No water in shower and tub but water everywhere else in the house

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Ozman

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I was heading out the garage and I heard something leaking.

Sure enough it is the water heater.

It was just replaced about a year and a half or so. It is an AO Smith brand.

I turned off the water heater water shut off valve, and called my warranty company.

The service guy came out to diagnose and he said it needs to be replaced.

So I try to take a shower and no water in both showers and both tubs (they are both upstairs) but water everywhere else in the house (all toilets, all faucets).

What is going on?
 

Terry

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You have pressure balanced shower valves. If one side has no pressure, then the opposing side matches that.
So...........when you turned off the hot, it matched that and turned down the cold too.
When the water heater is turned back on, the pressure will come back.

In the meantime, if you want cold showers at least, you can loop a flex between the shutoff and the outgoing pipe and take the water heater out of the loop.
 

Ozman

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@Terry Thank you for your fast response! What do you mean by "you can loop a flex between the shutoff and the outgoing pipe and take the water heater out of the loop".
 

Terry

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You turned off water to the water heater right? Right now it's connected by two pipes, maybe flexes. If you want water to the hot side of your faucets, you will need to continue feeding the hot side from the existing supply that was used for the water heater.
 

Ozman

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You turned off water to the water heater right? Right now it's connected by two pipes, maybe flexes. If you want water to the hot side of your faucets, you will need to continue feeding the hot side from the existing supply that was used for the water heater.
Yes the water to the water heater is off.

What do I need to connect the lines? Sorry I am a newbie at this
 

Ozman

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I took a picture of the water heater lines....

So should I disconnect the left line (the one connected to the red circle) completely and connect the line that is on the blue circle to the left side?
20160923_193510.jpg
 

Jadnashua

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Yes, that will loop the cold supply into the hot line so then you'd have cold on both sides
 

Reach4

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Alternatively you cold buy a 3/4 inch NPT nipple. It can be brass, galvanized, or schedule 80 CPVC. Normally you would not want to use galvanized, but you will discard this soon anyway. The length is not important, as long as you can unscrew both lines from the WH, and screw them to the nipple.

Either way works, so do what seems easier to you.

66732.jpg
Keep that valve closed until you get the nipple in place. Use Teflon tape on the threads. You would want to turn off the gas to the WH.
 
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