Does anyone know why we have less hot water in winter?

In the warm months, all 6 of us can take showers in the morning, no problem. In the cold months (like now), the hot water runs out after 2-3 showers.

Our hot water heater is in the basement, in a room tempurature room, not near any walls. We just had a complete home inspection in August before moving into our home. We asked about a water heater blanket and the inspector told us it wouldn't do much since the water heater is already in a warm place. As far as I can see, the pipes do not run along the outside walls.

This may be a no brainer question for you all but I don't understand.

 

The temperature of the cold water coming into your house is lower in the winter, so you need to mix more hot water into that colder water to get the same "warm" mix temperature.

 

With 6 family members, you may want to upgrade to a larger tank.

 

I find this is true in the summer also. I move the temperature of my water heater down because it is much hotter.

Now if you want a funny water problem, all of the other bathrooms have hotter water than the master bedroom.

 

In the summer, 'cold' water coming into your house might be 70 degrees. In the winter, it might be 32 degrees. So you will need to mix more hot water to get the temp you want, as Pats_fan suggested, but the other factor is that your hot water heater has to work much harder to heat the cold water coming in. You could consider getting a larger water heater, or a quick recovery water heater.