I am typically the first one in my house to take a shower and I like hot showers. I have noticed that if I take a shower first, the hot water is not that hot and doesn’t last very long. But if others take showers before me and the hot water has to recharge then the hot water is HOT and lasts a long time.
I have a 50 gallon hot water tank.
The only two things I have (besides sinks and showers) that use hot water are a dumb dishwasher and a dumb washing machine.
What I was thinking was to set up an automation in HA to somehow trigger something to use hot water for like 10 minutes in order to get the hot water heater to recharge.
Any ideas?
Hot water heaters don’t work like this. Sounds like you have something wrong with the hot water heater itself.
When you first use it the water will be at the hottest point. As you continue to use the temperature will slowly go down to a certain point where the heating element can keep up with the water outgoing.
I’d get the it checked by a plumber. May need to replace heating element or the hot water heater itself.