Hot Water Plumbing Problems (washer, hot water supply, bathtub, bathroom)
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I'm leaning towards a double cold feed at that sink. Whomever hooked it up had a brain fart and tapped into the same feed line for both outlets. Barring any obvious problem with the faucet, which is easily checked, a trip under the house to track out the feed lines is in order.
I'm leaning towards a double cold feed at that sink. Whomever hooked it up had a brain fart and tapped into the same feed line for both outlets. Barring any obvious problem with the faucet, which is easily checked, a trip under the house to track out the feed lines is in order.
How I wish that could happen, but since the house is 107 years old and the ground level is a fully built out rental unit below us, it's a maze of plumbing in the walls sadly.
How I wish that could happen, but since the house is 107 years old and the ground level is a fully built out rental unit below us, it's a maze of plumbing in the walls sadly.
Ah yes, my favorite type of situation.. Well, you could always put a small on demand type electric WH under that sink and call it good. It will operate off the existing cold feed and not require any extensive plumbing to hook up. They run about 150-180 bucks which is a site cheaper than a plumber trying to track down the maze of plumbing. Turn off the main, cap off the "hot' side feed under the sink and mount the little bugger under there. They hook up with flex lines and are brutally simple to install. Just READ the install manual. There are a couple little tricks to them but they are real easy.
Ah yes, my favorite type of situation.. Well, you could always put a small on demand type electric WH under that sink and call it good. It will operate off the existing cold feed and not require any extensive plumbing to hook up. They run about 150-180 bucks which is a site cheaper than a plumber trying to track down the maze of plumbing. Turn off the main, cap off the "hot' side feed under the sink and mount the little bugger under there. They hook up with flex lines and are brutally simple to install. Just READ the install manual. There are a couple little tricks to them but they are real easy.
Excellent idea...I will look into that if the other suggestions don't pan out.
Is that something I could find easily at a plumbing supply place or ware we talking special order?
If that is the case, somebody ran two copper lines but somehow hooked both of them to cold. Go back to the basement or where ever the probable source of water is. Try to find a shutoff valve for the cold supply that will shutoff water to most of the house but not the hot water heater.
Test try some valves to see if you shut a known cold water supply does that particular sink totally lose flow on the hot water side. Maybe it would also have no cold water flow. Totally proving that was the cause, one valve killed both sides. You want to make sure that valve also did not kill the hot water heater cold supply. The fun game of playing with the valves in the basement.
Where I am going with this is maybe you do not have to actually trace lines, maybe it can be figured out in the maze of lines in the basement where most runs start. Sometimes there are shutoff valves to particular areas like upstairs or where ever. Some older houses have shutoffs all over the place. That allows repairs without shutting down the entire house even if local shutoff's leak or it there are none. Common for old houses not to have shutoff at each use point.
If you can dope it out that way, could just do the correction in the basement by a test retube of that particular line. You sort of have to know your own house quite well and what does what. I'm always surprised how lil peeps really know about their own houses but expect the other guy to figure it out in an instant and very cheap.
Kind of the sanity check before plunging into putting in another heater. I always come at these problems, the homeowner can fix it. Whole different bag if you got to call the plumber. You better have it doped out long before hand, the clock will be running.
If my tenant left her hot water valve on for an hour to check, I'd have to smack her upside the head!
ok, sorry I just had to get that out of the way.
Here's the run-down.
The house is all on one meter, hot water heater, etc etc...
there are 5 sinks in the house total.
2 kitchen (g floor and main)
3 bathrooms (g floor ,main & 3rd)
the only sink faucet that is a single handle is in my kitchen. (no problems there)
all of the bathroom lav. sink fixtures are double handle (1 for cold & 1 for hot)
could this 'mixer' issue still be the case now that i mentioned the double handles? I checked my bathroom sink and found it to be plumbed properly (hot on L cold on R)
I haven't had a chance to check her bathroom sink out, won't be able to till tomorrow, so I really appreciate all your ideas thanks so much!
Double handles is good. My bet is that the mixer valve only is for the hot water going to the two bathrooms.
Cut the breaker to the water heater, close the valve on the intake or output of the water heater. Turn on the hot water at various places. If, after the intial pressure drop, there is still a strong flow of water, then you have cold water entering from somewhere. Listen at the shower(s) for any water flow. If the shower has a mixing valve, set it to medium warm.
so far the only plumbing that I can see before it travels into various walls and ceilings have no shut offs...after that it is a mystery. Until I can gut the entire unit and put back the original staircase to connect it with the rest of the house, it will remain so. I will need to win the lottery ASAP, I'll keep you posted on that one!
I did retest the hot water on my main floor bath sink. After 6 minutes the water was hot...thats the best it has EVER done...and that still sucks though.
I haven't checked in the unit downstairs though, that'll be tomorrow.
Double handles is good. My bet is that the mixer valve only is for the hot water going to the two bathrooms.
Cut the breaker to the water heater, close the valve on the intake or output of the water heater. Turn on the hot water at various places. If, after the intial pressure drop, there is still a strong flow of water, then you have cold water entering from somewhere. Listen at the shower(s) for any water flow. If the shower has a mixing valve, set it to medium warm.
I'm still thinking bad anti-scald valve.
I will give that a try tomorrow as well, thanks Harry.
Ok, it could also be the hot water lines are over sized by like a lot. 6 minutes seems a bit long even for an extremely long run. Maybe somebody ran 3/4 or 1 inch lines. You got a lot of gallons of water to move to get the hot to the sink. But if eventually you can get hot water, the line is not tubed wrong.
Some motels I stayed at had this problem. I thought no hot water. Took forever at the sink, so you give up trying to shave, take the shower, got hot pretty quick there, run the sink again and presto had hot water. Didn't make any sense but I was only staying the night and they were not paying me for fixing anything but their water bills must have been terrible with folks trying to figure out the mystery the hard way.
Excellent idea...I will look into that if the other suggestions don't pan out.
Is that something I could find easily at a plumbing supply place or ware we talking special order?
Just about any major hardware store will have one of these. They are a common item. The other poster above has a good point. If you shut off the cold supply to the HW tank and still have full bore pressure at both sides of that sink it's a double cold feed for sure. That would make the decision as to how to approach it easier. If that turns out to be the case I would certainly go with the undersink on demand unit. You could do all the required plumbing yourself and save a bundle as opposed to trying to tap a hot feed off the main. All the work would be under the sink. You could just route the existing flex on the 'hot' side into the unit and anther flex to the faucet. A couple screws to mount the unit to the cabinet, two flex connections, plug it in and bingo. The only fly in the ointment being a power supply for the WH. A GFI is required. If there's a plug in by the sink it should not be to bad getting power into the cabinet. The whole thing would be a bunch cheaper than a trace and tap off the HW main in the walls.
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. Well, you could always put a small on demand type electric WH under that sink and call it good. It will operate off the existing cold feed and not require any extensive plumbing to hook up. They run about 150-180 bucks which is a site cheaper than a plumber trying to track down the maze of plumbing. Turn off the main, cap off the "hot' side feed under the sink and mount the little bugger under there. They hook up with flex lines and are brutally simple to install. Just READ the install manual. There are a couple little tricks to them but they are real easy.
Do some more checking........
