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WhiteBird · Mar 15, 2007, 10:29 PM

Quick history:

1. House is about 85 yrs old, two kitchens, two baths, and a laundry room sink near the water heater. Visible water main into the house is copper, however, after the water filter unit (with no filter element) is another foot of copper connected to galvanized piping.

2. Last weekend I found it necessary to replace the electric water heater elements (66 gals should last two showers at least, now lasts one).:eek: After draining the tank and replacing the elements, and refilling the tank (with both the laundry room sink's hot water faucet and upstair's kitchen faucet turned on, to relieve air pressure) the water pressure to the upstairs kitchen was reduced to about 1/3 normal flow, after the tank filled. ::( : I checked the aerator in the kitchen faucet and it had a couple particles, but not enough to cause the problem.:confused: Anyway I cleaned it. Pressure stayed the same.:confused:

3. Long story short, I had to replace the water heater and had a professional install a tankless. However. The problem of reduced pressure is now extended to the downstairs bathroom (directly below the upstairs kitchen, and there is no aerator on that faucet).:mad:

Can you assist/help?

WhiteBird

WhiteBird · Mar 15, 2007, 10:34 PM

BTW:

The reduced pressure is affecting both hot and cold water lines. That's what's confusing me.

doug238 · Mar 16, 2007, 07:54 AM

The galvanized piping has stuff in it. Rust debris. It has come loose when you shut the system down and clogged the screen on the tankless entry port and clogged valves or faucets on the cold side. The water was turned on too fast and shocked the system and the rust broke loose.

WhiteBird · Mar 16, 2007, 05:50 PM

Originally Posted by doug238

the galvanized piping has stuff in it. rust debris. it has come loose when ya shut the system down and clogged the screen on the tankless entry port and clogged valves or faucets on the cold side. the water was turned on too fast and shocked the system and the rust broke loose.

Thanks Doug,

I can accept that now I'm to blame for "shocking" the entire system when I replaced the heting elements of the electric 'tank' heater.:( I was not aware that that could/would happen.:eek: The new tankless system is unaffected by the galvanized because it is fed from the copper.:cool:

Now, how do I get the 'gunk' out?

WhiteBird

iamgrowler · Mar 16, 2007, 07:57 PM

There should be screens at the cold water inlet to the tankless heater -- Hopefully the installer installed it correctly and used unions to make the connections at the inlet and outlet of the tankless heater.

doug238 · Mar 16, 2007, 08:53 PM

Yea, what growler said.
And, [snickers] you got to disassemble the affected faucets and stops and flush them out. [bets he never turns the water on more than 1/4 speed again]
Oh, by the way, I always flush all toilets before I restore water to a house after I turned it off.

WhiteBird · Mar 17, 2007, 01:52 PM

Thanks guys.:) Looks like I've got the rest of my weekend planned for me.:o

WhiteBird

cheeki · Mar 19, 2011, 12:46 PM

New electric hot water tank installed.. all taps upstairs & downstairs have water pressure including upstairs shower.. But no water pressure in downstairs shower??

massplumber2008 · Mar 19, 2011, 02:31 PM

Hi Cheeki...

Remove the shower head itself and then run water out the shower to clean the pipes. AT this time, you'll also want to clean the shower head inside and out... should fix the issue.

If the issue remains after that, please post this information to a new question and we'll see what the next step is, OK?

Mark