Hot Water everywhere EXCEPT the Shower??

DH and I are new homeowners. Our house has no problem getting SCALDING hot water in the sinks, including our bathroom. But our showers are freezing! The water gets hot in the beginning for about a minute and then it's lukewarm at best even with the temperature turned up all the way. We're not very handy at all, so we're kind of clueless with what to do here. We have oil heating the water and to the best of my knowledge we don't have a separate water heater. Should we call the oil company or a plumber or something? Any advice is very much appreciated! Thanks!

Re: Hot Water everywhere EXCEPT the Shower??

we have that problem in the winter. If the heat clicks on right before one of us gets up in the am there is usually no hot water for the shower.

We installed a timer thermostat so that the heat comes up early enough for the hot water to replenish itself and one of us showers at night. We are going to install a tankless heater at some point.

Re: Hot Water everywhere EXCEPT the Shower??

Do you have a seperate Hot Water Heater? We do and have NO problems. It holds a large amount og hot water in reserve so you do not run out.

Re: Hot Water everywhere EXCEPT the Shower??

Thank you for responding! We'll definitely check into a thermostat and a hot water heater. Whatever it takes so long as we don't have to go through the whole winter taking cold showers

Thanks again!

Re: Hot Water everywhere EXCEPT the Shower??

it may be a valve problem with your shower we had a similar problem when we first bought our house

my dh changed the shower head and it improved - we only needed a temporary fix becasue we gutted our house 6 months later - but it was a cheap option to try - replacement shower heads from HD are pretty cheap -$20 - and come with everything you need usually

Re: Hot Water everywhere EXCEPT the Shower??

I had that same problem last year, we had moved into our house in the summer and when the winter came my showers were cold.

I had called our oil company and told them I have no hot water when he came he explained that when I take a shower to make sure that the thermostat is turned downed so no heat comes on.

No problems anymore...

Re: Hot Water everywhere EXCEPT the Shower??

We had that problem last year. DH had to install a hot water heater, and since, we haven't had any problems.

It cost around $700 for him to do it himself, and there is a tax incentive to do it.

Re: Hot Water everywhere EXCEPT the Shower??

how old is the boiler?

do you have any idea on the capacity of the hot water tank inside the boiler?

How long does the hot water last?

it could be that the tank is undersized for the house to provide enough hot water.... if thats the case, low-flow shower heads MAY improve it slightly.... but you might want to consider a separate hot water heater.

Re: Hot Water everywhere EXCEPT the Shower??

I just put in a hot water heater due to the same problems. The coils that heat up the water are probably shot. The hot water was just put in and we have no problems. We paid 1300 for it...if u want who we used ill give u the info..fm me..
I'm very happy we did this b/c every time we had to take a shower we would put the heat up and we were wasting oil and we would have to run the water for a little bit in the shower for it to get hot, so we were wasting water too.

The tax credit is 30% of the cost of the installation and water heater...If your goin to do then now is the time

Re: Hot Water everywhere EXCEPT the Shower??

Thank you for all of the responses! Looks like a hot water heater would be a good idea for us