Hot water weirdness

[Scott Soulages]

OK, so I just moved into this 3600 house and things are strange. First, in the two rooms furthest from the hot water heater, the water rarely gets HOT. It gets warm, but never hot. Meanwhile, the other bathrooms closest to the water heater have really hot water. Water pressure from both hot and cold are great. Outside temps are between 40 and 60 this time of year. Inside temps are between 65 and 72, so the delta between rooms should not be that great.

The house is in AZ. REALLY hard water. I just installed a softener, but that won't fix what was previously affected.

There is a water recirculating pump installed on the water heater. But it appears that the pump is located on the cold water intake rather than the hot water output. That seems wrong, but maybe not relevant to this issue.

I have no leaks, that I'm aware of. Can someone recommend some solutions? Please?

 

[Reach4]

The house is in AZ. REALLY hard water. I just installed a softener, but that won't fix what was previously affected.

Actually over a long time, it can. I suggest that you get a Hach 5B kit to measure the hardness of your softened water while you are getting the softener tuned in. If the water is hard the day before the softener will regen, you would want to adjust the softener settings to compensate.

When you test the unsoftened water, you can dilute the test water 1:1 with distilled water. Then double the number of drops to get the hardness. Similarly, if the water is very hard, you could use 1 test water for 2 distilled. Then multiply the drops by 3. Obviously when testing the softened water, no need to use distilled. The softener will normally hold the hardness to 1 or less.

There is a water recirculating pump installed on the water heater. But it appears that the pump is located on the cold water intake rather than the hot water output. That seems wrong, but maybe not relevant to this issue.

I think the cold side is correct.

If you feel the hot water lines when you are not using water, but the pump is pumping, do they feel hot-- as you would expect them to if the water was circulating?

Maybe the pump failed, or maybe there is some kind of timer that is not running the pump a the right times.

 

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[Jadnashua]

The check valve may not be closing. WHen that happens, when you open up a hot line, it will pull water through the cold line as well. Water will take the path of least resistance, so it really depends on the exact layout.

Another possibility if your pipes run under the slab, there's a leak. Recirculation systems, especially if the pump is oversized (people tend to put a larger one in to get the hot water there faster in an on-demand system, but if it isn't an on-demand system and runs longer, you only need a very small pump), you can literally erode holes in the pipe from the inside out. Verify that your water meter does not move once you've made sure that all of the valves in the house are closed to faucets, etc.

One of the single-handle valves on that end may be worn, and has an internal cross-over. That is usually fixed by a cartridge replacement. Try shutting the cold supply off under the vanity(s) and see if things get better. That won't help if it's in a shower, though.