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EllenF
Nov 28, 2007, 10:49 AM
Hello,

I have hardly any hot water pressure in my house. I have read previous posts about flushing the hot water heater. My husband has flushed and then drained the hot water heater. He did not see any rust or buildup come out when he flushed. We still have very low hot water pressure. We had Sears out about a month ago to check the water heater and they said there was nothing wrong with it.

I also read some posts about the faucets being clogged, but I find it hard to believe that evey single facuet in our house could be clogged. Do you have any ideas what might be causing this? Not sure what to do next. Thank you for you help!

MJ85491
Nov 28, 2007, 11:01 AM
Need more info about your house. Is it new, old, one story, two, three, do you live in an apt? Do you live in the city or rural? Do you buy water from the city or have a well or other private water system? All of these factors contribute. If I were guessing you probably live in an older home 30-50 yrs- - you live in an area where hard water is a problem. Your pipes may be made of galvanized steel and are coroded and clogged- - very typical. If I am wrong solution may be fairly simple. If I am right solution is neither simple nor cheap. Sorry hope this helped.

doug238
Nov 28, 2007, 06:56 PM
On most situations like this you either have a valve partially closed or a broken valve that will not open or a clog on the hot side of the water heater at the top of the water heater.

speedball1
Nov 29, 2007, 11:18 AM
A number oif things can cause this problem. Like MJ 85491 I thought that you might live in a older home with galvanized pipes that were loaded up with mineral deposits but I gave up on that when you said only the hot water was affected and that it affected all the hot water faucets. That puts the source directly on the water heater iitself. Doug presents some interesting places to check. I have one more. If you have a heat trap nipples coming out of the tamk and one's faulty it could be cutting off the flow to the hot water system. If all else fails, (and if you have them installed) then replace the nipples with a 3/4" brass nipples and see if that doesn't solve the problem. Good luck, Tom

MJ85491
Nov 29, 2007, 12:31 PM
In areas where there is a high lime content in the water, as in the mountianwest, is is very typical to see the hot water pipes affected by corrosion more than cold. (the heat seems to make the limestone adhere to pipes better) The telling factor is if as Tom said all faucets are affected equally. This may be difficult to determine as faucets throughout the house are not always by the same manufacturer or the same age so flow may seem normal through a tub or shower but restricted through a kitchen sink or lavatory. I would do as Tom suggests first and check the nipples in and out of the WH. Good luck

doug238
Nov 29, 2007, 02:48 PM
The most common cause of no or little hot water flow is the valve, the next most common is magnesium from the anode rod collecting at the hot outlet port. If it is the clog, simply cut the pipe above the water heater where a couple can easily be installed. Unscrew the hide side piping from the tank, and use a screw driver to poke out the small clog at the top of the water heater.