Should I replace the water heater?

Question

Tenant keeps making complaints and is annoying the crap out of me. This is for an older home with approx 1,300 sqft and 1 bathroom with 6 people living in it. When I bought the home it had a 25 gal water heater and we upgraded it to a 50 gallon water heater. And now the tenant is requesting a bigger one. She says it is not adequate for their family size. I'm not sure if I'm being a slumlord or if I have a legitimate reason to be annoyed. Am I legally or ethically compelled to get a bigger water heater? Let me know what you think. What would you do?

Greg M. · Answer

I would let her know that she is correct, the water heater is too small for her family size, but it is fine for the size of the house.

Of course, expect the tenant to leave at the end of the lease.

Kyle J. · Answer

Well there you go.  That was exactly my point.  6 people are just not going to be able to take a shower within the hour while they're running a load of laundry and the dishwasher.  That's just not realistic.

Here's a worksheet from energy.gov to give you a ROUGH idea of what you would need based on that usage:

If you do the math, 6 showers in an hour + a load of laundry and a dishwasher cycle would be 73 gallons of hot water.  So you'd need about an 80 gallon hot water heater.  That's not realistic for a tenant to expect you to install that large of a water heater in a 1300 sf, 3 bdrm, 1 bath house.  Your tenant's needs are just too great and they need to learn how to conserve hot water, or space out the demands on the existing hot water heater.

One final point to help you out...the reason you're not finding much in your online searching for laws that address what is "adequate" when it comes to this, is because there is no law that addresses it specifically (at least not in California, where it appears you're located).

The basic law you need to comply with is the Implied Warranty of Habitability.  You can find a list of the conditions you must ensure are met in order for the property to be considered legally livable (and by default, rentable) under California Civil Code 1941.1.  For example, the property must have hot water, but it doesn't say anything about needing to provide hot water for 6 people to take a shower within a single hour while they run a load of laundry and the dishwasher.

So you're good.

Joe Splitrock · Answer

@Shelley Sheri I am surprised nobody asked if it is gas or electric, because that makes a big difference. Recovery time is just as important as gallon size when it comes to water heaters. Gas has a faster recovery time than electric. That means to service the same number of people, the electric tank needs to be bigger. Gas BTU or electric Watts are also a factor. You could have two tanks that are both 50 gallons and the one with higher BTU or Watts will reheat water faster. As you are using water, the tank is reheating it, so rate of reheating (recovery time) is critical.

Here is chart to give you an idea of how many people each size tank in gas or electric can support:

I wouldn't replace the tank, because a 50 gallon gas or eclectic should support a 3 bedroom / 1 bath home. Here are some suggestions to get better results:

1. Turn the temperature up on the tank. Proceed with caution, because this can be considered a safety hazard due to scalding risk. Higher tank temperature makes the hot water go further.

2. Recommend that they not take baths. Baths use way more water than showers.

3. Suggest that they split showers, so some people take them in the morning and some at night.

4. Suggest that they take shorter showers.

5. Install a low flow shower head. This will could cut the amount of water used in half, so a 20 minute shower uses only as much water as a 10 minute did before replacing the flow head.

6. Be aware that colder weather outside affects water heater recovery. When it is colder outside, the temperature of the cold water is lower, which means it take more heat to warm it. This slows recovery time.

7. Washing machine is another major consumer of hot water. Suggest they use cold wash cycles or upgrade to a front load washer.

I grew up in a household of five sharing a 40 gallon gas tank and we ran out of hot water all the time. It got worse when my sisters were teenagers. We had to limit shower time and setup schedules to allow the water to recover. The point is that the water heater is not the problem. It is sized correctly for the number of bedrooms and bathrooms. The family needs to solve the problem by limiting and timing water usage.

Renee Casey · Answer

I have 3 to 4 bedroom homes with a 40 gal tank and we don't have any issues. It's RARE for a property to have a 50 gal tank.

Renee Casey · Answer

Does your lease have a per bedroom occupancy limit? That is a lot of people in a 1 bedroom. A 50 gal hot water tank is a SUFFICIENT tank! I don't think you are being unreasonable by not wanting to replace the tank. Normal tank is 40 gal for the properties we manage.

Jill F. · Answer

That's a lot of people for a one bedroom. For an apartment that size 40 gallon should be adequate for that size APARTMENT. Most of my two bedrooms have 40 gallon tanks which is usually fine for the 3-4 people you usually have in a two bedroom. The fact that they've decided to cram that many people into a one bedroom is the bigger problem, that's a lot of wear and tear on your property. Does the building code where you are have some sort of occupancy limit? I would not replace the tank, I would non-renew as soon as covid is done and only offer to continue m2m if their lease expires before the eviction moratorium ends.

Tracy Streich · Answer

@Shelley SheriThat is plenty for a 1 bath place.   Tell them you cannot change it out and they are free to move it helps them out.   Maybe they will just go.

Kyle J. · Answer

@Shelley Sheri  The size of the family is not the ONLY thing to take into consideration.  It's also HOW and WHEN they use the hot water.  50 gallons could be more than adequate if they space out their showers.  Or 50 gallons (or even possibly a larger size) could be completely inadequate if they all try to take showers one right after the other while running a load of laundry and the dishwasher at the same time.  See my point?

The way I see it, you've already upgraded and doubled the size of the water heater once.  They now have some ability (and responsibility) to control HOW and WHEN they use the hot water that would make this water heater work for their needs.  Consequently, I personally would not put in another new water heater.

Even if you did put in a larger water heater, there's no guarantee that they wouldn't still use it in a manner that would put you right back in this same position (them complaining about a lack of available hot water when they need/want it on demand).  So, to me, it's just not something I'd be willing to do.

Perhaps they just won't be happy in this property and for BOTH of your sanity it's best to part ways and offer to let them out of their lease (if there is one).  However, advise that that if they stay it will be with the knowledge that you will not be replacing the water heater.

Just my two cents. Good luck.

Jason Merchey · Answer

Sheesh, fifty gallons of hot water is no small amount. What does one shower take, 25 maybe? Do they have it turned up past the little "recommended" setting so that the water is very hot, which means there would be less needed to warm water up to like 150 degrees. If this doesn't do it, I would say the odds are a) it's defective, b) they are trying to get your goat, or c) they really need a regular flow shower head.

Julie Hartman · Answer

I think the only way to alleviate the issue would be to install an on-demand system but that would cost $$$$. With that said, if the current unit is working then no reason to replace it.

Should I replace the water heater?

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