Merry Christmas-
Problem #1 – not enough hot water – came on suddenly.
Problem #2 – hot water in cold line – discovered soon after I began the search for the answer.
I have discovered the problem and the fix – I am just throwing this out there to see what others may have done to finally discover the answer. It took me 1 full day and a nights sleep to get it.
All the best.
Replies
Don
1. Everyone likes a riddle now and then.
2. You were there, we are here.
ready, set, go...........
And a Merry Christmas to you!
I'm gunna have to think on that one while I take a shower.
not enough hot, and hot where you don't want it.
I just paid a plumber to fix the same mystifying symptoms. His solution was to change out the kitchen faucet mixer valve. It had been leaking cold water into the tap when turned to the hot selection. Works great now.
close
Very similar solution. I probably would have saved a lot of time by calling a plumber too!
Often due to a malfunctioning 1-handle control. Especially common when a 1-handle shower control has just been roughed-in and the "guts" are not installed yet, but can happen with a prevously functioning control as well.
Based on a personal eureka moment, new rough in valve in which one forgets to add the provided plug to use while pressure testing the system. Unfortunately the wife was a shower-casualty prior to my "fix".
And a reason for hot water in the cold line is back flow from the water heater. This can happen with certain configurations of the piping, and can be prevented with "heat traps" in the water lines feeding the heater. But this doesn't seriously affect overall hot water supply.
The other likely cause for not enough hot water is a burned-out lower element or malfunctioning thermostat. But in such a case the water will be plenty hot to start, just turning cold abruptly after maybe 1/5 of the normal volume.
An odd possibility for causing both symptoms would be a stuck-on circulation pump in a system designed for intermittent circulation.
Dan-
This really baffled me - I had never had or heard of hot water coming out of the cold side of all the faucets - no work had been done - nothing was reversed etc.
I have a natural gas water heater - I installed a new thermocoupler to insure that it was telling the unit to heat - this appeared to be working properly - the water coming out of t he cold side of the water heater was very hot for several feet - as though the intake was now acting as the outflow - where could the water be going?
I woke up the next morning and went into my bathroom and opened the cold side of the faucet - hot water almost immediately. I turned around and looked at a shower that we never use - I have a hose hooked up to it to stick out the window and wash the dog etc. I did not remember that my wife had used it to clean off bird droppings on our deck - she had left the hot and cold on and the sprayer was leaking out water slowly - but enough to cause all this back flow. I turned off the shower valve and within an hour all was well!
So that is my Christmas story/riddle -