I'd like a more thorough description of this if possible. I've done everything I can think of other than checking this nipple.

My pipes look like copper. The house is about 15 years old. Water pressure was great one day and had dropped to about 1/4 or less the very next day (it didn't drop over time). Cold water pressure to all fixtures is unchanged and strong. Cold water dumping into the hot water heater appears to be just as strong. I have a kitchen sink, a bathroom sink, a shower, a clothes washing machine, and a dishwasher. Hot pressure is very low at all, cold is fine. The faucets are all of the type that only have one handle; not a separate handle for hot and cold (what are these called?).

Here's what I've done (that I can remember):

• drained water heater with all hot fixtures turned to ON
• back-flushed the hot water supply lines with cold water by connecting the cold water supply under a sink to the hot water supply and forcing cold water back through the hot line and into the heater
• removed and cleaned bathroom sink aerator and faucet internals
• replaced kitchen aerator because I broke a piece of plastic while trying to clean it
• ran cold and hot water through faucets with aerators removed

The pipes connected to the water heater have some silver stuff on them. I'm guessing it's either solder or some type of glue. I'd like more info on how to disconnect these and check this nipple contraption that a lot of people have had issues with. It's obvious that I don't know much about plumbing, but I'm a very quick learner and I can do just about anything if I put my mind to it and research it. I've researched this issue to death and about the only thing I haven't tried as far as I know is that nipple and/or the hot line exiting the tank. Please help before I pull my hair out or toss the water heater out in the yard. :eek: Thanks in advance.

Here's the top of the heater and some stats:
Model: GE38806AAG
Wattage: 4500/3380 upper/lower/total
240 volts
38 gallons
mfg. date: 06/2004
Electric water heater
Manufactured under trademark license by Rheem Mfg. Co.

In your picture I don't see a cutoff on the cold water line entering the heater, is there one there? If so here is what I would like for you to do. Turn the gas knob on the top of the thermostat to pilot (it is the knob right on top that says off, pilot and on.). With this off turn on the hot water in the bath tub and let it for maybe five minutes then turn it off, this is to lower the temp of the water in the heater so you will not get burned. Now with a water hose connected to the drain valve of the water heater (if you can make this a large water hose). Now open the drain valve and try to determine how much force the water has coming out of the hose. Does it sound and feel like full water pressure? If it seem like a full stream that should tell us that there is plenty of water getting into the heater from the cold water line. If this water flow seems slow, like the faucets in the house that means that the water is restricted entering the water heater. Now comes a part that I am not sure you want to do yourself or not but I will describe it anyway. The reason I am not sure that you if you would want to do it or not is because of the tools that you might have to buy to do the job. Plus it does take a little bit of expertise to do soldering on copper pipes.
But here is the next thing to do, and I want to tell you that this may all be for naught.
Turn the water off at the main cutoff to the house. It may be at your water softener, a cut off in the basement or a cutoff at the water meter. After the water is off turn the drain valve back on at the bottom of the heater and let it drain some of the water out of the heater. Now with a hack saw or some tubing cutters you need to cut the pipe on the right about six to eight inches above the heater. After cutting the pipe use a pipe wrench and unscrew the pipe that is screwed into the heater. Look into the pipe you took out and see if you can see any obstruction, if there is any clean it out. Now feel in to the hole that the pipe came out of, there should be a plastic pipe in that hole. Use some kind of tool and pull it out. This should be a plastic tube maybe blue or white and the length should be about 36 to 40 inches long. If that tube is not there or if it looks like it is not the length that it was when it was installed then get a new one and put in its place. Now you need to screw the silver nipple back into place, using some teflon tape, and then solder the two copper pipes together using a 3/4 inch copper coupling and some lead free solder. After all of this is done you can fill the heater back up full of water turn the gas back to on and test the pressure in the faucets in the house. If this does not solve the problem then you can repost or send me an e-mail and I will give you the second likely thing that could be wrong.

There's a cold water cut off further up and to the right for the cold supply into the heater. Also, it's an electric heater, not gas, but that probably doesn't have any bearing on the issue. That lever on top in the picture is the pressure relief valve or whatever it's called. I haven't tried opening the drain with the cold water supply ON yet; I need to do that tomorrow. My understanding is that I should be able to open the drain at the bottom and get full pressure coming out if the cold supply is left ON. I supposed it's possible that the cold supply isn't entering the heater at full pressure, but I'm more inclined to think I have an issue with the hot water outlet (the pipe on the left). I say this because I turned the cold supply back on while I had the heating elements out, and peering inside the tank with a light, the water appeared to be entering with full force. The Plastic "dip tube" looked completely intact too and I could see it when I looked into the tank through the bottom element opening. I'll respond back tomorrow (12:41am right now) after I open the drain with the cold supply ON to let you all know how the water exits the drain opening.

The cold water coming into the tank seems to be unimpeded. Can anyone shed some light on how I would disconnect the hot/out connection? I'd like to check the hot water outlet nipple as mentioned by Texas Tom. I'm assuming I will need to disconnect that pipe on the left (hot).

I finally got around to cutting out both connections. There was some corrosion in the cold supply line, but not enough to be the sole cause the pressure issue in my opinion, but I'm sure it contributed. There is a round thing with a stem attached inside the cold nipple. It looks like a plastic marble with a stem on it. It wouldn't come out, but I was able to move it around with some needle nose pliers. There's something installed inside the hot nipple as well (perhaps a screen/filter) but I couldn't get it out either. I used compressed air to blow out both nipples. I then soldered everything back together and my pressure is normal now after more than a month. I should have done this a long time ago.

When you say use a pipe wrench and unscrew the pipe that is screwed into the heater., are you referring to the male threaded connections on the top of the heater? I initially thought those were built into the heater, or came "glued" into the heater from the factory. Are those threaded connectors for inlet and outlet also what people refer to as the "nipples"? A little label on the top of the unit makes it sound like they are not assembled into the heater from the factory, but I cannot get them unscrewed. I don't have a pipe wrench, but I have some Vice Grips. I couldn't get them to loosen no matter how hard I tried to turn them. I was afraid I would damage the unit if I kept at it, and I'll need a second person to hold the unit if I want to try any harder because the entire heater was trying to twist with me. If they can be removed, I'd like to replace them with nipples that don't have heat traps in them since I apparently have a lot of calcium or lime in my area judging by the amount of flakes that are in the bottom of the tank. I figure I can make my own heat trap by using flexible copper tubing for the outlet and bending it so that it goes up, back down, and then to wherever I need hot water. I heard this works since the heat only rises and won't go down the tube.

One contributing factor to your woes may have been that the copper tube is directly connected to the galvanized nipples at the top of the tank.

When dissimilar metals come into contact with each other, particularly steel and copper, you get what is called electrolysis -- The ensuing reaction will eat away both the copper and the steel, as well as clog the galvanized nipples -- Evidence of electrolysis can be seen in the pitting and blistering of the top of the tank in your photo.

I would remove both nipples with a pipe wrench, if they are stuck on too tight, try tightening them just a nudge to break up the rust and pipe dope coating the threads before loosening.

You can buy replacement dialectric nipples at both Lowe's and Home Depot, the kind without the heat trap balls in them are fine, while you have the cold nipple out, pull out the dip tube to make sure it hasn't corroded or broken off inside the tank.

If the dip tube is mostly eaten away, then I would recommend replacing the tank altogether, if it isn't, then continue with the nipple installation and make the final connection with flexible copper or stainless supplies.

If the tank isn't earthquake strapped to the wall, you should install the straps, the straps, coupled with the weight of the full tank should make removal of the nipples a lot easier.