Hey guys, this problem has been occurring for some time now, I finally found this website to finally ask the question and hopefully have an answer :).. Now I do not want to call the plumber in at this point, in case if it's a easy fix and would rather save the money, so please if you can help please do so :D..

Anyhow here is the scenario.. When I first moved into my house this problem did not usually occur?

The problem is this :

When I use the shower down stairs and only the hot water in the shower downstair is turned on, nothing else (sink or faucet) I have hot water/warm water flowing fine and freely :D.. But when someone hops in the shower upstairs and turns the hot/warm water on My shower is then suddenly interrupted and hot water turns to a slighter cooler water than before, now it doesn't go all the way cold, but instead goes cooler (but is still to cold for my blood) so I figured a little trick, when this event occurs I would turn the water power to a way slightler settings basically enough to lather my body, then I would adjust the temp. to a more hotter temp, now this does not exactly solve the problem but it works sometimes to get the approprate temp water running for myself..

Now, when this situation occurs it seems the upstair shower is not affected by the situation as much as the bottom shower, it will get a bit cold here and there, but the bottom shower would be cooler.. Also it goes back and forth the shower at the bottom will be cold at one point, than back to operating temps at another point it seems like the hot water is taking turn to be at either the bottom or the top shower?

Anyhow, that was a quick description of my problem.. it really sucks when you are in the middle of lathering your body with soap and all of a sudden water turns cold and you have to stand there until water is warm to rinse off! :( :(..

Please if anyone have any suggestions, and clue of why this is happening please tell me.. PLEASE! :o.. Like I said, it only happens when someone is basically using the hot water, and I don't recall this being a problem a few years ago when I first purchased the home? Thanks.

-Steph'

Anyone?? I used search feature, but I could not find much help.. I did however found a post about draining the heater, so I will do that this wknd and see if that helps?

What kind of pipes do you have? Copper? Galvanized? Plastic? How old is your house?
Sounds like you have a volume problem. The lower shower gets first call on the hot water. When the upstairs shower hot water's turned on it robs hot water from the lower shower causing the cold water in the mix to take over and cool down your first floor shower. The only solution I can recommend is to run a separate hot supply to the second floor shower. Good luck, Tom

Hey thanks for the reply, tell you the truth not sure the piping.. its about a 13 year old home.. Something else I notice was, when I turn the hot water for the bottom bathroom sink, seems like air is let out first (like pressure build up) then the water starts coming out? But I'll check into the design of the piping this wknd.. funny thing is this just recently started to happen a few months back.. I don't recall this happening when I first purchase the home?

-Steph'

Hi Steph,

In a 13 year old home I assume the pipes are copper. The first thing I would suppect is the heat nipples that are installed on the hot water outlet of the heater. They sometimes load up with crud and cut down on the volume of hot water released. This would give you the condition that you have. Regards, tom

With a 13 year old house you could be nearing the life expectancy of your heater. Mixing valves and the heater itself may be less efficient due to lime and scale buildup. If you are handy you can flush the heater with the fuel shut off. Also remove, clean and flush the faucet valve stems. Speedball is totally correct about build up in and around the nipples on the tank.