Hi;
I have a situation in my basement bathroom where I believe cold water is flowing from cold to hot supply across the open tap of the bathtub/shower when I have the shower flow stopped at the shower head (tap remains on).
The problem is that when I am taking a shower, and the washer is filling (constant flow), I have a good water temp in the shower, but after shutting off the flow at the head (to conserve water) and then turning back on, I get only cold water from the shower for about five seconds.
At first, I thought the hot water heater might be going bad. It's 10 years old.
But further testing proves that there is enough hot water.
I have therefore come to the conclusion that the only way cold water can be getting into the hot water supply for the shower is that it is flowing from cold to hot across the open tap of the bathtub while the water flow is shut off at the shower head.
This is happening because the pressure on the hot water supply drops lower than that on the cold water supply, and there is no mechanism to stop that difference in pressure from causing a flow across the open tap.
I could install a completely new bathtub faucet set; one with a pressure equalizing feature, that would stop this action, and also provide a more even water temperature at all times.
This is very expensive and time consuming though.
So, I thought that perhaps I can just install a check valve in the hot water supply for the bathroom. This would be very easy to do. I have access to these supply lines from the furnace room.
Can I purchase such a check valve for a 1/2" pipe?
Thanks
FW
I have a situation in my basement bathroom where I believe cold water is flowing from cold to hot supply across the open tap of the bathtub/shower when I have the shower flow stopped at the shower head (tap remains on).
The problem is that when I am taking a shower, and the washer is filling (constant flow), I have a good water temp in the shower, but after shutting off the flow at the head (to conserve water) and then turning back on, I get only cold water from the shower for about five seconds.
At first, I thought the hot water heater might be going bad. It's 10 years old.
But further testing proves that there is enough hot water.
I have therefore come to the conclusion that the only way cold water can be getting into the hot water supply for the shower is that it is flowing from cold to hot across the open tap of the bathtub while the water flow is shut off at the shower head.
This is happening because the pressure on the hot water supply drops lower than that on the cold water supply, and there is no mechanism to stop that difference in pressure from causing a flow across the open tap.
I could install a completely new bathtub faucet set; one with a pressure equalizing feature, that would stop this action, and also provide a more even water temperature at all times.
This is very expensive and time consuming though.
So, I thought that perhaps I can just install a check valve in the hot water supply for the bathroom. This would be very easy to do. I have access to these supply lines from the furnace room.
Can I purchase such a check valve for a 1/2" pipe?
Thanks
FW