I recently bought a house and the previous owner installed a water heater on his own which is a bad thing for him to do. He didn't even hook up the pressure valve. I have very little hot water pressure. Could this be related to the installation and what should I do?

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Originally Posted by poohvotaw

I recently bought a house and the previous owner installed a water heater on his own which is a bad thing for him to do. He didn't even hook up the pressure valve. I have very little hot water pressure. Could this be related to the installation and what should I do?

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It's very difficult to install a water heater the wrong way. What is more likely is when he installed the heater he disturbed some crud built up on the pipe walls and now it's clogging your faucets. Does the loss of hot water pressure affect the entire system or just a few faucets? What kind of pipes do you have? How old? Have you removed the areators from the faucets and checked the screens? Talk to me! Tom

I believe the house was built in 1979 or 1980. I have taken the kitchen faucet apart and lots of hard white stuff was in there. Every time I take it apart there is more. It is affecting every hot water faucet in the house. As for what kind of pipes I have I don't know. How can I tell?

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Originally Posted by poohvotaw

I believe the house was built in 1979 or 1980. I have taken the kitchen faucet apart and lots of hard white stuff was in there. As a matter of fact every time I take it apart there is more. It is affecting every hot water faucet in the house. As for what kind of pipes I have I don't know. How can I tell?

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Chances are that your pipes are copper. We switched over to copper from galvanized in the 60's. As for the "white stuff" it could be one of two things.
Calcium carbonate, which crumbles when you squeeze or roll it or, ( and this is what it sounds like) the white plastic dip tube in the heater disintegrated and fell apart into hard white pices of plastic and are are now sucked up into your system clogging the faucets. I'll bet the heater was replaced because it no longer supplied a steady source of hot water. That's a indication of a dip tube that has broken down. Your pipes will have to be flushed and the faucets cleared. Since this was a problem before you bought the house and no disclosure was made you may have a case against the seller to help you remedy the situation. Good luck, Tom

How do I go about flushing my lines and clearing my faucets myself? Or is this something I would need a plumber for?

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Originally Posted by poohvotaw

How do I go about flushing my lines and clearing my faucets myself? Or is this something I would need a plumber for?

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You would have to pull apart every faucet sffected and flush out each branch in addition to flushing out the main. I suggest you see where you stand legally and then contact a sharp plumber. Good luck, Tom

Nothing I saw looked like anything I have.

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Originally Posted by poohvotaw

Nothing I saw looked like anything I have.

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Sorry,

This was a incorrect post. Tom