:confused: Please Help!! I have very very low hot water pressure in my whole house. I have flushed out my hot water heater and it came gushing out clear from the bottom of my hot water heater. I had a friend’s Dad come over and he tried something things to rule out possibilities. He took the cold-water hose that connects to my washing machine and redirected it through my hot water heater. (I am fairly sure that is the way he did it) Anyway, when he did that the hot water pressure was back to full force. However, the water that came out was cold of course. When he reconnected everything back to the way it should be, I was still stuck the low hot water pressure. I don’t know if it matters or not but the city has recently dug up the concrete in the road directly in front of my house to repair a water leak on the city side. Do you have any ideas was to what the problems could be? I am a single Mom and work on a very tight budget. I want to know if there is something I can do before I shell out a bunch of money on a plumber.

Hi Mom,

Let's see if we can help without driving you into bankruptcy. DDid the problem start after the city did the work or was the pressure low before they started. What I think has happened is that when the city opened the main to work on it some dirt got in the main. It got sucked up into your system when you made a draw and now it's clogging up your faucets. We'll take this one step at a time to make it simple and easy.
First step would be to get your friends dad back and have him check the nipple coming out the water heater hot water outlet. On newer heaters this nipple has a ball inside that acts as a check valve. If this nipple were clogged the entire hot water system would be affected. This would be the first place I started. If we have no joy there then we'll move on to each fixture. Regards, Tom

Hi Handyman (aka Speedball1),

Thank you for responding to my question.

1) Yes, the problem started after the city got into the water main.

2) Can I get to the nipple? What does it look like? What type of tool do I need? Do I need to shut anything off? My friend's Dad can't come back until next weekend so I need to try to tackle this myself. The Model of my hot water heater is Reliance Sta-Kleen 805. I found out it is a 1996 model. Is that enough information?

Thank you,

Mom

To check the check valve nipple you will have to shut the power and water off. Drain the system down and cut the pipe over the nipple to inspect it.
If it were my call I would get a plumber in to check your hot water lines for dirt clogging the lines and faucets. If he finds dirt clogging the lines the city should pick up the tab. One other thing, since you're alone I would call the city water department and complain that every since they worked on the main that your water pressure dropped off to nothing and request that they send a man out to fix it. Let me know. Tom

I knew I didn't have a load of laundry going.. so I was confused as to why the hot water pressure was so low... I ignored it this morning because I was rushing, but now that I am home I notice all the faucet are low, but only the hot water... I haven't notice any work around our street or area and it just started this morning... any ideas as to what to do before I have to call a plumber -