[kourso]

I did as it was explained to flush/drain my hot water heater in the attic and guess what it plugged off MORE, so now I have not much more than a thick pencil stream at my bathroom faucets (ALL)
I really didn't see a whole lot sediment in the drain water but I throttled the outlet and inlet water valve off/on to surge the flow/pressure through the heater and outlet piping.
I noticed that as I cutoff the inlet cold water 3/4 or more the heater went to really rumbling and it did have the burner lit and I was draining it as well on/off.
I disconnected the outlet line from the hot water heater and found some crud maybe blocking 1/4 or so of the pipe nipple, I stuck a wire down the outlet pipe elbow and it appeared to be open plus I could hear the cold water entering and it was blowing out some air at the same time.
I could hear the cold water rushing in with solid pressure as I refilled the heater. It refilled and then as I reopened the outlet line valve it only gave a quick little rush and then quiet with all faucets open.
I am thinking that it has caught mineral chunk in the outlet tubing and it has only pushed it further and harder to plug off more and more.
I was thinking of possibly rigging up from a cold water supply to a hot water supply at the faucets in my bathroom and then disconnecting the outlet line again or closing the cold water inlet valve and draining the heater down. I would then turn on the cold water supply and feed backwards into the HOT water supply lines to the hot water heater end.
OR I can use some compressed air to push one way or the other WITHOUT INVOLVING the hot water heater.
What do you think ?
I need help BAD !
Please get back asap,
Thanks,
Kenny:confused:

[speedball1]

What you could do Kenny is to rig up a compressor at the farthest hot water stub-out and open up the line at the hot water outlet out of the water heater. This would make the hot water system a closed system and you could blow the lines clear. Be advised that if you still have a blockage that you might have to open up every hot water side of your faucets and clean out the inlet ports on the cartridges. Good luck, Tom

[kourso]

Bingo,
Speedball, you are saying to hookup an air compressor to the bathroom faucet and backflow through to the heater outlet, right? Should it be completely disconnected from the heater and rigged with a drain hose ? That was my plan tomorrow with it disconnected.

I have the same results, very little hot water to 3 out of 4 bathroom faucets where there were equally very low. I know that I have 48-50 # at the heater outlet nipple and I also know that I don't have but possibly 5# at the three faucets still affected. The good news is that it is almost a certainty that I have the 48# up to those faucets as the one good faucet now confirms. Sooooo, I have to now pull each faucet stem cartridge out and/or disconnect the water supply hoses to clear out/drain. I can't get to the stand alone shower faucets other than pulling out the stem there and then have water spray on interior of the wall. Any other ideas ? I am thinking of disconnecting the hot water outlet at the heater with it OFF and routing a drain hose from the piping only and then blowing a little compressed air like 40-60# through the shower head tube through the hot water faucet reversing the normal flow to clear out the shower faucet and lines.
I will do as it was suggested by Ballengerb1 with the tub faucet stem taken out to clear it with water.
Please send me any of your suggestions,
Thanks,
Kenny

[kourso]

I just tried to clear out my tub faucet by taking out the stem cart. And it was just rolling a slight flow out nothing much as this faucet comes off a 3/4 in copper tubing supply that would probably push water to almost hitting my 9' ceiling if it breaks free while I have the stem out. I just held the stem up above the stem opening JUST IN CASE IT LET GO.
I let it run some and even turned on the cold side which pushed more water flow/pressure through the open hot side stem opening. I thought that would help clear it but the faucet supply hose may be clogged off the main supply header. I cannot access it very easily so I will try the other course of action of isolating the outlet piping and blowing it out with some compressed air from a portable air tank. I might try to blow it first by closing the outlet line main valve at the heater outlet and then drain/depressure the piping by opening all of the other hot faucets and then blow and it might feed through the tub faucet back to the others and clear them out. Is that a reasonable method or should I just blow strictly back from each one up to the disconnected outlet line in the attic. Does it make a difference ?
Please let me know what you think,
Thanks,
Kenny