For the last 6 months, our water has been getting gradually hotter. It is a 9 year old Suburban 10 gal. model. I used to be able to take showers with just hot water, no cold. Nice and steamy. My wife couldn't tolerate it, and always had to temper with cold water. Now, I have to start adding cold water too. My wife said she noticed it also, so it is not just my skin getting sensitive.

I checked the bypass valves. How should they be set? The top (hot) is open (parallel), the vertical line that connects hot and cold (bypass?) is open (parallel), but the bottom valve on the cold line is at a 45 degree angle. Could this be the problem? Should it be on or off (parallel or perpendicular)?

The rig has never been fully winterized since we full-time in it, but the cold valve could have been bumped by stuff under the sink.

This is in a '99 TS Express 36RLTSO.

Thanks.....Steve

I would open the valves all the way and try that. You could have a problem with the shower mixing valve or could have calcium build up in shower head or mixing valve for that matter.
If its to hot some have opened the bypass valve to allow more cold water to mix with the hot water.

The valve on the cold water line going into the bottom of the water heater should be parallel with the pipe. The same is true for the Hot water line coming out of the tank. The line interconnecting should have the valve in the perpendicular to the pipe position. Once you have this set and it has cycled on and off, check the temperature of the hot water at a faucet. It should be around 130 degrees. Let us know what you find.

Thanks for the help guys. Sorry for the delay, but been really busy lately. Found out the cold valve was at about 45* to the inlet pipe. Half open, half closed. Must have gotten bumped. Anyway, opened it all the way and seems to have helped. Another thing we did was to re-route the outside supply hose to behind the tires and into the shade a bit. It lays along the south side of the trailer and gets lots of sun. Who knows, we may have invented a water heater pre-heater!!!

Thanks again.