Gas water heater

Would someone be able to explain to me how to use the gas water heater in my bathroom? I use a switch outside the room to turn it on, and then water has to be running in order for the heater to ignite. The problem is after that, I either has scolding hot water which I can't shower in, or if I try to turn on cold water to balance it out then it basically turns off and I'm back to a cold shower. This is VERY frustrating, I've been turning it off whenever I'm not using it because there's a visible flame, like I could roast a marshmallow or something, but should I be leaving it on to fill the tank?

I'm assuming you have two taps and not a mixer faucet. Had the same issue.


Some of the "instant" heaters seem to need a certain amount of "flow" in order to actually heat the water. If less than than flows through the heater, they don't ignite. The trick I used was to open the hot water tap fully, or at least so high that there are no hiccups. I would then leave the hot water tap alone and use the cold water tap to regulate the temperature.


"I've been turning it off whenever I'm not using it because there's a visible flame, like I could roast a marshmallow or something, but should I be leaving it on to fill the tank?"


It's a pilot flame. It uses very little gas and you can just leave it on. I'm assuming from your description that you have an "instant" heater as opposed to a tank one (you are getting hot water despite leaving the switch off). It's easy to tell since the instant ones are the size of an large old payphone and the tank ones have a big honking barrel shaped tank.

Wardrobe

Still having troubles with the hot shower?


I had a similar problem with the heaters in our former flat.

They had a temperature regulation knob, but even in the lowest setting, the water would be scolding hot, and if you tried to mix it with cold water, the flow of hot water would decrease and the safety flow sensor (which is usually set way too high) would cut the gas.


After trying everything short of taking the damn thing apart, the easiest solution I found was to simply open the washbasin hot water tap a little whenever I showered. That way I could lower the hot water flow at the shower tap and the overall flow through the heater was enough that it wouldn't cut the gas...


It did waste water a bit, but was better than showering in fear of getting the sudden cold wash.

I had exactly the same problem - but as I live on a high floor - water pressure was the issue. I reported it several times to the building management and they put a 'pump' on the waterpipes on the roof to boost the pressure - it solved my problem. Ask the building manager/management to take a look for you. Good Luck