I will detail this as much as I can and am so hoping someone can pinpoint our problem. We moved into our renovated home last November. We have not had consistent "working" water since we moved in. We have a deep private well - at least 300 ft - and a new tankless hot water heater. Not all of the piping is brand new but I am pretty sure all of the piping around the hot water heater and water pressure tank is new. We have had several plumbers come out over the past year and did have a new well pump (submersible) installed. So here is what is happening...
I will use the shower as the prime example. When I first start the shower, the water comes out with great pressure. It doesn't get hot immediately and sometimes even takes a few minutes to heat up, which I find odd with the on demand hot water heater. After a few minutes, the water starts to lose pressure. Then more, more, more until it just trickles and stops. The shower has a one handle cold on on end, hot on the other. Even when I turn the faucet all the way to the cold side, no cold water comes out! Usually if I wait a few minutes and turn the shower back on, the water pressure comes on strongly again but the same thing happens. Sometimes the water slows down to a trickle but remains hot/warm and sometimes the water turns frigid. This happens in our entire house, in all bathrooms, at all sinks - some have single handle faucet, some have double faucets. It also happens with our washing machine. When we run hot/cold or warm/cold cycles, it almost always stops with the "not filling" signal. When we wash on cold only, it seems to run fine. I believe there was one day after our new pump was installed that the water seemed to last all day - but that was just for a few laundry cycles and washing dishes. Also, after our pump was installed there was A LOT of sediment in our water. Not rusty or calcium-like, just sandy/silty/dirty. It lasted for about two weeks (it has been about a month since our pump was installed). We flushed out the tank, etc. but everything did got pretty clogged. We did - and continue - to flush our aerators in every room (taking off shower heads, etc). For a while it seemed like there was a lot of air in the lines - lots of sputtering, etc but now it just seems to fade away or not work at all. The cold water pretty much always seems fine unless we use the hot water, lose it, then try to switch to cold. I am hoping there is some reasonably easy explanation because we simply can't afford to keep paying plumbers and well service people to come check, charge us for the time, and not have it resolved. We have been diligent about cleaning out our sediment filter on the tankless hot water heater. Every time we do it, we get excited and think it's going to be fine but the same thing happens over and over. Does this sound common? We are still experiencing a lot of sediment in our toilet tanks. Should it be cleared up by now?? We are so hoping to not go through another whole winter with this problem. We haven't been able to take regular showers since we moved in! Any advice would be so very appreciated!
I will use the shower as the prime example. When I first start the shower, the water comes out with great pressure. It doesn't get hot immediately and sometimes even takes a few minutes to heat up, which I find odd with the on demand hot water heater. After a few minutes, the water starts to lose pressure. Then more, more, more until it just trickles and stops. The shower has a one handle cold on on end, hot on the other. Even when I turn the faucet all the way to the cold side, no cold water comes out! Usually if I wait a few minutes and turn the shower back on, the water pressure comes on strongly again but the same thing happens. Sometimes the water slows down to a trickle but remains hot/warm and sometimes the water turns frigid. This happens in our entire house, in all bathrooms, at all sinks - some have single handle faucet, some have double faucets. It also happens with our washing machine. When we run hot/cold or warm/cold cycles, it almost always stops with the "not filling" signal. When we wash on cold only, it seems to run fine. I believe there was one day after our new pump was installed that the water seemed to last all day - but that was just for a few laundry cycles and washing dishes. Also, after our pump was installed there was A LOT of sediment in our water. Not rusty or calcium-like, just sandy/silty/dirty. It lasted for about two weeks (it has been about a month since our pump was installed). We flushed out the tank, etc. but everything did got pretty clogged. We did - and continue - to flush our aerators in every room (taking off shower heads, etc). For a while it seemed like there was a lot of air in the lines - lots of sputtering, etc but now it just seems to fade away or not work at all. The cold water pretty much always seems fine unless we use the hot water, lose it, then try to switch to cold. I am hoping there is some reasonably easy explanation because we simply can't afford to keep paying plumbers and well service people to come check, charge us for the time, and not have it resolved. We have been diligent about cleaning out our sediment filter on the tankless hot water heater. Every time we do it, we get excited and think it's going to be fine but the same thing happens over and over. Does this sound common? We are still experiencing a lot of sediment in our toilet tanks. Should it be cleared up by now?? We are so hoping to not go through another whole winter with this problem. We haven't been able to take regular showers since we moved in! Any advice would be so very appreciated!