Woke up yesterday to find that the shower was luke warm. And the water out of the sink wasn't scalding either, as it normally is. I figured maybe my roommate ran a load of laundry or took a long shower before I got up. But, this morning, there was even less hot water. This isn't the way to go into the winter. A quick call to my landlords and maintenance showed up under five minutes later! This is what they found.

Looks like there was some aging of the heating element. Either the rusting had allowed the water to seep out, soaking the foam insulation, or the heater element just died for whatever reason and had to be replaced. They put in both new elements just to be sure. When I tested the water and got the air out of the system, it was scalding again. I burned my hand on the faucet, not the water! I turned down the thermostat on the upper heater and will test the water tomorrow more thoroughly in the shower tomorrow morning.