Recently I've had a drop in the volume of hot water that is coming through my system. It is a problem on every faucet in the house. The cold water pressure is GREAT. The house is 7 years old, and I believe that it has copper tubing throughout. I've been digging around for solutions to this for the last few days, and have tried several things.

First, I wanted to make sure that the water supply INTO the hot water heater was coming at good volume/pressure. I did this by opening the drain valve on the bottom of the water heater without shutting off the cold water inlet. There was amazing volume and pressure coming out of the drain valve, so I don't think it's the supply volume/pressure.
I then did what was suggested on numerous forums for similar problems. I shut off the cold water supply, opened the faucet that was the furthest away from the water heater, and drained the water heater. This was a slow process. It took about 2 hours for it to drain. There was barely any water coming out of the drain valve. Well, after it finished, I turned the supply water back on, filled the tank, and bled each faucet. At each faucet, the water looked sort of yellow at first, with one of the faucets (the first one I bled) it actually looked brown for a minute. The yellow color went away after a while, but the volume/pressure was still the same as before.
I looked online again, and a site suggested that flow problems could be due to the use of the wrong diameter pipe. I looked at the exposed piping in the basement which feeds most of the house, and it had an outside diameter of 7/8", so I assume that's 3/4" tubing.
I can't find any other ideas online, and this is really getting aggravating. We can't use the dishwasher because it doesn't get the dishes clean anymore. Showers have no flow of hot water, but at least there's something there.

Thanks for any ideas that you have. I really appreciate the input.

Matt

Hi Matt,

It sounds like you have rust built up on the floor of the heater. Did the water run cleaqr when you flushed the tank? Have you opened up a faucet and flushed out the supply to see if helps? 3/4" is normal for the house mains.
Ya don't "drain" a water heater to clear away mineral build up you flush it. Let me show you how.
For long life and fewer troubles you should keep your heater clear of mineral build-up by flushing on a regular schedule. Attach a hose to the boiler drain at the bottom of the tank. With the pressure on, open the boiler drain and let it run until the water runs clear. You will see a spurt of red,(rust) followed by white grains,(lime or calcium carbonate). This shouldn't take more then a few minutes. Do this monthly to keep it clear. Now flush out your hot water lines on ALL fixtures. Don't forget to flush it out every month. Your heater will thank you for it. Hope this helps, tom

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mr_seven

Recently I've had a drop in the volume of hot water that is coming through my system. It is a problem on every faucet in the house. The cold water pressure is GREAT. The house is 7 years old, and I believe that it has copper tubing throughout. I've been digging around for solutions to this for the last few days, and have tried several things.

First, I wanted to make sure that the water supply INTO the hot water heater was coming at good volume/pressure. I did this by opening the drain valve on the bottom of the water heater without shutting off the cold water inlet. There was amazing volume and pressure coming out of the drain valve, so I don't think it's the supply volume/pressure.
I then did what was suggested on numerous forums for similar problems. I shut off the cold water supply, opened the faucet that was the furthest away from the water heater, and drained the water heater. This was a slow process. It took about 2 hours for it to drain. There was barely any water coming out of the drain valve. Well, after it finished, I turned the supply water back on, filled the tank, and bled each faucet. At each faucet, the water looked sort of yellow at first, with one of the faucets (the first one I bled) it actually looked brown for a minute. The yellow color went away after a while, but the volume/pressure was still the same as before.
I looked online again, and a site suggested that flow problems could be due to the use of the wrong diameter pipe. I looked at the exposed piping in the basement which feeds most of the house, and it had an outside diameter of 7/8", so I assume that's 3/4" tubing.
I can't find any other ideas online, and this is really getting aggravating. We can't use the dishwasher because it doesn't get the dishes clean anymore. Showers have no flow of hot water, but at least there's something there.

Thanks for any ideas that you have. I really appreciate the input.

Matt

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I recently had the same problem on a 10-year old hot water heater. The culprit - the nipple pipe coming out of the hot water outlet was clogged internally with corrosion. Check yours.

Cheers, Tom

Thanks for the suggestions. I tried them, and it was the hot-water outlet that was clogged. I got it fixed, and the pressure is WONDERFUL!! Thank goodness, I was getting tired of doing the dishes by hand. I really appreciate your help. I flushed the tank like you said speedball, and saw lots of dirty water and some of the white flakes. I'll be sure to do this every month to avoid this problem in the future.

Thanks again!

Matt