Interesting water heater/hot water problem

[Jason280]

I have propane water heater in my house, fed by county water. House was built about 8 years ago, so the heater is less than 9 years old. Woke up this afternoon, and noticed I had very little water pressure on the hot water side, but still plenty of pressure on the cold side. Doesn't matter where in the house, its all the same...shower, sink, etc. Just took a bath around 5am this morning, with no problems, and no noticeable change in pressure on the hot water side. Ball valve is open at the water heater, so I have no idea what is going on...

Any suggestions?

 

[CGT80]

I would turn off the valve that supplies the heater, disconnect the line coming out of the heater (hot/output side) and then turn the water on a bit and see if you get anything. You could use an adapter and put a garden hose on the outlet and run it to a sink or outside. If you have not drained the heater, the it is very possible the drain is plugged or that it will break or leak. You could disconnect the line into the heater as well. One of the fittings could be badly rusted or built up with minerals. For giggles, you could even bypass the heater by running a flex line from the cold/supply to the other line that feeds all the faucets with hot water. You should get full flow, but it will of course be cold.

It is common for gate valves to get stuck open, if you even have one at the heater. Be prepared to need to change that valve and other fittings and hoses at the heater, and possibly the heater if it is in bad shape. 8 years is getting up there for a water heater, although they can go longer. We have a lot of mineral build up in our area.

At least the house is not old and it is likely copper pipe. Working on old galvanized plumbing can be tricky, once it starts to corrode/rust and it can be hard to find a solid section to rebuild from.

 

[CNGsaves]

Likely end-of-life for HWH being clogged up with deposits (sediment, scale, etc).

Have you ever drained water/crud from bottom spigot of HWH periodically to dump any of the crud in there ??

Other options include removing anode rod to see if it's eaten away. Also could flush tank with Apple Cider Vinegar to remove the scale/crud if you think unit can be saved.

Replacing with quality Bradford White unit from a wholesale supply house is easy DIY job, worst case scenario. Let's see pics of what you have . . ie HWH and piping leading to and from it.

 

[firworks]

Likely end-of-life for HWH being clogged up with deposits (sediment, scale, etc).

Have you ever drained water/crud from bottom spigot of HWH periodically to dump any of the crud in there ??

Other options include removing anode rod to see if it's eaten away. Also could flush tank with Apple Cider Vinegar to remove the scale/crud if you think unit can be saved.

Replacing with quality Bradford White unit from a wholesale supply house is easy DIY job, worst case scenario. Let's see pics of what you have . . ie HWH and piping leading to and from it.

Is BW some kinda premium water heater brand?

 

[rob1200]

Whatever the problem is with your hot water, please fix it soon... your wife has been waiting in her underwear for years to finish her laundry.

 

[Jason280]

Hahahaha!

The lines are all pex, but I have copper feeding in to the water heater. That means no easy/quick disconnect from the heater itself, at least nothing that won't require soldering. Not that its a problem, looks like it has to be done either way. What's odd is that it went from "fine" to "little water pressure" in the span of less than 8 hours....what's even odder is I have a water heater in my shop next door that's been there for more than 10 years, is probably even older than that, and has never given me a bit of trouble.

 

[CNGsaves]

Is BW some kinda premium water heater brand?

Not anything "Cadillac" . . . just affordable and reliable, especially for LPG or NG like OP is needing. Bradford White is just way better than GE that prior owner put in my current house that is having trouble at 3 yrs old.

I'd avoid big box store units as they have the cheapest plastic spigots at bottom, low end thermocouples, etc. Really best way to keep HWH running many years is draw out water from bottom spigot often so it keeps everything flushed out.

Now . . . .we COULD use some help from OP . . .
. . . .
. . . . . . could we get another PIC or two . . . WITH some COLD water splashing . .
. . OR . . . . heavy air conditioning with much more sheer bra !!! . .

 

[CNGsaves]

That's a mighty fine hot and cold water heater !!!

Do everything you can to keep that one happy and purring !! . .

 

[Rookie2]

I ah, I ah, I ah never mind I forgot what I was going to say !

 

[larry4406]

The post with the water heater lower inspection cover almost removed is now missing.

 

[Super Mech]

I swear he has the best avatar on this board.

 

[ishiboo]

I swear he has the best avatar on this board.

CNGsaves? You have a filling station canopy fetish?

Whatever gets your goat I guess...

 

[Super Mech]

CNGsaves? You have a filling station canopy fetish?

Whatever gets your goat I guess...

I meant the OP!

 

[CNGsaves]

The post with the water heater lower inspection cover almost removed is now missing.

^ ^ ^ ^ Gosh golly darn . . . I thought at 2 am I snagged a copy of that "hot & cold water heater" but now that JPG image cannot be opened. . . . .

We're at mercy of OP cropping that image and re-posting !!

 

[bobmulry]

Hi all,

Looks like a problem that I had a few years ago that drove me crazy..........

Just remove the inlet and outlet di-electric (or brass) fittings and look through them......

There is a good chance that they are partially plugged with corrosion...

That's my contribution to the problem, because it fixed mine.

Bob

PS:
Let us know what fixed the problem...Thanx

 

[59 wagon man]

before you disconnect the heater try this
shut off the cold water to the heater
drain the heater leaving the drain valve open while you try the rest
remove a shower head and cap off the line
open the cold and the hot water on the shower full blast. if you do not have a pressure or tempeture balancing shower valve the water should feed back to the heater and flush out the outlet of the heater hopefully clearing your problem
if your shower valve does work try disconnecting your clothes washing machine and jump the 2 hose bibbs with one of the hoses and open them both wide open to flush the line

 

[derosa]

Do you know that its a soldered copper connection? The top of my water heater is threaded and has threaded copper flex lines going to/from the pex to the heater. Don't know why it isn't pex straight to and from but that's what was recommended.

 

[Jason280]

Well, good and bad news. Bad news, looks like the pic was removed...I thought it might have been a little too much, so that is not surprising. My bad, mods!

Good news, water heater sort of corrected itself this morning. The kitchen sink is closest to the heater, so I flipped the faucet a couple of times to "hot"....heard a "thunk" in the tank, and immediately got normal water pressure. Not sure what was stuck or where it was stuck (ball valve maybe?), but everything is back to normal. Guess we can finally wash clothes, and maybe now the poor wife will have something to wear...

 

[Dick in Wisconsin]

Well, good and bad news. Bad news, looks like the pic was removed...I thought it might have been a little too much, so that is not surprising. My bad, mods!

Good news, water heater sort of corrected itself this morning.

Glad to hear things are betting with the heater.

Some of us have open emails if you think we missed something of value in this thread.

 

[rslaback]

No one has mentioned it yet but my guess is your problem is in the heat trap if you have one. This is basically a check valve that is supposed to keep the hot water from migrating out of the tank when the outputs are all shut. My guess is that yours stuck closed.

 

[pmiranda]

Others have mentioned it, but I have learned to never touch a valve that you're not prepared to replace that day. Which means I don't do any maintenance on the weekend in case I need to get a plumber out to fix my mistakes

 

[NUTTSGT]

Others have mentioned it, but I have learned to never touch a valve that you're not prepared to replace that day. Which means I don't do any maintenance on the weekend in case I need to get a plumber out to fix my mistakes

This is why I have some spare parts on hand as often as I can.


Sounds like a few of you need to remember to right click and save.