Head pressure issue

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Merchplumber

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New whole house pex A plumbing system. Trunk and line.
3/4 trunk, 1/2 lines.
Static pressure on hot and cold is 42 psi.
The flow from the hot water lines are noticeably less than the cold.
No obstruction in lines, trying to find why the flow is reduced.
I’ve added pictures where the trunk lines are 90 degree’d to feed the water heater.

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LLigetfa

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How/where are you determining the reduced flow? Some fixtures such as tub fillers/showers have limits set on the hot side. Also the ant-scald will reduce the hot if the cold side pressure drops.
 

Merchplumber

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New whole house pex A plumbing system. Trunk and line.
3/4 trunk, 1/2 lines.
Static pressure on hot and cold is 42 psi.
The flow from the hot water lines are noticeably less than the cold.
No obstruction in lines, trying to find why the flow is reduced.
I’ve added pictures where the trunk lines are 90 degree’d to feed the water heater.
How/where are you determining the reduced flow? Some fixtures such as tub fillers/showers have limits set on the hot side. Also the ant-scald will reduce the hot if the cold side pressure drops.

It’s not the fixtures.
Kitchen sink, tub and master shower.
To remove the fixture from the equation, is swapped the hot and cold lines at the fixture and the flow issue was swapped from hot to cold. This indicates flow is reduced at or after the water heater. The kitchen faucet is the closest to the water heater.
 

Reach4

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1. If you have a tank-type WH, what is the pressure at the water heater drain when you observe "flow from the hot water lines are noticeably less "?

2. You wouldn't have a tankless WH, would you? If not tank, and not tankless, then what?
 

Merchplumber

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I’m thinking it must be the fittings being 90 degrees off the trunk to the input and 90 degree out of WH into the hot water trunk.
 

Merchplumber

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1. If you have a tank-type WH, what is the pressure at the water heater drain when you observe "flow from the hot water lines are noticeably less "?

2. You wouldn't have a tankless WH, would you? If not tank, and not tankless, then what?
50 gal electric AOSmith
 

Merchplumber

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Maybe sticky heat traps? I am not familiar with what style heat traps they use, be it floating ball or duck bill. I used to have problems with the ball style.

I thought it might be the heat traps so I removed them, it seems to improve the flow a small degree but hot water flow is still unequal to cold.
 

Reach4

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Static pressure is 42 psi
Static pressure means when no water is flowing.
You have no problem when no water is flowing.

A GHT water pressure gauge is under $20, and is often a lot under.
 

Merchplumber

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Static pressure means when no water is flowing.
You have no problem when no water is flowing.

A GHT water pressure gauge is under $20, and is often a lot under.


Yes, static is when no water is flowing. My pressure gauge will only measure pressure when all valves are closed. I do not have a gauge the measures head pressure.
 

Reach4

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Yes, static is when no water is flowing. My pressure gauge will only measure pressure when all valves are closed. I do not have a gauge the measures head pressure.
Your local hardware store, farm store, irrigation store, Lowes, HD, etc will have such a gauge, and probably in stock. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Watts-3-4-in-Plastic-Water-Pressure-Test-Gauge-DP-IWTG/100175467

https://www.walmart.com/c/kp/water-pressure-test-gauge
would typically not be in stock.

While 0-100 psi would be better than 0-200psi, the 0-200psi will do the job. Often you can unscrew the gauge part from a GHT gauge, and screw on any 1/4 inch pressure gauge, such as a 0-60 psi, into the GHT adapter part..
 
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