Help! Low hot water pressure at every outlet

[nate]

I'm at my wits end on this... maybe you guys can help.

About a month ago I bought the Ultimate Power Shower showerhead off of **** to increase my water pressure in the shower. It did exactly as advertised... and I was loving it.

Fast forward a couple of weeks... my hot water pressure at every outlet in my house slowed to a trickle. The cold water pressure has not changed and is fine. Now I'm dreading my showers because it takes about 10x as long trying to wash myself under this pee stream.

Things I've done to try to fix this:

- Turned off and back on the cold water shutoff valve leading into the water heater, thinking the valve or washer may be causing the slowdown

- Drained the tank by closing the cold-water shut off valve and opening the pressure relief valve to allow the water to allow the water to flow out the drain

- Flushed the tank by opening the cold-water shut off valve back up

- Reverse flushed the tank using the normal pressured cold water fed back into the hot water pipe behind the washing machine

- Replaced the cold-water shut off valve... which was a nightmare story for another post... let me tell you, it was great fun trying to sweat a pipe for the first time 2" away from the framing and insulation in my attic.

Nothing has worked. The heater is gas and was manufacturered in mid-2005 and is located in my attic.

Any ideas on how to fix this?


Thanks

 

[Jadnashua]

Did you remove the showerhead and see what kind of stream you get? There could have been something that clogged it up. Your WH isn't that old, so a broken up Dip tube is not a likely problem.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Redwood]

If you open the water heater drain while the water heater does not have the inlet valve turned off what kind of pressure do you have there?

 

[nate]

If you open the water heater drain while the water heater does not have the inlet valve turned off what kind of pressure do you have there?

Not much... it's kind of hard to judge it coming out of the end of a hose pipe, but it definitely should have a higher flow rate than what I'm seeing.

I've narrowed it down to it being a either a problem between the cut off valve and the heater or between the cut off valve and the pipe that connects to the cold water supply entering the house.

I think I'm going to cut the pipe at the shut off vavle again and check the pressure coming out of it.

Nate

 

[Herk]

What kind of valve do you have on the water heater? If it's a gate valve, there's a good chance the stem is broken or stripped and the gate is stuck only partly open. To check this, shut off the water main and take the gate valve apart to examine the works.

 

[Patrick88]

I would check the shut off at the heater. The washer could have come loose and is slowing flow.

 

[nate]

Found the problem... the cold water nipple's plastic lining had melted... I guess the original installer sweated a pipe next to it. There was about a 75% blockage... half of it was from the disfigured plastic tube and the other 25% from crud that built up around it over time.

It was hell removing that stuborn nipple. It took me about five hours. I finally got it loose with an oversized pipe wrench and a hammer... using the two together like a manual impact wrench.

I replaced the nipple and piping and used these sharkbite connectors which I found at home depot. These connectors are expensive but they make building pipe work as easy as playing with tinker toys.

All is good now.. I can enjoy my firehose showers and clean plates from the dishwasher.

Thanks for all you guys' help.

Nate

 

[Cass]

The inside if that dielectric nipple melted because some plumber soldered the female adapter to the pipe while it was threaded to the nipple. The heat melted it. They should have soldered it together first then installed the adapter on the nipple.

I see this all the time, it is just bad plumbing by a hurried plumber not caring.

 

[GrumpyPlumber]

Not to mention the plastic sleeve is what protects the nipple from galvanic reaction.