I am knew to this..
I've replaced the water heart along with the supply lines.. but this time I use the flexible hose lines, instead of the cooper lines.home depot sold them to me.
Anyway.. the water pressure is good while one sink or tub is running but as soon as I turn on another sink,or tub the pressure drops very low.. is it the two flex supply lines or is there another problem.. may I say with the old water heater I did not have this problem..

Give me some advice.. thank you... :

Anytime you shut-down the water supply, the sediment in the lines settle. When you turn it back on, sometimes the sediment makes it through the lines to the spout where it is being called to. Did you install this water heater or have someone do it? It could be bad lines, but I'm not so sure. So, if you were to turn all faucets on at the same time, they would all have low pressure?

XenoSapien

Hi Aliciaa...

I think you've gotten a bum steer here... the problem is most likely the flexible lines. What is the inside diameter of those lines? Your water heater should be plumbed with 3/4" minimum, as required by code for any supply line that serves more than one or two fixtures (depends on the type of fixture)


If those lines are smaller than 3/4", that's likely your problem. I would not use flex-lines for the water heater in any case. It's really not very hard to solder the pipes correctly, the only possibly tricky part is that you need to solder the threaded couplers to a stub and FIRST attach them to the heater before making the connection further up the line.

Also, you should have a shutoff valve (the full-port ball valves are the best kind) on the COLD water side. This is also a code requirement in virtually all locales.


Good luck!
~aaron

I install flex lines all the time. I've rarely seen them fail if installed properly. Sediment does settle when you shut off the water lines. That's why when water is turned back on, sometimes aerators get stopped up with sediment, lime, pieces of a plastic gasket from stems. I'll have to disagree with sirocco70 as a plumber of eight years.

XenoSapien

There is no appreciable sediment in domestic water lines but there can be a bit at your shut off. Opening and closing a main can cause some white crude to break free but I doubt it would cause your issue. The crude usually gets caught in a sink spout screen or shower head. If your HD sold you flexible copper pipe for a watrer heater install you should be OK. I do prefer to sold rigid pipe but I saw the HD kit and its fine. I am wondering if you have double checked that you have reopened your main 100%. My main gets shut off once every week and my wife never fully reopens it. It can take 10-12 turns of your wrist to open a main.

Yes, there is sediment: lime, dip-tube pieces, pieces of copper, plastic from stem gaskets. I change aerators all the time because this stuff makes its way through the lines, and clogs them up.

XenoSapien

Yah, dude, that's fine and true and all that.

And also not very likely to explain why a given fixture would have adequate volume (flow) when only that fixture was in use, but inadequate if another fixture was also in use.

We don't have any idea what kind of "flex lines" Home Depot sold this person.

I'm not going to engage you further, Xeno, but I've taken a look at your other posts, and even though you may be a licensed plumber, I wouldn't hire you based on what I've read.

Anyhow, as I said, I'm not going to engage further, and I wish you well with all your issues.

~aaron

You said "the sediment in the lines settle" and that is erroneous. The other stuff you added in your last post does happen but it is not sediment. The sacrifial anode rods in water heaters also create most of the junk caught in faucet screens but that still doesn't explain a drop in water pressure when a third tap is opened. It crude were in all screen it would cause a decreased flow at the start.

Ok, so I need to be more lucid: sediment, lime, dip-tube pieces, pieces of copper, plastic from stem gaskets. In the area I work, it's all sediment to me. It's all crap that sits when the main is off, and it is all the same crap that gets shot through the water lines when the main is back on.

I have never seen a flex line that caused a problem. It's always been something that has been introduced into the line that caused the problem, immediately following the main being shut off, then turned back on. I can see by your many replies on my posts scirocco70 that you look to derail my ideas, and I suppose that's your right.

Do you really think the city sewage is really able to stop everything that goes through it's filters? No, they can't. Anything man-made is guaranteed to have flaws.

I never said anything about being a licensed plumber, and I wouldn't service your place based upon your lack of experience and likely 'vulturing' over my shoulder while I fix the plumbing problem in your home.

XenoSapien

Xeno, if you're not licensed, then you're not a plumber. I think the licensed guys around here would agree with me, but of course you don't have to.

Anyhow, as I said, I DO wish you well in your future endeavours.

It'll be up to the community here to decide how they view you. And me.

Comments on this post
scirocco70 disagrees: uhm, no. I'm no plumber, but this is patently false. There is no appreciable sediment in any domestic water system that is is good operating order.

This may be true in the area you live in but in the part of the country that I live in it is a very big problem with our water heaters. Not only do we have to clean out aerators and faucet bodies, we also have to clean out water heaters, especially the electric heaters. The sediment in the heaters also shortens the life of the heaters. A six year heater will just barley last the warranty period in a lot of cases.

I did not want to start a hate email to any one or which it on any one...
But about the sediment in the lines, if there is sediment in the lines wouldn't my pressure be low. As I turn the water on? The pressure in every fixture is great. WHEN I TURN ONE FAUCET ON, THE WATER PRESSURE IS GOOD BUT AS I TURN ANOTHER FAUCET ON THE PRESSURE GET WEEKER. About the flex lines.. they are, LG stainless steel water heater connector. 3/4 female iron pipe to 3/4 female iron pipe.
I should try the copper flex hose see if that does anything.. any advice would help great and no I really don't know a lot about plumbing.thanks

Does this only happen with the hot water, or with the cold water too?

When something stops working suddenly, usually the last thing you changed is the culprit...



Here's the thought process:

1) Your problem is restricted volume, not pressure
-- one fixture in use OK, more than one, not OK

2) You recently replaced the water heater
-- if it's just the hot water, then the problem is either the heater itself, the lines connecting the heater or possibly the plumbing between the heater and the faucets (probably not, there was no change, right?)
-- if it's both the hot and the cold water, then the previous suggestion of it being related to having the whole-house valve closed (have you checked to be sure it's open all the way?) is very valid


SO... are those flex lines 3/4" on the INSIDE? (ie, not set up to match 3/4" threads, but that's the inside diameter) It sounds like they probably are, so if they are not the issue, what else has changed?

~aaron

Ps: edited to add this pic.. do your "flex lines" look like any of these?
http://www.floodstoppernewyork.com/i...e_samples2.jpg

Edit AGAIN.. or do your flex lines look like this? These should work fine.. Water Heater Hazards: Temperature/pressure relief valve plumbed uphill

Pps: don't worry about any flameage... just read the posts and take the advice you think is best. There are a LOT of very smart/experienced plumbers here, and I'm NOT one of them!

If you don't work with water lines, how can you suggest any plumbing fixes? How can your opinion have any merit? Because you read it in books? I have worked with water lines and plumbing issues for years now.

Just because I don't have a piece of paper that says "I'm a plumber" doesn't mean I don't have some good ideas or suggestions. I do this work for a 700+ unit apartment community. And because you don't work with those issues every single day and I do, does mean that one can be skeptical of your ideas.

However, thank you for your encouragement, and I suggest offering advice on concepts you actually work with.

XenoSapien

Two phenomenon. Pressure, and flow.

Pressure can exist in a very small diameter line. However, when it feeds a larger line, the pressure will drop as it starts to flow.

All of this sounds to me that either the line you've installed is much smaller than the original, or there is an obstruction of some kind that is causing the internal diameter of the pipe to be less that it should be.

Either way, I would be looking to determine if the inside diameter is the same as the line feeding it. Or, if there is some kind of obstruction (from whatever source), including the shutoff valve, which might be obstructed or not fully turned on.

Such obstructions will reduce the flow. The initial pressure can be very high, even in a pipe that is the diameter of a needle. However, once water begins to flow, the pressure will drop if there is insufficient flow available to maintain the pressure of the entire volume of the pipe.

I think Stew was on the right track with his "Pressure, and flow" diagnosis, but I'm going to run in another direction with it.

Newer H/W tanks usually have what are called directional 'heat traps' in the nipples at the top or side of the tank.

I'm guessing your previous tank was old enough to have flow through dialectric nipples.

The problem with the directional heat trap nipples is that it doesn't take much debris to plug them up -- If your shut-off is of the older rubber washer and brass seat type, just a quarter of that washer lodged in the directional heat trap nipple on the outlet of the tank would cause the symptoms you describe -- The pressure remains the same, but the volume of water passed into the hot side of the piping system is decreased.

If it were me, I would remove the directional heat trap nipple on the hot outlet and inspect it for obvious blockages.

Just my two cents.

However, surely you can understand how representing yourself "as a plumber of eight years" when you aren't might lead some to question your "good ideas or suggestions", right?

Y'know, Xeno, those of us who actually have that piece of paper that says "I'm a plumber" went through a four year or six year Apprenticeship and then sat for the most rigorous competency exam in the construction industry to receive that "piece of paper".

Most states also require a minimum of twenty hours per year of continuing education classes in order to renew that "piece of paper".

Again I say to everyone, let's quit trying to "Out Credential" each other and just try to answer the questions and give advice to the best of our ability.