I take long hot showers after bike rides, so I’m used to the feeling of the water going cold in a shower. What’s interesting to me is that this happens fairly quickly, seemingly toward the end of the supply of water that was hot when you began showering.
But i’ve been thinking about boilers and it’s not clear to me how this works. It occurred to me that maybe the tank only begins refilling with cool water from the pipes once it runs low — but the tanks in most places I have lived are in the basement and don’t have obvious pumps attached. If the tank weren’t full I don’t think you’d be able to maintain constant water pressure upstairs. At the same time, the hot water seems to stay hot for 30+ minutes, even as the tank is presumably refilling itself with cold city water. How does this work? Thanks!
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Alright here is how water heaters work. The hot water pipe is attached to a port in the top of the tank so your hot water is drawn off the top. The cold water pipe inlet has a dip tube. This takes the cold water to the bottom of the tank and prevents mixing as you use hot water. The top of the dip tube has a small hole in it to prevent back siphonage if there is a break in the cold water line.
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