No Cold Water to Shower Faucet

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AVGJoe101

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Hello all and thanks to those dropping in to take time to review this and offer any insight.

So I was having issues with the Pressure Reducing Valve/Pressure Relief Valve making clicking noise, banging noises and believe or not chirping noises. I called in a plumber to replace the valve and this is how it went down.

1st visit: He replaced the PRV and the pipe work after the valve that splits off to the cold and hot pipes to the house. He had me test the faucets in the bathroom next to the closet where the PRV is at. All faucets flowed with water like their supposed to.

2nd visit:
about 10-15 minutes after he left, when I was cleaning up the area of the closet where the PRV is at and putting things back in the closet, I noticed a spraying sound, I looked down and saw water spraying out of the hot pipe side where he did his repairs. I shut off the water at the ball closing valve he added since the original one didnt work. I looked down and noticed a cut below where he put his crimping adapter on the copper hot side pipe. I called him and told him what happened. He came back as soon as he could. He was here for about 15 minutes or so to fix the leak. Looks like he installed a shark bite fitting on the copper tube to adapter his Pex hose to it. After his repair he left.

Aftermath: So later that night when it was time for me to use the shower, barely any water was coming out of the shower faucet.

My average joe diagnosis: Trying to do this myself as the plumber that worked on it charged me an arm and leg to replace the PRV. Charged me twice as much than what he initially quoted me. So I am thinking ok, probably some debris may be clogging up the cartridge. I took the cartridge out and opened it up and didnt see anything. I went ahead and took that cartridge to another shower of the house, installed it and tested it. It flows with water. So then I decided to leave the cartridge out of the shower faucet of my shower (the one that didnt work) and crack open the ball valve the plumber installed to see if any water was coming out of the shower faucet body valve. Only the hot side was flowing with water, the cold side was dry as bones. Then went to every faucet of the house inside and outside to see if they flow with cold water and hot water. They all work. So now I know that the cold side of my shower faucet does not flow with water and the outside faucet just outside my room doesnt flow with water. At this point thinking that maybe the shower faucet body valve cold side is clogged up (which I know doesnt affect the outside faucet) but went ahead and disconnected the cold pipe from the body valve to see. Cut a section of the drywall out from the bedroom side (dont care as I am having the house renovated). Cut a section of the piping out and couldnt see any clogs. At this point I decided to hook up my air compressor to the outside faucet just outside my room as this is the one that also didnt work. Ran about 40-45 psi of pressure through the piping and the results: air was moving freely out of the cold side of the shower faucet (the one that didnt work), and flowed air out of all the other faucets of the house.

Currently: The cold side of the shower faucet of my bathroom does not flow with any water and the outside faucet of my bedroom does not flow out any water. Doesnt appear to be any clogs in the pipes. All other faucets of the house flow with cold and hot water.

My bedroom layout.

room layout.jpg


The PRV the plumber repaired

IMG_0002.JPG


Back side of the shower faucet that doesn't flow out any cold water

IMG_0003.JPG


Shower Faucet (right now their should be cold water coming out of the blue hose...)

IMG_0005.JPG


This probably isn't anything new to you pro plumbers. Any ideas?
 
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Jadnashua

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Upload your files to the site verses linking to them. FWIW, none of them show in your post.

Other than that, can't think of something that would affect both the shower valve and the hose bib.
 

WorthFlorida

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You can drag and drop pictures into this post as long they are not too large and you’re using a PC. It’s a bit tough with a iPad or iPhone.

Exactly where was the repair done? Both the first and second time. The problem needs to be where he worked. The first sentence of the 1st work paragraph doesn’t make sense unless the PRV is for one specific appliance such as a furnance? Where you have no water, is it before or after the PRV? Be sure the PRV was not installed backwards.
 

AVGJoe101

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Thanks guys for letting me know about the images. I just fix it hopefully by uploading to the site.

The Plumber replaced t he PRV and the pipes splitting to cold and hot after the PRV before it goes in the ground. The second time he was here to repair his leak, it was on the hot pipe after the PRV. I have no water after the PRV. The main city water goes into the PRV, the the house is plumbed after the PRV. I have no clue it the PRV was installed backwards or not.

Edit:
Also note that I did check the water meter outside and it is not spinning when all the faucets of the house are closed. I also tested to see if it worked by purposefully turning on a faucet to see if the meter spins and it does.
 
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WorthFlorida

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Should be an arrow on the PRV body showing the water direction. Maybe the PRV needs adjusting. https://www.doityourself.com/stry/how-to-adjust-a-water-pressure-regulator

The picture shows after the prv to be both cold. It appears the red pex is connected to a tee with other blues pex pipe. Maybe it’s feeding a water heater or the outside spigot. The toilet and sink maybe feed from a different source since they do work?

upload_2019-1-1_12-28-53.jpeg
 
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WorthFlorida

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I just noticed a valve buried in the concrete below the PRV. Do you know if it was touch during the repair? Is it movable? Could it be broken in the closed position and the handle is in the open position? Was the water shut off at the main when the plumber did his work?

Do check the new ball valve that it moves with some resistance. It is in the open position.
 
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AVGJoe101

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Checked the PRV and it is installed in the right direction. I tried increasing the pressure, but that didnt do anything. That valve in the concrete is the original closing valve. The plumber installed another one after the PRV as the original one is unable to move, so stuck in the open position. The plumber did shut the water off the main valve outside when he did his work. The new closing ball valve he installed seems to move just fine.

I think I might have to bite the bullet and call that guy back out and tell him, whats the reason why the water in shower and outside faucet worked fine the first time you left, but the second time you left they dont work anymore and tell him all I did to try to figure it out. Just hope he doesnt overly charge me to get it figured out.
 

AVGJoe101

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True, but I think you might be a little confused with my situation. I have water to every faucet of the house "except" the cold side of the shower pipe and the outdoor faucet of my room. This is what doesnt make since to me. When I blew compressed air in the system, air was moving freely through those lines, which to me indicates no blockage. The outdoor meter isnt spinning when all the faucets are off, which to me would indicate no crack in the pipes leaking water. Be nice if there was plumbing diagram of the house so I can see how the outdoor faucet of my room and the cold side pipe of the shower is plumbed.
 

AVGJoe101

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Figured Id update this and let everyone the problem is fixed. I called another plumbing company to come out and look as I didnt hear back from the guy that originally worked on the regulator replacement.

Turns out they discovered the shark bite fitting the previous plumber put on to repair is leak as already described above in my earlier posts was a directional sharkbite fitting and was installed backwards. Also turns out that the red lines pictured above that t's off right after the regulator supplies the cold side of my shower and the outdoor faucet right outside my room.

Called the previous plumber and told him what he did and he said to send him a copy of the receipt from the other company so he can reimburse me. I am hoping he is true to his word and will actually reimburse me. I will probably give him a week to pay me back.

Thank you all for trying to help me out.
 

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