I need to give some background on this first.
I bought a foreclosed home back in July....what a pain that was. The house was in pretty good condition but needed a few important items. Biggest issue was no water heater. Here was the catch...the mortgage company wouldn't give us the loan without getting an OK from an independent inspector but also, wouldn't let us dish out any cash to fix the problems. The house was bank-owned and would only sell it to us as-is. Bottom line was with the help of my realtor, I more or less broke in and had my plumber install a new tankless water heater. Problem was because of the foreclosure, the water was turned off at the street level. After the water heater was installed, we could only test for gas leakage as there was no water supply. Also, I was not able to work with a permit because I didn't own the house and the bank (owner) had nothing to do with it. Regardless, I know the plumbing inspector for the town I live in so when the day came to turn the water back on, he showed up too and gave me a verbal thumbs up on the water heater. The city turned the water back on and the independent inspector gave the mortgage company the OK to proceed with closing. At that time, I was not allowed in the house to watch how the inspector proceeded. I can only assume he did a quick check of each faucet to make sure they supplied water. So immediately after closing on the house, I added a whole-house sediment filter and a water softener, never assuming I was going to have issues. Well I did....I mean do. Right after hooking up the filter and softener, I ran the faucet in the masterbath and the hot water pressure was terribly low. After some research, I discovered there a small orifice type filter in the tankless heater. I cleaned that out and got some pressure back. As to properly flush the softener, I ran about 50 gallons through the house via different taps. I started with the master bath which is the closest room to the heater. I got a lot of sediment type stuff that came out of all the fixtures. I had to clear the aerators a few times and the tub and shower with both layered with this sandy material. No one has been able to tell me where or I why I got this out of only the hot water side. Mind you, there was no heater. I actually called the company that winterized the house and asked them what their procedure was. Since the city shut the water off at the street, they didn't antifreeze the pipes, they evacuated them completely. So even if there was some sediment from the original water heater tank, I figured most of it would have been discharged then.
Oh, most importantly, the house is only a few years old. I think it was lived in for 3 years and then sat for about 1 year vacant.
So this past weekend, it the hall bath that I'm renovating, the toilet shut off valve was not cooperating so I shut the main supply off to change the valve. Upon turning the water back on again, I started getting the sediment out of the master bath again. Weird because I have a shut off valve going to the heater which I shut off so when I evacuated the cold toilet supply line, I wouldn't siphon it back out of the hot lines. So the hot lines should have never been tampered with. I had 2 cold faucets open to help drain the line before installing the new shut off valve.
OK, so does any plumber have a clue to why the hot pressure throughout the house is much less than the cold? Everything tells me it has nothing to do with the new tankless heater as both the plumber who installed it and the inspector gave me thumbs up how it was installed. I had 3/4" lines on the old tank supply lines and the new tankless is also 3/4". I can't compare how it was to how it is now because I never saw the hot side run until after we closed on the house. Also, what could this sediment be? I find it hard to believe it's something from after all the work I had done to the plumbing. I could see if there was some debris from when the street supply was turned on but like I said, the water was barely run between that time and the sediment filters I had installed. I checked the sediment filters after 6 months and they aren't any dirtier than I'd expect....and definitely not clogged. I'm at a loss.
BTW, it's a ranch with basement and the street supply enters the house on the east side front, goes to the middle of the house and runs directly west through with branches off for each area. It's 3/4" to just before each fixture where it's transitioned to 1/2". There are no 2 fixtures sharing a 1/2" line anywhere. The water heater is the first object on the east wall before it runs west down the center of the house. The only thing I notice about that is it obviously takes the hot water a bit longer to get the the west side as opposed to the east side rooms which are only a few feet from the heater.
I know this is more likely a question for the contractor site but honestly, if you're not a plumber asking the question, the answer there is usually to just get a plumber. I'd like to know what the heck the problem could be before I start going that route.
Thanks and sorry this was a novel but I thought I needed to supply as much info as possible.
Angus
I bought a foreclosed home back in July....what a pain that was. The house was in pretty good condition but needed a few important items. Biggest issue was no water heater. Here was the catch...the mortgage company wouldn't give us the loan without getting an OK from an independent inspector but also, wouldn't let us dish out any cash to fix the problems. The house was bank-owned and would only sell it to us as-is. Bottom line was with the help of my realtor, I more or less broke in and had my plumber install a new tankless water heater. Problem was because of the foreclosure, the water was turned off at the street level. After the water heater was installed, we could only test for gas leakage as there was no water supply. Also, I was not able to work with a permit because I didn't own the house and the bank (owner) had nothing to do with it. Regardless, I know the plumbing inspector for the town I live in so when the day came to turn the water back on, he showed up too and gave me a verbal thumbs up on the water heater. The city turned the water back on and the independent inspector gave the mortgage company the OK to proceed with closing. At that time, I was not allowed in the house to watch how the inspector proceeded. I can only assume he did a quick check of each faucet to make sure they supplied water. So immediately after closing on the house, I added a whole-house sediment filter and a water softener, never assuming I was going to have issues. Well I did....I mean do. Right after hooking up the filter and softener, I ran the faucet in the masterbath and the hot water pressure was terribly low. After some research, I discovered there a small orifice type filter in the tankless heater. I cleaned that out and got some pressure back. As to properly flush the softener, I ran about 50 gallons through the house via different taps. I started with the master bath which is the closest room to the heater. I got a lot of sediment type stuff that came out of all the fixtures. I had to clear the aerators a few times and the tub and shower with both layered with this sandy material. No one has been able to tell me where or I why I got this out of only the hot water side. Mind you, there was no heater. I actually called the company that winterized the house and asked them what their procedure was. Since the city shut the water off at the street, they didn't antifreeze the pipes, they evacuated them completely. So even if there was some sediment from the original water heater tank, I figured most of it would have been discharged then.
Oh, most importantly, the house is only a few years old. I think it was lived in for 3 years and then sat for about 1 year vacant.
So this past weekend, it the hall bath that I'm renovating, the toilet shut off valve was not cooperating so I shut the main supply off to change the valve. Upon turning the water back on again, I started getting the sediment out of the master bath again. Weird because I have a shut off valve going to the heater which I shut off so when I evacuated the cold toilet supply line, I wouldn't siphon it back out of the hot lines. So the hot lines should have never been tampered with. I had 2 cold faucets open to help drain the line before installing the new shut off valve.
OK, so does any plumber have a clue to why the hot pressure throughout the house is much less than the cold? Everything tells me it has nothing to do with the new tankless heater as both the plumber who installed it and the inspector gave me thumbs up how it was installed. I had 3/4" lines on the old tank supply lines and the new tankless is also 3/4". I can't compare how it was to how it is now because I never saw the hot side run until after we closed on the house. Also, what could this sediment be? I find it hard to believe it's something from after all the work I had done to the plumbing. I could see if there was some debris from when the street supply was turned on but like I said, the water was barely run between that time and the sediment filters I had installed. I checked the sediment filters after 6 months and they aren't any dirtier than I'd expect....and definitely not clogged. I'm at a loss.
BTW, it's a ranch with basement and the street supply enters the house on the east side front, goes to the middle of the house and runs directly west through with branches off for each area. It's 3/4" to just before each fixture where it's transitioned to 1/2". There are no 2 fixtures sharing a 1/2" line anywhere. The water heater is the first object on the east wall before it runs west down the center of the house. The only thing I notice about that is it obviously takes the hot water a bit longer to get the the west side as opposed to the east side rooms which are only a few feet from the heater.
I know this is more likely a question for the contractor site but honestly, if you're not a plumber asking the question, the answer there is usually to just get a plumber. I'd like to know what the heck the problem could be before I start going that route.
Thanks and sorry this was a novel but I thought I needed to supply as much info as possible.
Angus