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jandtdeater · Sep 4, 2006, 11:28 AM

Hello,
I have a hot water issue. When turned on at a single faucet hot water is fine. As soon as another tap is turned on or the washer or a shower is turned on loss of pressure everywhere. Cold pressure is good. I just checked it and it is at 38psi for a 400/60 downdrop. No let off in cold pressure. We have a 2 story 4 year old home. Gas hot water and a sunken well pump. I have checked for sediment in the hot tank and released the pressure valve and drained about a quart of water. No sediments noted in either. One thing I noticed when I was relighting the pilot is that our tank was set at 110 degrees. Could the cooler temp allowed an algea growth to happen at the tank outlet and is now clogging the whole house? Any insight would be greatly welcome. Thanks, Out of hot water

speedball1 · Sep 4, 2006, 12:50 PM

"I have checked for sediment in the hot tank and released the pressure valve and drained about a quart of water. No sediments noted in either."
But that's not how to flush out your heater. All you have done is drain a quart of water out of the top of your tank. The crud is in the bottom of the tank Let me show you how. For long life and fewer troubles you should keep your heater clear of mineral build-up by flushing on a regular schedule. L 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. Hope this helps, Tom

jandtdeater · Sep 4, 2006, 06:23 PM

SO if I open the boiler valve I need to let the cold water stay on as I flush it so it continues to refill? This will allow the sediment to run out not mix together in the water? Not trying to sound dumb just making sure I do the right thing. I had emptied about 5 gallons from the boiler drain and it came out clean. But I also had the cold water turned of and the gas so it wouldn't heat with no water in it. That is why I am asking how long and how much water needs to flush? I know you said until clear will it take a few gallons to start sucking the sediment out?

Thanks for your answer hopefully I can get this going in the right direction.
Joe

speedball1 · Sep 4, 2006, 08:48 PM

Hey Joe,

You leave the water on for a few minutes to stir up the sedimete so it will be forced out. The power needent be turned off because the water level won't be lowered that much. Cheers, Tom

jandtdeater · Sep 29, 2006, 05:37 AM

Thanks for the advice but you forgot to consider one other possability. After flushing twice and still having no pressure I contacted the Rheem customer service number. They immediately told me to check the connection at the top where the galvanized pipe mates to the copper in my home. Sure enough a dielectric conversion had happened. I had about a pinhole size hole feeding my home hot water. I chiseled this back open and had all kinds of pressure. Thanks for the advice but if someone should you ever need to answer this question again have that person check this important part of the water heater.

speedball1 · Sep 29, 2006, 11:59 AM

Thank you, That's something to remember. I guess the reason it never came upin my area is because we don't install galvanized nipples coming out the heater so we don't need dielectric unions. Thank you again, Tom