Need Plumbing Advice

[Mr.Fitnah]

And you notice this after someone starts to open the cold side taps ?
How many before the drop happens?

 

[Mr.Fitnah]

Does the hot drop off on any tap tried?

 

[Ringel05]

And you notice this after someone starts to open the cold side taps ?
How many before the drop happens?

No, the cold side has no affect on it at all, the pressure just suddenly drops. There is one thing, on rare occasions, when the hot is running, there is a loud banging noise then the pressure returns to normal.
After I've drained and flushed the tank I leave all the hot water taps on to bleed any air that might be in the system. Just did that and it appears to be working fine..... for now.

 

[Ernie S.]

And you notice this after someone starts to open the cold side taps ?
How many before the drop happens?

No, the cold side has no affect on it at all, the pressure just suddenly drops. There is one thing, on rare occasions, when the hot is running, there is a loud banging noise then the pressure returns to normal.

Air bound???? What happens if you lift the handle on the pressure relief valve?

 

[Ringel05]

And you notice this after someone starts to open the cold side taps ?
How many before the drop happens?

No, the cold side has no affect on it at all, the pressure just suddenly drops. There is one thing, on rare occasions, when the hot is running, there is a loud banging noise then the pressure returns to normal.

Air bound???? What happens if you lift the handle on the pressure relief valve?

Water comes out.

 

[Mr.Fitnah]

Do me a favor. Turn on a hot water tap and then take a fairly heavy tool, a hammer or crescent wrench and tap on the incoming water valve and the heat trap nipple. you may be able to loosen sediment or a lump of solder that has worked it's way through the pipe to a restriction.

Another thing would be to replace that gate valve with a ball valve. I've seen far too many valve stems break off, allowing the valve to be mostly closed when you think it's fully opened.
With the valve partially opened, pressure builds up in the tank and for a few seconds, you get good flow, but as soon as the pressure drops, the flow through the partially closed valve can't maintain your flow rate.

Replacing the water heater won't fix a flow restriction up stream of the WH.

Im thinking the same thing, a random clog on the tank inlet to big to clear.

 

[Ernie S.]

I am not driving to Northern VA to fix this, but if you could load up the house and tote it to Broward County FL, I'm confident I could fix your problem.

 

[Ernie S.]

No, the cold side has no affect on it at all, the pressure just suddenly drops. There is one thing, on rare occasions, when the hot is running, there is a loud banging noise then the pressure returns to normal.

Air bound???? What happens if you lift the handle on the pressure relief valve?

Water comes out.

OH well. A shot in the dark occasionally hits the target.

 

[Ringel05]

Shit!! Duh!! It just occurred to me the issue could be with the hot feed to the washer, the one valve I haven't played with and when in use will "hammer" when the flow to the washer stops. It's just a guess, but at this point anything is worth a try.

 

[Ernie S.]

I don't know how hard the water is there, but heat traps are usually galvanized steel and can pluf up with rust and sediment over time. I thing you said that the tank is relatively new? the damned trap should last longer than a few years.
If you have a ball valve at hand, I'd suggest cutting the copper ahead of the valve and replacing everything down stream of it, including the heat trap. You might even consider using flexible tubing from the valve to the tank. It makes replacing the tank a snap in the future.

 

[Mr.Fitnah]

Shit!! Duh!! It just occurred to me the issue could be with the hot feed to the washer, the one valve I haven't played with and when in use will "hammer" when the flow to the washer stops. It's just a guess, but at this point anything is worth a try.

Still down stream of the WH.

 

[Ringel05]

I don't know how hard the water is there, but heat traps are usually galvanized steel and can pluf up with rust and sediment over time. I thing you said that the tank is relatively new? the damned trap should last longer than a few years.
If you have a ball valve at hand, I'd suggest cutting the copper ahead of the valve and replacing everything down stream of it, including the heat trap. You might even consider using flexible tubing from the valve to the tank. It makes replacing the tank a snap in the future.

I don't see heat traps on this system so that can't be it but yeah, I need to start replacing all the valves. Now all I need is the time to do it.

 

[Ernie S.]

I tend to agree (WITH FITNA). The washer valves tend to be pretty harsh. They will slam shut causing water hammer unless you have a hammer arrester in the line. I can't see how the washer could be involved. Everything points to a restriction between the DHW supply valve and the outlet of the heater. Seeing the heater is little more than a big pot of water with an immersion coil, I would bet the farm that you have a restriction limiting the flow of water into the heater.

 

[Ringel05]

I took a wrench and "smacked" around the feed valve, inlet joint and the out feed. Pressure is back to normal however I will be replacing the gate with the ball anyway. I need to replace the mains, one above the meter and one below on a one inch line, how hard is that? It's at least $500 to have a plumber do it.

 

[Nosmo King]

I took a wrench and "smacked" around the feed valve, inlet joint and the out feed. Pressure is back to normal however I will be replacing the gate with the ball anyway. I need to replace the mains, one above the meter and one below on a one inch line, how hard is that? It's at least $500 to have a plumber do it.

Can you solder?

 

[Ringel05]

I took a wrench and "smacked" around the feed valve, inlet joint and the out feed. Pressure is back to normal however I will be replacing the gate with the ball anyway. I need to replace the mains, one above the meter and one below on a one inch line, how hard is that? It's at least $500 to have a plumber do it.

Can you solder?

Who? Me? Why would I want to solder? I've only done it off and on for decades.......
The issue isn't soldering, specifically, it's soldering with a somewhat heavy section of piping and a meter attached to it and no help to hold it in place otherwise I wouldn't hesitate to tackle the main feeds.

 

[Mr.Fitnah]

Why you want to mess with the meter?

 

[Nosmo King]

I took a wrench and "smacked" around the feed valve, inlet joint and the out feed. Pressure is back to normal however I will be replacing the gate with the ball anyway. I need to replace the mains, one above the meter and one below on a one inch line, how hard is that? It's at least $500 to have a plumber do it.

Can you solder?

Who? Me? Why would I want to solder? I've only done it off and on for decades.......
The issue isn't soldering, specifically, it's soldering with a somewhat heavy section of piping and a meter attached to it and no help to hold it in place otherwise I wouldn't hesitate to tackle the main feeds.

The piping and meter should be supported as you fit the fluxed pieces together. Don't rely on solder as a support. Can you install something like bell hangers

on the piping and something like a concrete block under the meter?

 

[Ringel05]

Why you want to mess with the meter?

Main feed comes in down by the floor then takes a 90 degree turn up to the first valve followed by the meter with what looks like a bypass system attached (like a large horizontal C) then to the second valve before going up to the basement ceiling.

 

[Big Black Dog]

Free plumbing advice from Big Black Dog. Ask the ladies not to flush a half of a roll of TP at a time down your toilet if you live in the country and don't have city sewers. Makes for a bad day on the septic system at an old farm house like I live in.