Hot water issue. Please advise!

[CTyankee]

I have a gas hot water heater. Just yesterday I noticed having to turn the hot water up in the upstairs shower and sink to get the water warm enough for showers and handwashing. Downstairs, in the kitchen, the hot water is fine. There's no indication that the hot water heater in the basement is malfunctioning (no leaking onto the floor). It almost sounds like an issue of the pipes between the first and second floor of the house.

THis has never happened before...what could be the problem?

[Curmudgeoness]

1. I will not be able to help you, but

if you put just hot water on, is it running as fast as it did in the past, or is it more of a drizzle than before. When I had a new hot water heater put in, something got into the pipe to my kitchen and the pressure was reduced.

If I were you, I would cross post this into DIY---those people are awesome. So much knowledge there.

[CTyankee]

2. I think I know the problem. It was gone this morning when I went to shower but I recall that

I had accidenttally failed to completely turn off the bathroom faucet yesterday and it probably used up a fair amount of hot water by the time I heard it drip and turned it completely off. Dumb of me...

[Curmudgeoness]

3. Well, that was an easy fix.

I never have problems that can be solved that easily. Good for you.

[CTyankee]

4. With the help of my husband's buddy, who is a retired plumber...he told me that a drip

can result in a LOT of water being wasted. It could have been over a time when we were out and didn't notice...oh, well, better that than a plumbing problem...

[RebelOne]

5. I have done that. Last week I didn't have any hot water

in my bathroom. Found out that I had left the hot water running in the kitchen. I felt really dumb.

[CTyankee]

6. Actually, since I originally posted this thread the problem reoccurred and it was NOT from a leak.

The water just wasn't all that hot. Then, the next day, it was fine again and has been so now for a few days.

My conclusion is that I have a malfunctioning hot water heater. It is getting old and I think sometimes it just may not do its thing very well. I keep checking it expecting any day to see the telltale pool of water around it on the floor, the sign that it has given up the ghost. But that is not the case. However, it may soon be.

[LauraNb]

7. Have you 'bled' the radiators recently?

Could it be air in the pipes? We've had problems with radiators not working properly and this has fixed it.

[CTyankee]

8. we don't have radiator pipes. We have forced air. Oil heat (altho I've often thought of

changing to gas heat since we have gas hookup in the city. But this is an old house (built in 1941, right before WW2 when we stopped building houses for the war's duration).