Plumbing Puzzle

Status
Not open for further replies.

Cuprousworks

Mike
User
Before I surrender and call in a plumber I thought that I would ask the collective wisdom for ideas about a plumbing conundrum.

Problem is kitchen sink hot watter pressure fluctuating. After about 1 minute of normal flow of hot it mysteriously slows to about half flow. This is the only outlet in the entire house where this occurs, and it's happened over the course of a year to where I'm sure it's not being caused by hot water call in another spigot. Water pressure and flow are fine to start, and remain fine for cold. May be temperature-related, seems to start about 1 minute after water starts to get hot. Any ideas?

Plumbing system:

Municipal water, PEX tubing throughout. Hot water is Rinai on-demand (never had either a limit or slowdown of hot water anywhere else even with multiple outlets going). Delta faucet with integrated pull-out sprayer. Cheap shut-off valve under sink that I've closed off and re-openned.

Appreciate any help or ideas.

Mike
 

hymie123

Jim
Corporate Member
We had a check valve ball come loose from a traditional tank water heater and work it's way to a faucet shut off valve and it acted as you describe. It was pretty time consuming to find the issue.
 

woodworker2000

Christopher
Corporate Member
We had a check valve ball come loose from a traditional tank water heater and work it's way to a faucet shut off valve and it acted as you describe. It was pretty time consuming to find the issue.

Wow, that's an interesting scenario. I've never heard of a check valve ball coming loose. It makes sense that it would take some time before the pressure dropped if that is indeed what Mike's problem is. I would imagine each time the hot water is turned on, the ball would start moving through the water line until it stops (and pressure is decreased). Once the water is turned off, the ball would roll back to the valve and the process would start all over again.
 

ck1999

Chris
User
Have you tried taking the water line off from the bottom of the faucet and then turning the valve back on and see if you wager pressure/flow still drops. This would at least eliminate the faucet as the culprit if you are still having the problem.

Have you taken there tip of the faucet off with the screens and run water through to flush the lines?

Chris
 

Newboy

George
User
I had that once. The problem was the screw was loose that holds the rubber washer. When the valve is closed, the washer is pushed in place, but when the valve was opened, the water flow would move the washer, and restrict the flow.
 

CrealBilly

New User
Jeff
Just the hot water and only in one faucet right? If so problem exists between hot water heater and the faucet with the problem. Work from the faucet backwards - try disconnecting the hot water line to the faucet. turn the shutoff back on and see if the problem still exists. If not then there is a problem with the faucet. Take it to the hardware store and have them rebuild it if it's worth rebuilding. If it's a newer peice of junk then buy a new peice of junk one.

If the problem exists with the faucet line disconnected call a plumber because it's likely something in the line like mineral build up, kink or leak... or a problem with the hot water heater although doubtful it's the hot water heater if the problem only exists at one faucet.

Do you have a water filter on your supply line? If not you may want to think about it... when I lived in NC we had awesome water until the state made the town abandon there 4 wells and hook up to kerr lake water that was processed in Henderson nc. The water quality was so bad after that we had to buy bottled water to drink. Not only that but we had a 25.00 a month surcharge on the water bill because the town had to borrow money to make the switch. Theres nothing like having to pay extra for bad water.
 
Last edited:

Dave Richards

Dave
Senior User
One option, if it isn't too late and if you have the available length in the lines is to swap the hold and cold to the faucet. If the problem remains on the original hot side of the faucet, the problem is in the faucet. If the problem moves to the original cold side, the problem will be back toward the water heater.
 

redknife

Chris
Corporate Member
Agree with Jeff re: start at faucet and work backwards. We just demo-ed our master and found the reason for low hot water flow in the garden tub - they originally left the hot valve nearly closed and tiled over with no access. Never would have guessed. A lot can go wrong (debris) or start wrong (poorly crafted installation). Good luck.
 

Cuprousworks

Mike
User
Lots of great ideas here. I'll start at the faucet and local shut off and work back from there. I've been amazed at the lack of lime and sediment in our water, so the focus on fixtures or a foreign body makes the most sense. This is Chapel Hill water, for what I pay for it I suspect it's imported from France. Maybe I shouldn't be complaining about a water - saving 'feature' :)
 

gator

George
Corporate Member
+1 for faucet problem or hot water shut off valve. Only starting after the hot water has been on a little while indicates to me that something is swelling or expanding after heating up. Perhaps a loose washer or seal that expands after it gets hot.

George
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Premier Sponsor

Our Sponsors

LATEST FOR SALE LISTINGS

Top