Help! Multiple hot water problems.

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ForrestGump

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Help! Multiple hot water problems.

1. I need some advice on what can be done to fix when taking a shower and someone else in the house turns on a water faucet on hot and the shower water goes cold and when someone flushes the toilet you get burned.
2. It takes a few minutes to get hot water flowing to the kitchen and laundry room side of the house.

I currently have a 7 year old 1 story 2500sq ft home with 2 full bathrooms, dishwasher and clothes washer for 4 in my family. The kitchen and laundry room are on opposite ends of the house from the bathrooms. The 40 gallon gas hot water heater is in the attic above the hall bathroom. Copper piping is used in this throughout house. Attic is very big with lots of room.

I would like to know what the very best setup for my house is. I plan on doing whatever you pro’s here recommend.

Do I need bigger water heater?
2 water heaters?
Recalculating pumps?
Tankless?

Thanks for any advice you can give me!
 

Redwood

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How about none of the above?

Install a pressure balanced shower valve or , fix the the one you have if it is pressure balanced.

What kind of shower valve do you have? If unknown can you post a pic?
 

TorontoTim

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Do you have access to the backside of that nice tiled shower wall?

I'm surprised you're having this problem - my 8 year old bathroom had the cheapest Moen shower valve going, and it was pressure balanced. If it's supposed to be pressure balanced you should be able to take the trim ring off and replace whatever part is shot. Otherwise, you need to replace it with a new unit from the backside of the shower wall.
 

Krow

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You can either go with a Moen Posi-temp or a moentrol. both are pressure balancing.

I doubt that your unit is pressure balancing because if it had a seperate balancing spool (like the moentrol) then it would cut off any pressure from both sides (hot and cold). Sometimes the balancing spools will seize up , but thats caused by lack of use.
 

TorontoTim

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Just need to find something that fits in the hole in the shower wall :)

If you can go without the shower, best bet would probably be to remove the old valve and take it to find something that matches the size and has a trim ring big enough to cover the current hole in the tile.

Just remember to use heat shields when you sweat the copper. Will give you an excuse to check for any water damage behind the shower.

Of course one thing may lead to another... might be shopping for tile soon!
 

Krow

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The other thing that you can do, is to do all the work from the shower side of the bathroom. You can use the renovation plate to cover the enlarged hole that you will make and it will save you from patching the closet wall and any tiling.

This pic below is a basic idea of what the reno plate may look like. They may vary in shape from place to place, but the same idea applies
 

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nick vento

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My home builder was very cheap on everything.

I would love to replace this one. Any recomendations?

its a lot more expensive but if you want a rolls royce job and your cupboard behined is big enough fit a pressurised cylinder this will give you stored hot water all the time. Your boiler will heat it seperately and this will feed your shower cutting out the fall in pressure when other items go on.

To get the best out of this find out if your shower is balanced shower valve it should tell you in the manual. If it is not change that as well
 

Redwood

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It may very well be a pressure balanced unit given the age of the installation.
Do you turn the handle to turn it on and adjust the temp, or, pull it out to turn it on, and turn to adjust the temperature?
 

Redwood

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The next step would be to remove the escutchion and see is there is a pressure balancing spool port on the cold side. If you have the pressure balanced Moentrol valve there will be... At this point posi-temp has left the building and the odds are lowering.
 
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