[bellboy]

Hi,

I work at a hotel that has a 105 rooms in total. For the past several weeks, we've been having some hot water issue. Randomly, the rooms are not getting hot water on the shower however there is hot water on the sink & the tub. Our maintenance worked on the problem for several weeks but nothing has been changed. I researched to find some answer and I came across to this site. Please help!

[speedball1]

What brand shower valves does your hotel have? Do they feature pressure and temperature control? Let's have morec details. Type, how old, model? We need as much information as you can give us. Regards, Tom

[Milo Dolezal]

If you have pressure balanced faucet that the balancing mechanism may be malfunctioning. Do you get ANY water from your shower head?

[speedball1]

Milo, You ask,

Do you get ANY water from your shower head?

And Bellhop answered,

Randomly, the rooms are not getting hot water on the shower

Looks to me like they have cold water out of the shower head but no hot water. But I sure agree about the pressure balancing going bad. Tom

[bellboy]

All the rooms gets a water either hot or cold and sometimes extremely hot and extremely cold at a matter of seconds. Water pressure does change if we move the knob from hot to cold or cold to hot. We use the brand called symmons but can't seem to get the model number. I believe the valve was changed no too long ago so it's pretty much new.

[Milo Dolezal]

Call the plumber that installed that new valve and ask him to double check his installation

[bellboy]

Hi, Thank you all for the help. However our hotel is still having the same problem up until now. We called several plumbers and they seem to gave up on us. We recently had a cleanup maintenance on the water heaters & the tank. It seems got worst after that job. We've changed the showers/sink mixers but still it doesn't do us good at all. Now some of the rooms don't get cold and hot water. Pretty frustrated. All the plumbers been telling us is that it must be a mixer problem but I don't think our hotel has a hot/colder mixing valve. Also they been telling us that it could be in the room. The sink faucet that we use has a mixing device so we need to change it. We did that for couple of rooms but it didn't work. Maybe there is clogged some where? Or we need to change the water heaters? Please help!

[Milo Dolezal]

Do you have copper pipes of galvanized ?
What kind of Water Heater do you have ?
Do you have Hot Water Circulating pump?
What brand of shower and sink faucets do you have ?

If you stirred up sediment in the water heater, than it traveled though your plumbing to your bathrooms. First, clean shower heads and aerators before you do anything !

[bellboy]

Do you have copper pipes of galvanized ?
What kind of Water Heater do you have ?
Do you have Hot Water Circulating pump?
What brand of shower and sink faucets do you have ?

If you stirred up sediment in the water heater, than it traveled though your plumbing to your bathrooms. First, clean shower heads and aerators before you do anything !

Yes it's a copper pipes, water heaters are American Standards Dura-Glas & Commercial Hyrojet. Yes we do have a hot water circulation pump. The shower brand is Symmons & and sink is Moen.

[Milo Dolezal]

Did you clean your shower heads and aerators?

You state that: ".....some rooms don't get hot and cold water..."
Are you saying you don't get any H/C water in those rooms at all - or you get hot or cold only ?
Are those bathrooms far away from each other of back to back ?

[bellboy]

Did you clean your shower heads and aerators?

The shower heads are new out of the box. Also what's an aerators? Sorry I don't know what that is. Is it the plate that controls the water flow type?

[Milo Dolezal]

Ok, we want to start with the easy stuff:

These days, each shower head has built-in flow restrictor to dispense around 2.2 gln of water per minute. The flow restrictor is a washer-like device with one small hole in it ( or several small holes) . They clog up VERY EASILY. Usually, we have to clean them whee we replace heater.

Aerator is a tip at the end of spout at your sink faucet. It is hand tight. Just like with the shower head: they clog up frequently and very easily. They will cut down water to ZERO flow no problem. They have to be cleaned periodically.

Is this your shower faucet ?

[bellboy]

Did you clean your shower heads and aerators?

You state that: ".....some rooms don't get hot and cold water..."
Are you saying you don't get any H/C water in those rooms at all - or you get hot or cold only ?
Are those bathrooms far away from each other of back to back ?

Yes some rooms don't even get cold & hot water at all. Meaning no water at all like it's clogged. The room and the bathroom is only 4 feet away.

[bellboy]

Ok, we want to start with the easy stuff:

These days, each shower head has built-in flow restrictor to dispense around 2.2 gln of water per minute. The flow restrictor is a a washer-like device with one small hole in it ( or several small holes) . They clog up VERY EASILY. Usually, we have to clean them whee we replace heater.

Aerator is a tip at the end of spout at your sink faucet. It is hand tight. Just like with the shower head: they clog up frequently and very easily. They will cut down water to ZERO flow no problem. They have to be cleaned periodically.

Is this your shower faucet ?

No that's not ours

[Milo Dolezal]

In those rooms with NO water: do you have tub and shower combination faucet OR shower only ?

[bellboy]

It's a Symmons Allura series, shower/tub system

[bellboy]

All the bathrooms have Symmons Allura seris, shower/tub system

[Milo Dolezal]

Is this your faucet ?

[bellboy]

Is this your faucet ?

Yes! That's our shower/tub faucet

[Milo Dolezal]

Usually, tub/shower faucets for commercial applications have "stops" on hot and cold side. In some cases they also consist of small wire mesh like filter. Those stops are hidden under the trim. They HAVE to be open for faucet to get water. Are they open ?