Hot water taking too long to get to faucet

[SRQLI]

Just moved into a newly built house a few days ago. This morning, we gave up trying to get hot water into our master bath after 30 minutes of waiting. The water from the cold tap was pretty much equivalent to the water from the hot - both cool (We are in FL). We have a tankless water heater (A O Smith 510) and the tank was purposely placed on the wall right outside the master bath so it would be close. Turned the water on upstairs, and about 5 minutes later, we had hot water coming from tap. THen went back to master bath, and there was hot water within a minute. But then, only an hour later, again tried to get hot water in MB, and it took 2 minutes for the water to begin to get warm, but then a blast of cold water came out and 8 minutes later, hot water showed up. But it didn't last - after about 30 seconds, it was cold again, and stayed that way for several minutes until it just became lukewarm, but I gave up at that point and just turned it off. On the other side of the house (maybe 60 ft away), we never got anything more than lukewarm water. On those instances where we did have hot water, it was really hot. But it never lasted. Showering was an adventure. There are absolutely no controls on the hot water heater. It is run by a remote, which we were never given by the builder, so we can't even attempt to adjust the heater. But I doubt the heater itself is the problem. Any ideas? THANKS

[None]

A newly built house should have a warranty. Call the people you bought it from and ask them to resolve the issue.

[trader_4]

First thing I'd do is go to that tankless water heater, remove any covers as needed, so you can see it firing or not. As soon as the water flows, it should immediately fire up. Make sure the gas line valve is fully open. It's even possible they installed it with an inadequate gas supply line. I guess a lesser possibility is they have some plumbing pipes crossed up or something, but that seems less likely than a problem with the heater.

I also agree with the other poster, if this is a new house, I'd call the seller, builder, etc. The heater has a warranty and they should either get the plumber back or tell you how to proceed. Also, new homes around here typically have a warranty on everything for at least a short period of time from the builder.

[Fred McKenzie]

Srqli-

I doubt the heater has a remote control. It should fire-up automatically as soon as water flows.

From your description of the problem, the hot water heater is not working properly. Near the heater you should have a continuous supply of hot water within seconds, not minutes. At a greater distance it might take longer to get hot, but the supply should be continuous.

Why don't you get the builder to fix the problem? You may need a lawyer.

Fred

[trader_4]

Good point. I said it should fire immediately. Besides firing, the water should be hot like you say within seconds and then stay hot. It shouldn't be varying.

At a greater distance it

[Terry Coombs]

  I'm betting there's a proportioning valve in the system that's malfunctioning ... can't have water hot enough to scald except at the dishwasher these days .

[Art Todesco]

I'm guessing here that a single handle faucet might be malfunctioning and letting cold flow to the hot. I've seen this to a much lesser degree in my previous house. As others have said, it's a warranty issue, but if you want to troubleshoot it, try this. Using the shut off valve under each sink, turn off the cold. It might not be (but could be) the faucet where you were experiencing the problem, but probably one in the area. BTW, as it is a new house, it could be a plumbing problem where a drunk plumber somehow hooked hot to cold.

[makolber]

or hooked in backwards...

m