I have just replaced my old water heater, and now I don't have hot water and my kitchen pressure is low, but the bath has good pressure. What could be the problem here? It's a brand new water heater so the elements couldn't have gone out could they?

Dharrell;

First, check the aerator at the end of the kitchen sink faucet spout... looks like pic. Below. Remove by grasping and turning clockwise. Then clean of all sediment... run water without aerator, then re-install the aerator. That should fix sink.

Now, hot water.

You have water flow.. but not hot in temperature... right? Let me know and can tell you how to fix!

Ok, that solved that problem. I just sat there for a while and let the water run at each location and it was warm, not hot. So there is a bit of temperature there. The hot water lines are discolored at every location. Including my upstairs bath(runs off different water heater, and its always done that).

OK... now go to heater and check that the thermostats are set at about 120 degrees F.

These thermostats are under an upper and lower panel on the heater itself. SHUT the power at breaker 1st, then remove covers and the insulation around the thermostat, then lift plastic cover at fold and you will see the thermostat and a small screwdriver slotted screw that rotates to set temp.

Set these to 120- 125 F . Then put plastic back down, put insulation back in, set cover panels back in place, turn on electric and you should be good to go. If not, come on back and let me know.

Also, after installing heater you want to purge sediment and air to the LAUNDRY sink first if you have one in basement, then to tub (out spout, not out shower head), then to other fixtures in the house... this reduces the clogging that you experienced.

Let me know how it goes.

If this helped, please RATE THIS ANSWER. Thank you... Mark

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Mp:
Ya know, your smart when it comes to these things and can explain it well. I always did it that way, but never had to say why.

When turning the water back on after a drain, the laundry sink and upstairs bathtub are open. These locations are easy and they won't splash. The water main is turned on slow until the air is bled. The individual locations are then turned off. Main is fully opened and the rest of the air, if any, is bled from these locations. It so happens that the upstairs bathtub is the nearly the first cold location and the last hot location. The laundry is nearly the last cold and the first hot.

And your right, these spouts don't have aerators so large particles can be transported out of the system with ease.

Nice to see you RON:

I would say you get to explaining in some pretty good detail yourself ;)

Now, I'm just wondering how dharrell is doing? Take care... keep in touch when you have a chance... Mark

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Ok, I checked the thermostat on the panels and they are set at 120. Its still the same temperature. The water is still cloudy but it clears up; if you put it in a glass it will clear up. It just doesn't look sanitary. I don't have a basement, the closest faucet is the sink, next the bathroom. As far as my upstairs bath, its run off a completely different water heater and the hot water also is cloudy there.

OK... you have warm water at least... yes? If so, then need you to check your wiring at the junction box of water heater to start.. ok? Here, again, shut off power to water heater at breaker 1st . Then uncap the wires you connected and check connections. If all looks connected well, I would like you to try and take an electrical reading at each wire.

Do you have an electrical tester? If so, want you to turn power onto heater (caps have been removed and wires separated so they do not touch each other OR the metal jacket of heater). Now set voltmeter to 250 volt and touch black lead from tester to one of the wires and the red lead to the metal junction box. What does meter read? Then repeat with the other wire... again, black lead to othe rwire, and then touch other lead to junction box... what does that read?

If no electrical tester.. if you want to figure this, you will need to get one... OK? Start by checking the connections you worked on. Then if it wasn't connections at junction box, and you have tester try the test I mentioned... let me know what you get for readings.

ALWAYS TEST SOMETHING YOU KNOW WORKS WITH AN ELECTRICAL TESTER FIRST BEFORE USING IT TO CONFIRM POWER ON ANYTHING ELSE!!

The hot water is still cloudy... huh? Fill a tub.. that should clear it.. if doesn't let me know... will see from there.

Get back to me with answers you can provide... Mark

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Ok, I don't have a tester so I can't get that done today. I will do the tub test and try and clear out to see if that works. Also I have another thing I just realized today after checking the thermostat. When we hooked up the new heater the blue was on the right and red on the left (the other way on the old heater). So my husband switched the lines, connecting the blue with the blue and red with the red. Is that connected right? I touched the lines also and the red line is cold and the blue line is hot. These are supposed to be the water lines so they should correspond with the colors correct? I'm thinking that the shut off lines are in the wrong place to begin with. When we bought the house the realtor mentioned something about the lines being backwards but she was talking about the kitchen sink lines and the water was cold on the right matching with the blue on the sink and the same with the hot. So we didn't think anything about it because it matched. Could this switch up be a cause of the cloudy water?

Ok filled the tub and the water in the shower was clearer than the bath sink and kitchen sink. With the tub running and the kitchen sink on the water was clearer than before. When I turned off the tub it was back to where it was.

DH.. are you saying the hot and cold water pipes got reversed in hooking up the heater? Have they been swapped back..

And the switching could have caused cloudy issue by fact that sediment in pipes is getting disturbed different flow direction.. maybe? Get back to me with answer

Yes, lines reversed can be a cause of cloudy water.

Blue should be cold inlet and red should be the hot outlet. The length of the tubes extending into the heater are different.

The shutoff needs to be on the cold side.

If code will allow, there might be a reason to have a shutoff on both sides, but if you do take the handle off the hot side. A tank failure combined with a fixture failure would be a reason to use both valves to isolate the tank.

Well when we took the old heater out the cold line(from house) was on the left and the hot line(from house) was on the right, blue on left on the tank, red on right on tank. On the new one the blue is on the right, and red on the left. The lines, blue/red correspond with the water heater's blue/red. No they haven't been switched yet. What I meant with it being switched to begin with, was we thought that the valve(blue/red) were on the wrong pipe. After opening the lines after connecting the heater when felt the blue line is hot/warm and the red line(from the house) is cold. So should I switch them, and see if that is the problem?

DH... you need to be sure that the cold water pipe is going into the blue side (says cold stamped into metal on heater too) of the heater.

Start at the main water pipe and follow that pipe into the heater... if not attached to blue.. need to switch. Period. Can you go check that now..?

Ok I just checked the lines and there is one line with two red valves(which I would think is the hot line) but when I felt it its cold. The other line has one valve and its green and that when felt is warm and that is going into the blue on the heater.

OK.. sounds switched to me! BUT want you to confirm NOT BY colors and valves, but by starting at the water meter and following that pipe or a branch off it into the water heater. In this trace, you should follow the pipe and find that it runs into the cold water inlet of heater (says COLD on heater and is marked blue).

See, can feel warmth on both pipes of a water heater... so just double check.. but certainly sounds reversed to me.

Swap pipes, and this time, purge water to tub spout after doing work.

Make sure electricity is shut off to heater while swapping the pipes.. ok?

Keep us posted on progress! Mark

I followed them from the lines that were coming out of the floor behind the heater is that OK? So if it sounds switched to you then I need to take the red line (from the house, and that's cold) to the blue on the heater, correct?

Dh... correct.

Run water out the cold side of faucets... does it come out warm/hot? Let them run for a few minutes.. be sure.. (cold is on right of all faucets) get back to me?

Started to unloosen the pipes to switch from heater. Have them turned off all the way, should there still be water coming out. There is more water on the hot side(slightly cloudy there) and mostly air on the cold side.

Red handled vales just mean the handles are red. Nothing else. Look for real markings on the water heater inlets and outlets.

DH... you need to open hot water side of two handle faucet if you have one that is two handles on first floor (I remembered that other bath is fed by other water heater.;) ) and then drain water off at the drain on the water heater. Drain off 10 gallons or so... do not empty heater... no reason too. If no two handle faucets let me know.

And again, be sure power to heater is shut off at breaker. Keep us updated exactly as you are doing... :)

Kiss...you said it! I mentioned the stamped in letters in jacket. Hopefully they have it from here... *crossing fingers*


AND DH...did you confirm warm /hot water coming out of the cold side of your faucets before you began repiping heater..?? You really needed to confirm that before proceeding.
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When I started to turn the valves off on the hot side I guess it was a little loose and water started coming out, that was water that was coming out was warm. I still have the cloudy water though. I opened all the faucets and had them all running and the water was clearer than before but that's only when they are all open.

I didn't see anything saying cold or hot on the pipes.

DH... did you test faucets.. Is cold coming from cold side and hot from hot side of faucets at 1st floor faucets/valves..?

The marking is not on the pipe. The word HOT and the word COLD should be stamped into the metal jacket in front of the tappings into the heater.. look for that. The hot side will have red plastic collar and the cold side will have blue plastic collar at the tappings of heater.

Give me a minute, let me undo that and test that water.

I'm here!

Ok I just disconnected the lines and turned the red valved on and it was cold. The other valve, nothing came out.

DH... turn any shutoffs that you turned off at the heater ON.. all of them. Then retest. Do you get cold from cold... hot from hot sides of faucets/valves? Let me know.

I got cold from the cold line, and hot from all the faucets when both lines are connected to the heater. Not connected to the heater the line with two red valves is cold, the line with a green valve when turned on nothing comes out.
I have a cold line connected to the blue on the heater and the other to the red, I turned the tub faucet on now and hopefully waiting for the water to clear.

Now I seem to have a bigger problem. I tightened the green valve(from the hot line) and its dripping. How do I stop this.

Tighten the packing nut DH.. see pic. It is not exactly what you have, but idea is that there is a nut at the stem of shutoffs... tighten this with pliers 1/4 turn... no more. That should fix. Answer my questions after that!! Mark

I just took a picture of it to show you where its leaking. Where can I send it for you to view. I tried tightening it and it seemed to get worse.

DH.. shut it off for now. Than can send via the "GO ADVANCED" button at the place you post your questions. Keep it coming...

How do I shut it off, I tried opening and closing the valve but it doesn't seem to be doing anything.

I am having problems sending it via this site.

DH... I am sorry to say.. but sounds like you need some help here. Lots going on... maybe electric is miswired (maybe?), maybe lines are crossed (?), and now a shutoff that is so old that tightening the packing nut does not work..? I got to say... *ouch*

I would shut off the water main at this time... be careful now. Then call in plumber. Sometimes the plumbing pipes/valves are so old/defective that you simply need to replace them. Let me know what you think.. Mark

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That's what I was thinking also, replacing the valve. I have no idea how old the pipes actually are. I'm sure pretty old, the house is 40+ years old so I can only imagine how old the pipes are. It seemed when I loosened it more water came out. I've got it set now where a small trickle comes out, hopefully that will suffice until tomorrow.

Is it hard to replace a valve? Or would a plumber be recommended, and how much would it charge to have that replaced?

DH... call the plumber in the morning. Cost depends on pipe type and just how much work needs to be done. Keep us all posted here, we are glad to help. I am sorry was not a nice easy fix for you... Mark

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I think I have the picture attached here. If you can see it, look at the black area. This is where it is leaking. Let me know what you think I should do at this point.
Thanks.

Can you post a picture using "go advanced"?

DH... we all worked this one pretty hard. Call the plumber in morning... that valve/piping needs to be replaced. The pipes need to be replaced... and you need to be sure that the water heater has been installed properly!

Actually, this is serious stuff! If the temperature and pressure relief valve was not installed correctly, you could have dangerous situation. Too much going on here. Call licensed plumber.. have him fix and approve this installation... for you and your family's safety.

The plumber will explain more when he arrives. I do this at this point... for your safety... ok? Let me know result.. please. Goodnight... Mark

Thanks a lot for your help. I wish I didn't have an old house and old pipes or I wouldn't have this problem. I assume if this valve didn't cause problems everything else would have been good. Thanks again though for your help.

DH... please let us know result.. ok? And thank you for understanding that this is serious. Check out this site... you will understand why I am concerned. There is more involved in connecting water heaters then just soldering/connecting pipes!

Water Heater Blast! (http://www.waterheaterblast.com/)

Let us know your thoughts... Mark

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Mark:

I think your right. The installation really needs to be looked at.

dh:

Green on copper pipes is generally a sign of leaking or excessive moisture. That valve has been leaking for some time. That type of valve is generally replaced with ball valves now. For future reference, irfranview.com (http://www.irfranview.com) can be used to resize images. 640 x 480 usually works. There are probably many other valves in the house that will need replacing. Let's hope that the piping is in good shape.

Thanks for all of your responses and helping me with my situation. I have called a plumber and they came and changed the pipe and put in a new shutoff valve, so no more leaking. My question now is, how long after turning the breaker back on should I have hot water. The heater has been turned off all night so will it be hot within the hour or will it take a while longer?

Hey DH

Glad you called in pro. Safety first. Did you watch the water heater video at Water Heater Blast! (http://www.waterheaterblast.com) ? Something else, huh?

Hey, you should have hot water in about 1-2 hours... if you don't then CHOKE that plumber... or I will... ;)

You take care and let us know if we can help in future... Mark

Hi my hot water heater went out and we replaced it with a new one, new hoses, new pipes. Now for the trouble we are having. We have no hot water pressure, the cold is fine, the hot water is hot, just no pressure can you help me ?

Silly question, but did you double check to see that the cold water shutoff is fully opened?