hot water taking over 4 minutes

Someone needs to determine where the pipes are running. I suspect that the water line to the kitchen sink may be running through pipes attached to an exterior wall, where all the heat in the water will be transferred to the wall before reaching the sink. Routing the pipes away from the wall would solve that problem.

Did you think there was a solution to this problem that would not involve a plumber?

JohnB is our resident plumber. Hopefully he will add his two cents.

Valve check is one good idea. Also, make sure there is no kink in the hose to her faucet.

When we first moved into our upper floor condo, all water got hot fast except for the hot water to my bathroom sink. Looked in the cabinet under my sink and sure enough, the hose from my sink to the hot water shut-off valve was slightly kinked. Problem solved. No plumber needed!

Thank you. Getting multiple quotes is something we can do. We can pay for a plumbing diagnosis, I am just concerned the repairs may be more than we can afford at this time.

But I know many times I have been concerned with how much a repair to my car would cost and when I finally took it to the shop it was something simple to fix. I hope that is the case with this problem.

It is probably a combination of both the owner and the HOA. The fix I saw on Ask This Old House shows a good way to address this issue. The owner may need to install a device that basically acts as a "reserve tank" for their unit. Although it's not actually a tank. I wish I could recall all the details. So the owner may have to share in the expense or be willing to have something installed taking up under counter space. The solution may take working with each other to compromise. The HOA may allow the fix to be done but not pay for it. The owner may pay for the equipment they may need in their unit. It really depends on what the final repair is decided on then compromise from there.

You are referring to a (generally) 2.5 gallon 'point of use' water heater.

Said installation would involve electric work as it requires an independent circuit.

BonnieG1,

You wrote that you checked for hot water at the kitchen first and then at the bathroom sink?

To get some additional information, perhaps next time check for hot water first at the bathroom sink and see how long it takes.

And then when there is hot water at the bathroom sink, then check the kitchen faucet for hot water and see how long it takes.

But start the testing from scratch – that is wait for perhaps an hour or two, or even longer after any hot water to either faucet.

Also what about the bathtub faucet and/or shower head? And here again only making the test, when no hot water has been used at any faucet, bathroom or kitchen, for several hours or so.

And as just posted – what about the flow rate? Is it about the same for both kitchen and bathroom faucets?

Thanks for all the replies. I appreciate everyone and will forward some to our PM. The water heaters for all units are in our mechanical room on the first floor. There is no individual water heater for each unit.

also remove any 'add on' spray attachment or aerator on the spout

trust me

test the faucet from a 'cold start' WITH ANY AERATOR OR SWIVEL SPRAY ATTACHMENT REMOVED

Go to http://www.gothotwater.com/

They have a "demand recirculator" that can use existing cold water piping as a return.

Total installed cost should be less than $500 (but unless the kitchen is on another water system from the bathroom, you will be very pleased).

Have used one on my home for last 10 years (push button on vanity, pump comes on, warm water sensed at sink and pump shuts off. open sink faucet and instant hot water).

I don't know where you get the idea a recirculater is worthless junk. I have one and its great. You state it still take the same amount of time. Of course it does, but you aren't waiting and wasting water.
I have A RedyTemp, one of several brands on the market, but after much research, I found it to be the best one. Installs under your sink in a few minutes. It senses when the temp you pre-select is reached, and shuts off, so it doesn't run all the time. It also comes with a timer you can set for the times most needed. If you shower every morning at 6 am, set the timer to come on and run from 5:45 unto 6:30. If you want to to run multiple time a day, set the timer to run at those times.
I'm retirted so my hot water times of need come at different times every day, so I use a different method. When I know I want to take a shower, I hit the button on my remote switch, and by the time I'm ready to shower, the waters hot. When I get out of the shower, I flick the switch and the circulater is off.
It's a great time saving, energy saving, water saving system that I wouldn't be without, and for someone to say it's worthless junk, it tells me that poster has no idea of which they speak.
I live in the drought stricken So Calif desert where water is precious, and I no longer have to watch five minutes of gold going down the drain before I can take a shower.
http://www.redytemp.com/ Try it, you'll like it...!!!

The systems you describe would be wonderful, unfortunately at this point, that would require tearing down the building and re plumbing it. I'm thinking that isn't going to happen.
The main complaint in this instance would be the waiting and water wasting, which would be eliminated with a cost in energy so insignificant at to not be noticed. Once the system is up to speed, you're recirculating warm water, not cold water, and it's only running for an hour or so a day, at a maximum.
As a plumber with 40 years of experience, you should be aware of how valuable an asset they can be. You lost 40 years of extra income and 40 years of happy customers by being stubborn...

It could be something very simple like a defective mixer valve on the Kitchen sink faucet. You should check the amount of time it takes for the hot water to flow out of the bathroom sink first after giving the system a chance to cool down. That way you would be able to compare the difference between the temperature flow at the kitchen and bathroom. The fact that you checked the bathroom after the kitchen only means that hot water had migrated from the heater to the apartment when the kitchen was checked so naturally it showed up faster in the bathroom.