AIBU to think the cottage should have warned about limited hot water?

[holidaybubble]

Booked a holiday cottage for a 4 nights two families with a toddler each. I Found a lovely cottage with a bath and shower friends paid we transferred half all good. Except since being here the hot water has been awful. Both toddlers had a tiny shallow quick bath yesterday evening and then one friend had a shower hours later I went to have a shower just after and no hot water. Switched the heater on waited half an hour as instructed on the info sheet bath water came out cold after 5 minutes. There are 6 of us here including toddlers. I’ve not been able to have 1 hot bath or shower. Friends managed a hot shower as shes gone first due to going to bed earlier. The sign in the bathroom mentions rationed water due to it coming locally and not great hot water but surely if this is the case you should say on the booking website. I wouldn’t have booked otherwise. Tried to get up early and have a shower before everyone else but toddler wanted feeding and by the time I got upstairs people had already been. Tonight I put the heater on again to make sure I could have a hot bath for once left it for 4 hours and no hot water after 5 minutes bath is stone cold. I would complain but other friends booked it. They also are the only ones who have contact with the host. When it first happened I assumed it was because we had all had to many showers close together then because I didn’t leave the heater on long enough after my friends shower the 1st night I didn’t shower and with only tonight left there wasn’t much point mentioning it to the host.

That definitely needs communication with the owner just in case you’re missing something. If not, a partial refund would be reasonable and your friend needs to make the issues clear in their review.

Why are you turning the water heater off? Can’t you just leave it on?
I’m assuming it’s an immersion heater in a cylinder rather than a modern combo boiler that heats the water as you use it.

Also - what do you mean by rationed water? Are they on a well/borehole rather than mains water?

Don't your friends want to complain?

the instructions say water comes off from the local farm source and is filtered then says there should be enough hot water but if any issues flick the immersion on and wait half an hour. They also say that the boiler should be set to 40c which is far to low I set it to 60c but it didn’t help much. Friends haven’t had water issues as one showers in the morning and the other 1st at night

@holidaybubble okay they haven't had issues

But they can see there is an issue, surely

Immersion heaters should be left on and they take far longer than 30 minute's to heat up!!

Farm sourced water means it is probably from a bore hole which would usually mean the pressure can fluctuate and you would need to keep the taps on slow rather than fully opening the faucet otherwise too much pressure runs through the heat exchange and it cant cope.

Ex maintenance manager for a rental firm, not a plumber, but this would be my guess from experience⁴

I second the ‘don’t put the taps on full blast to get it hot’. Also I get hotter water filling the bath with the overhead shower

A cylinder tank needs to be on all the time. It doesn't mean it's always heating it just ticks on to keep the tank up to temp. Switching it on and off again and only for half an hour will not work the heating elements are surprisingly small. As others have already pointed out.

A five minute shower instead of filling a bath?

At first glance seems missing a key detail, so yes a reduction in the charges. However, most people would assume that showers are the normal use of hot water not baths.

Worth asking for some money back, don't hold your hopes up though.

Have you spoken to the host, I had guests leave a poor review about hot water having not spoken to me. The hot water situation was not the norm I got a plumber out between let’s - the boiler was broken.
Please talk to the host.

Er, no. A bath is very much normal use of hot water.

How long are people taking their showers for?

You just need to contact the owner, it’s an issue that needs resolving but there’s no point putting up with it and complaining afterwards, just talk to them now because the instructions don’t sound right.

Its irrelevant that your friends have the contact details, just say can you have them to talk to the owner because the hot water isn’t working, it’s totally normal to have that conversation, I don’t see why you wouldn’t do that?

Sounds annoying!

On a water theme,... We stayed at a cottage out in middle of nowhere a few weeks back. We anticipated a powercut due to the weather and location but had no idea it would also take out the water supply which came via a pump and UV filter. Nowhere did the advert mention this and there was no folder of helpful information. Lost all water for 14-15 hours. Extremely exciting when you've just done a massive poo! Thankfully, could bucket up water from a nearby stream to fill the cistern. Property manager was all a bit "meh".

It’s pointless asking for money back unless OP is going to contact the owner and flag the issue first, it sounds like something isn’t right but they need an opportunity to resolve it first.

I presume it’s a gravity hot water system rather than a pressurised one because it’s on a farm supply so no mains pressure. If the taps are on full blast it will drain all the hot water very quickly and will then take a few hours to heat up again.
Gravity hot water systems on a standard sized cylinder are never going to manage enough hot water for 4 adults to shower and two toddlers to bath.
we have a gravity system on our Rayburn an it heats th water to scalding and there’s very little pressure and only enough water for two baths. But I usually put everyone through the same water
I’d have my shower or bath in the afternoon or teatime as women traditionally did as it gave the water all morning to heat up.

Immersion heaters are very energy inefficient. I am willing to bet this is tight property owners trying to keep costs down.

This, its completely normal to expect to be able to draw a bath in a property with a bath.

I think knowing I’d had such problems with hot water for days, I’d forget the idea of having a bath.

Toddlers often aren't used to going into the shower. Mine weren't.

But they've paid for a property with a bath & they have a toddler.

Tonight I put the heater on again to make sure I could have a hot bath for once

Sounds like OP was the one wanting the bath on this occasion…?

Try leaving the immersion heater on and just having showers.

1. complain and ask for reduction
2. if nothing is forthcoming, mention the issue on the review
3. if you get money back, explain also on the review stating you got money back
4. if you don’t complain, the owner will reply to the review stating that this is the first she’s heard of it
5. we had a similar (but not as bad) experience in a very expensive property in Italy and I still fume thinking about it.