend area also has one.. give your county health dept a call to verify) , THEN the assumption of liability I suggested upthread. Show them to him both and hand him a pen to sign the second. After all, he is telling you to do two things: violate health codes, as well as jeopardize the safety of your children by making it easy to scald them.

Good luck!

 

[88GT]

AANND he has the nerve to call you a liar. Sounds like a real winner.

I suggest two things. First, print out the health dept code (The one shown by Singlestack is for Indianapolis, but Im sure South Bend area also has one.. give your county health dept a call to verify) , THEN the assumption of liability I suggested upthread. Show them to him both and hand him a pen to sign the second. After all, he is telling you to do two things: violate health codes, as well as jeopardize the safety of your children by making it easy to scald them.

Good luck!

And keep your eye out for the eviction letter.

 

[OnGuard]

What is the dip tube and what does it do?

This is a pretty good video explaining what the dip tube does and how it is replaced.

How to repair a weak hot water heater, by replacing the dip tube - YouTube

 

[rgrimm01]

Who would be paying to heat this water to 160°?

 

[HDSilvrStreak]

Check on the sticker to see when it was manufactured. There was a big recall of nearly all water heaters that were manufactured in the late 90s due to faulty dip tubes. You're past the time to do anything about the recall or receive any consideration. However, if it is from that time, pretty sure the dip tube is the issue.

Sometimes the only way to get anything done is to threaten legal action. If you know a lawyer, maybe just a call or letter from them would be sufficient to make the landlord see the issue.

Also, maybe have the landlord meet you immediately after work, when he knows no laundry or dishes have been done, to experience the issue.

 

[bowtie]

Who would be paying to heat this water to 160°?

I told him that as seeing this problem started about a month ago my electric bill has gone up about 20 bucks so I know for a fact that the heater is working harder just to maintain 120 degrees it would jump even more if I bumped it to 160 which I am not going to do

 

[Rookie]

Have you considered burning the house down?

 

[Bunnykid68]

Have you considered burning the house down?

I'm on it

 

[Rookie]

Reported.

 

[Hop]

And keep your eye out for the eviction letter.

Evicted for what exactly? I'm sure you keep up with your rental properties but there's a lot of penny pinching do nothing landlords out there.

My 1st gas water heater lasted a LONG time. ~18 years! I didn't even know you were supposed to flush them out every year to get rid of the scale buildup. I never flushed mine. I'll bet this one we're talking about in this thread doesn't flush at all. I'll bet the drain at the bottom is stuck &/or breaks off if turned. Mine was so caked up with scale that it just dribbled.

OP, have the landlord do a tank flush. I'll bet that plastic drain at the bottom breaks off. You'll then get a new water heater.

 

[88GT]

Evicted for what exactly? I'm sure you keep up with your rental properties but there's a lot of penny pinching do nothing landlords out there.

My 1st gas water heater lasted a LONG time. ~18 years! I didn't even know you were supposed to flush them out every year to get rid of the scale buildup. I never flushed mine. I'll bet this one we're talking about in this thread doesn't flush at all. I'll bet the drain at the bottom is stuck &/or breaks off if turned. Mine was so caked up with scale that it just dribbled.

OP, have the landlord do a tank flush. I'll bet that plastic drain at the bottom breaks off. You'll then get a new water heater.

Take your pick. A landlord that is going to make a tenant continue to use a faulty water heater--in possible violation of the law and local health codes--isn't going to have much to keep him from doing what he wants in other areas. And a tenant that starts to dictate terms and policies of renting the unit is going to royally **** off a landlord. I won't tolerate a tenant who presumes to tell me how to run my business or under what terms we'll be operating.

On a side note, those of you making all these suggestions are clearly missing the point: the landlord isn't going to do anything more.

 

[bowtie]

Take your pick. A landlord that is going to make a tenant continue to use a faulty water heater--in possible violation of the law and local health codes--isn't going to have much to keep him from doing what he wants in other areas. And a tenant that starts to dictate terms and policies of renting the unit is going to royally **** off a landlord. I won't tolerate a tenant who presumes to tell me how to run my business or under what terms we'll be operating.

On a side note, those of you making all these suggestions are clearly missing the point: the landlord isn't going to do anything more.

Im sure if one of your tenants has an issue with an appliance that you provided you will fix it right? Or get it fixed

 

[88GT]

Im sure if one of your tenants has an issue with an appliance that you provided you will fix it right? Or get it fixed

That isn't the point.

 

[bowtie]

That isn't the point.

Yes it is the point. You are saying you wont tolerate a tenant who dictates the policy well it wouldn't come to that point if the land lord would do his job and fix the provided appliance now would it?

 

[atvdave]

Bowtie... it really sounds like your dip tube has rusted through, or is broken. Replacing the dip tub if very easy, if the tech did not find anything wrong all he probably did was test it electrically, and if gas made sure the gas was working. Personally I would not try to repair it (even though it very easy to do) as you could be responsible for any damages caused my your work, but I would tell my slumlord that you are 95% certain that's it's a dip tub problem and if he could please get a tech to check it out. Good luck.

 

[88GT]

Yes it is the point. You are saying you wont tolerate a tenant who dictates the policy well it wouldn't come to that point if the land lord would do his job and fix the provided appliance now would it?

Tell me again how discussing how I run my business is relevant to your situation then.