Hot water Heater

[Want2Wheel]

Anyone know anything about these? I don't have very much HW preasure throughout the house the cold is fine. I think that the water heater tank has junk in the bottom of it. It heats fine, but the flow is not. What could cause it? What is the fix for it? Please don't say a new water heater.

[Rtaylor]

Anyone know anything about these? I don't have very much HW preasure throughout the house the cold is fine. I think that the water heater tank has junk in the bottom of it. It heats fine, but the flow is not. What could cause it? What is the fix for it? Please don't say a new water heater.

Why do you need to heat "hot" water??? Hot water heater...

Anyways, water heaters do build up sand in the bottom. This ususally affects only the volume of hot water that is available. It sould not affect the flow. If you are having flow problems there is probably a screen somewheres that is clogged up. This could be in the facet, or in your water filtration system. I have never seen a water heater that had any kind of screen in it...

If you wish to clean out the junk in the bottom of the heater connect a water hose to the spigot at the bottom front of the heater. Route the hose outdoors. Turn the breaker to the water heater off. Open the spigot and let the water run out until there is no more sand/sludge coming out and the water runs clear. Turn the spigot off, remove the hose, and flip the breaker back on. You should be good to go...

By the way, I am a gas controls Engineer and I regularly work in the water heater industry.

[SamuraiGuyTN]

yeah what he said...empty it.

But if there were a flow problem due to sand being in the faucet screens then both hot and cold would be affected.


But now that i think about it......I would also check the vavles leading to and from the Water heater and any of the control valves at each sink.

[sams_pf]

Would the pressure of the water going in the tank affect the pressure coming out? Mine has pressure reducers ( or cutoff valves) going in and coming out of the heater. Just a thought.

[Want2Wheel]

Thank you Rob. The cold water line has a t in it right above the heater, and they are coper lines that have been sweetd together. I was thinking that the problem might be in the lines if not in the heater itself. Before I bought the house the water line was replaced, and I thought that they could have gotten dirt in the tank itself. Again, Thank You

[Country Boy]

Well or city water, well can build up calcium deposits & mess up thangs.

[Rtaylor]

Would the pressure of the water going in the tank affect the pressure coming out? Mine has pressure reducers ( or cutoff valves) going in and coming out of the heater. Just a thought.

Code requires that the heater have water cut-off valves on the inlet and outlet. They should not be used to reduce pressure, meaning that they should be all the way open in normal condition, and all the way closed when serviceing the unit. If one were partially closed it could cause your problems.

If there is an inline pressure reducer, you definately should verify that it is operating correctly. I am not familiar with this type of device in water heaters...

If it is a new heater or has new line, there could be installation issues. Check everything. I mis-understood that the problem was something that happend over time.

[Bluegill]

Pressure regulators are usually installed on the main water line (cold) entering the house, shortly after the entrance - and normally set out of the box at 40psi. Your local codes may vary, but current TN state code is that a residential hot water heater must have at least one shutoff valve at the unit (usually on the hot, or output side); the shutoff valve on the main line entering the house meets the requirements for the input (or cold side) valve.

It's more complex than the method Rob Taylor described earlier, but you can backflush a water heater, I've done it several times and it removed more sand & clay than you'd think. I was raised as a 3rd generation plumber, I just haven't done it for a living in a long time. :wink: If your heater is electric, the water is hot, and it doesn't leak - then you shouldn't need to replace it; but it sounds like it could use a good cleaning out though.

[BrandonFranklin]

i dunno do the flushin thing with water hose if this doesnt work then call manufacture i work at american water heater and the insides of the heaters tank that holds the water is glazed with a coating of reglass pretty much a mix of glass and a chemical to preserve the metal from rusting out and this stuff could be fallin off the sides of the tank and causin a clog somewhere ill ask my dads friend he tha head man over there he should know. :idea:

[Want2Wheel]

Fixed it. My wife took a shower the other night, and I had to go turn the water off for her. She was almost pushed out of the shower. We now have to replace the sheetroch, and the floor in the bathroom.
Not really, I did fix it though. Long story short, the outlet on the heater was cloged with lead from when the sweated the pipes. It was the resriction. I have not had a shower at home that good in a year. Thank you for your advice, Rob

[SamuraiGuyTN]

glad to hear. I did laugh though, I can picture someone flying out of the bathroom with a wall of water behind them :lol: