Help!

I have a 20 year old home and have noticed problems with the pressure in the last two months or so. I thought that it was mostly a hot water problem, but noticed today that my upstairs toilet wouldn't flush completely or refill. It seems to be getting worse each day. Initially, we thought it might be that we're just using too much hot water and simply running out... but I suspect it's bigger than that.

I've read some of the similar postings and answers from labman and speedball1. I tried shutting off the cold water inlet to the hot water heater; opening the highest and furthest hot water tap; and opening the drain valve to see if that would free up any blockage. When I do this, do I completely run out the water heater or just do it for a short while?

Any help would be wonderful. :)

You mention two different issues or did I misunderstand ? 1) You do not have enough hot water for normal household use 2) You have very little wate pressure, i.e. your toilet didn't flush - are you also experiencing very little water pressure in all outlets in your home ?

THANKS FOR THE QUICK RESPONSE! You're right. There may be two issues going on. Initially it was just the hot water problem, i.e.. Not enough for normal household use. Then today I noticed the toilet flushing problem. Could they be tied together?

I forgot something... yes, it is in all the outlets in the home.

I don't think the two problems are tied together. Here's what I would do, Monday moring call you the utility company, city that supplies your water, tell them about your experiences with lack of sufficient water pressure. They might respond by simply telling you that they are flusing the system in your area or that they are working on a water main. If you can, ask you neighbors if they are having the same lack of sufficient water prressure.

As to the lack of an adequate amount of hot water, look at either your make and model number of your water heater on the heater itself or on your owner's manual if you have one to determine if you have one or two heating elements - my guess is that you only have one and the one remaining working element is not heating your water fast enough to supply your needs - OR you have a defective thermostat that is not regulating the temp of your water properly. Thermostats usually are far less often defective than heating elements as they not are exposed constantly to hot and cold water and temperature extremes like heating elements.

I don't think you told us how old the unit was or if heating elements had ever been replaced. Most people don't think to check them, I don't, I just worry about them when I have a problem like you are having now, so my best guess is that they have never been replaced or looked at. They are not that hard to replace, cost only about $15.00 each, take maybe 2 hours to replace if you are a "novice plumber". A profess plumber can probably replace two elements in about 30 minutes.

Let us know if you have one or two elements, how old the heater is and if you know if the elements have ever been replaced.

Hi Casey,

Yes, you have two separate problems. Lets address them one at a time.
Your hot water problem sounds like the bottom element in the heater is faulty and needs to be replaced, ( sorry Richard but one element heaters went outa style in the 50's).

"I've read some of the similar postings and answers from labman and speedball1. I tried shutting off the cold water inlet to the hot water heater; opening the highest and furthest hot water tap; and opening the drain valve to see if that would free up any blockage. When I do this, do I completely run out the water heater or just do it for a short while?"

WRONG! You don't shut the cold water off and you don't drain the tank.

For long life and fewer troubles you should keep your heater clear of mineral build-up by flushing on a regular schedule. Let me show you how. Attach a hose to the boiler drain at the bottom of the tank. With the pressure on, open the boiler drain and let it run until the water runs clear. You will see a spurt of red,(rust) followed by white grains,(lime or calcium carbonate). This shouldn't take more then a few minutes. Do this monthly to keep it clear. Now flush out your hot water lines on ALL fixtures. Now pull each aerator and clean the screens. Be sure you put them back togather the same way you took them out. Don't forget to flush it out every month. Your heater will thank you for it.

Now, on to your pressure concerns. Is the entire house affected or just the toilet? How old is your house and what material are the pipes? Copper? Galvanized? Please explain with more details. Regards, Tom

Please forgive me, go with Speedball's answer, he's the pro, not me, thanks Speedball for correcting me, sure thought they still made and sold one element heaters.
Here's where you corrected me on the one/two element issue:

Yes, you have two separate problems. Lets address them one at a time.
Your hot water problem sounds like the bottom element in the heater is faulty and needs to be replaced, ( sorry Richard but one element heaters went outa style in the 50's).

Thanks Tom.

Please let me clarify a couple of things. Every morning things are fine with the water pressure in the whole home, with the "normal" exception that the water pressure drops for someone in the shower when someone else flushes a toilet elsewhere in the house. Then at night, after the days activities of loads of laundry, running the dishwasher and giving the kids a bath, the hot water pressure is low. When I run the kids bath, it is a little more than a trickle. So I don't have a problem with the amount of hot water, just the amount of hot water pressure. The cold water pressure is fine. This is true in the whole house, not just one or two fixtures.

In answer to your questions: House was built in 1987 and has copper pipes throughout. It's a 40 gallon gas hot water heater.

About the toilet. This was a newer issue and only happened once about two days ago. The upstairs toilet would not refill after flushing. I think that might have been due to the downstairs toilet running longer than usual because the flapper didn't seat properly. Once I discovered that, it seemed to take care of the upstairs toilet problem.

So any help on the whole house hot water pressure problem would be very much appreciated.

Casey

Replace it

Do you flush out the mineral build up in your heater on a regular maintenance schedule? Mineral buildup can get into your pipes and clog the system. Let me repeat my advice.

I've read some of the similar postings and answers from labman and speedball1. I tried shutting off the cold water inlet to the hot water heater; opening the highest and furthest hot water tap; and opening the drain valve to see if that would free up any blockage. When I do this, do I completely run out the water heater or just do it for a short while?"

WRONG! You don't shut the cold water off and you don't drain the tank.

For long life and fewer troubles you should keep your heater clear of mineral build-up by flushing on a regular schedule. Let me show you how. Attach a hose to the boiler drain at the bottom of the tank. With the pressure on, open the boiler drain and let it run until the water runs clear. You will see a spurt of red,(rust) followed by white grains,(lime or calcium carbonate). This shouldn't take more then a few minutes. Do this monthly to keep it clear. Now flush out your hot water lines on ALL fixtures. Now pull each aerator and clean the screens. Be sure you put them back togather the same way you took them out. Don't forget to flush it out every month. Your heater will thank you for it. Let me know if it helped. We may have to flush out your hotwater pipes if flushing the heater didn't work. Regards, Tom

About your all over low water pressure, definitely have your city's water department come out and check the pressure. My house was built in 1940, the plumbing was upgraded to copper much later, however the water line from the meter to the house had never been replaced. Ever since I have lived in the house the pressure had been low and slowly degrading, finally when it got down to practically nothing I had the water pressure check by the city. I had great pressure coming to the meter. I called out a plumbing company and had them dig up the water line and replace it. Now I have fantastic pressure upstairs and downstairs and on a 100 foot garden hose. You might want to call a couple of companies to give you an estimate. Good luck.

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Originally Posted by caseyboy

Help!

I have a 20 year old home and have noticed problems with the pressure in the last two months or so. I thought that it was mostly a hot water problem, but noticed today that my upstairs toilet wouldn't flush completely or refill. It seems to be getting worse each day. Initially, we thought it might be that we're just using too much hot water and simply running out...but I suspect it's bigger than that.

I've read some of the similar postings and answers from labman and speedball1. I tried shutting off the cold water inlet to the hot water heater; opening the highest and furthest hot water tap; and opening the drain valve to see if that would free up any blockage. When I do this, do I completely run out the water heater or just do it for a short while?

Any help would be wonderful. :)

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I live in Maine and have a well. My water pressure has always been bad. My wife and my children have always complained that they can not rinse the soap off their skin or the shampoo out of their hair. I think that I bought and tried every shower head that I could ever find in every home center and hardware store in New England. They were all junk!! Finally I found the solution at a small home show in Portland. A company was there that specializes in shower heads for low water pressure. Their name was Water Management in Boston, MA, and their website address is www.TAKEASHOWER.COM. They sold me a shower head that worked so well with my low water pressure that it almost felt like we had drilled another well. IT WAS UNBELIEVABLE!! Unlike all the other shower heads we bought this one actually worked. If you are suffering from low water pressure you MUST visit this website. I only wish that I had found this company 10 years ago when I first moved to Maine because I would have eliminated a decade of suffering in the shower for me, my wife and my family.