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The water heater dip
tube, what it does, how do you know if it is bad, and how to
replace it.
The image above shows how a dip tube works. The dip tube is
the blue pipe on the right side of the water heater, notice that
it goes almost all the way to the bottom of the water heater.
The reason, is to force the cold water to the bottom and allow
the hot water to come out of the left side of the water heater,
notice there is no dip tube on the left side of the water
heater. This image is not to scale and not up to code, it's only
purpose is to show how the dip tube works. A water heater is
always full of water, it does not empty, then fill again, the
red in the tank represents hot water in the tank, the light blue
represents cold water coming in to the tank. The image shows the
tank going all the way from hot to cold, but if you have a water
heater with a good recovery, the water heater will be able to
keep heating the water, and prevent the water from ever getting
cold. Almost all water heaters have dip tubes, Gas, electric,
and oil fires, even indirect hot water makers have dip tubes,
there are some that don't, if the cold water line is connected
to the bottom of the water heater, there is no need for a dip
tube.
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The above image is a water heater with a broken dip tube
notice how the cold water goes over the hot water in the tank
and only allows the hot water above the break to go out into the
hot line, leaving all the rest of the hot water in the tank.
this is one of the reasons "NOT THE ONLY ONE" you may only have a few
minutes of hot water.
Other reasons you may only have 5
minutes of hot water
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