Another cold water problem

[Sally]

I am having the identical problem. My cold water is drawn from a well (several homes in this area draw from the same source, but I appear to be the only one with poor cold water pressure). I have very good hot water pressure. My plumber advised me to either replace the hot water tank, or have it removed to purge it of built-up minerals which he believes are clogging the cold water lines. (Doesn't make sense to me, but WHATever.) Does this sound reasonable?, or do you suspect the problem lies elsewhere?

[Yanita]

Hi Sally,

Welcome to the site.

I am going to separate your question for the original thread. Although the same problem, after members ask a variety of questions it could lead to a completely different answer. We ask all members to please ask there questions separate threads.

Yanita

[preppypyro]

Do you by chance have really hard water in the well? Do you have a softener..?

I was having some water problems last year, and I read somewhere on the internet about how to "backwash"(I think thats what they called it) the lines. Im not sure if it would help you or not, but its pretty easy to do.

[Barb P]

Sally, I didn't answer this sooner because I no longer remember details, and didn't want to embarrass myself. But here goes.
Long ago, I asked basically the same question on here and was told that my problem was with the hot water tank, I believe I posted a picture of the 'shale', that was clogging my cold water faucets.
I did not believe all the people, including my sons, who told me that, because 'it didn't make sense' to me. Why should the heater clog the cold water lines?
But....in my case, my heater was 20 years old, and the fresh cold water went into the tank at the bottom.
Somehow it churned up the ton of sediment sitting on the bottom of the tank, and carried it into the cold lines. Yes, the cold lines!

I had a new water heater installed. The water goes in at the top now. End of problem with cold water lines. It is all clear. Honest!
I just can no longer remember how it all worked.

[Sally]

Barb,

Thanks for the "confirmation!" The plumber who advised me to either purge or replace my hot water tank was telling me virtually the same thing you just explained. He asked if my tank started "knocking" when the power was turned on (the tank had sat, idle and unused, for two years), and indeed, it did. The knocking sound was produced by the sediment (or shale) that had been sitting at the bottom of the tank all those years, suddenly forced away from the heating elements. (Darn. I thought I had a poltergeist for a couple of weeks.) The plumber used the analogy of one of those lawn feeders you fill with fertilizer or herbicide and then screw onto the garden hose sprayer - - as the cold water moves across that little bottle, it pulls the product up and mixes it with water to go onto the lawn. Similarly, when the cold water passes "through" or "past" the hot water tank, somehow it pulls the sediment/shale up with it, and gradually the cold water lines begin to clog up. In any event, MANY THANKS for validating what my plumber has been telling me. I know nothing about plumbing, and while I mostly trust my plumber, it's still nice to know I won't be buying the Brooklyn Bridge if I follow his advice.

(Actually, I'm off to the internet to see if I can't learn how to clean out my own tank and 'backwash' my own lines. I ain't made of money.)

You guys are great. I'm so pleased to be on this forum!

Thanks again, Barb. Appreciate it!!

[flcruising]

It seems to me that purging the hot water tank of the mineral build-up will stop the problem from getting worse, but not fix the problem that there already.

If the sediment has made it's way into your cold water lines, then you need to somehow backflush/purge your cold lines to flush out what's already in them.

[Sally]

Aaron,

Again, my plumber is telling me the exact same thing you're saying. He recommends replacing the dinosaur hot water tank (a whopping 30-gallon) to either a 40 or 50 - something I've suspected I've needed to do anyway - then backflush the cold water lines to purge it of the mineral buildup.

I'm wondering what will keep the sediment/shale/lime, WHATever, from coming into the NEW hot water tank after it is installed. I do not plan to put in a $1K whole house filtration system! Are there hot water tanks that can filter/trap the sediment within the tank, some kind of little basket filter or something I can dump out every couple of weeks?

Also, I'm a little confused. If sediment is in the lines, blocking the cold water from coming through, did the sediment get placed there by the HOT water when IT was coming through the lines? And if that is the case, why wouldn't I have poor hot water pressure as well, if not worse? Why is only the cold water pressure is affected?

(As Vinnie Barbarino used to say, "I'm sooooooo confused!")

Thanks again for the input - -

[Barb P]

Sally, if I say something wrong here, because my old brain forgets details, one of the experts will come and correct me.....please.

On my old heater, the cold water came in past the bottom of w.h., sucking up sediment, as it passed by.
However, the hot water came out from the top, where it was clean. That's why the cold is nasty, but not th hot.
Now on the new heater, the cold water goes up and is diverted to the holding tank (don't know what else to call it), and it goes into the heater at the top.
That would be the cold line you see on the right of photo.

The hot water comes out the top also, avoiding the sediment that will accumulate at the bottom. That would be the copper pipe you see coming from the very top, and goes into the white pipe with purple markings on it.. Next to that is the overflow thingy that comes out under the house in case of leaking.

If I said anything incorrect or confusing, someoneone please correct me. Thanks guys.

[Barb P]

About the cold water lines. I had a ton of crap in my lines, when the new water heater was installed. It was horrible. As soon as one faucet was cleared, another got plugged.
I eventually got new faucets in kitchen and bathroom sink, it was just easier than trying to clean all the gunk out of the old ones. Still, the kitchen water ran dark brown for days, off and on. It looked like coffee at times.

Just to clarify something. On the kitchen faucet, at the base of the spout inside, there is a little thing with a tiny hole, that determines how much water comes through, We took that out completely, because it would get clogged immediately with the chunks coming through and totally stop the flow.
With that gone, there was nothing to impede the flow.
When lines were finally cleared, my son put it back in, (just for conservation of the water.)
It took a few days, and now my water is crystal clear.
It's a private well, by the way.
Again....sorry I can't rember details better, so I hope this isn't too confusing.

[Sally]

Now I think I actually DO understand. Your post and the illustration were fabulous!

Thanks again so much! After I get the hot water tank replaced and the lines backwashed, I'll let you know how the water pressure turns out.

[Furball]

Have you considered getting one of the "instant" water heaters that only heats water when needed?

[Brenda OH reregister]

I am not a plumber, but I have heard that if you have a drain on the tank near the bottom of the tank, it helps to open it monthly and drain out 2 or 3 gallons of water. I do this into a clean bucket, and let it sit until the air bubbles are gone, and check to see if it had sediment in it.

if it did, I take 2 or 3 more gallons.

the plumber told me the "theory" is, if you are not using all of the hot water out of the tank from time to time, it makes it prone to fine sediment forming in the water in the lower part of the tank, and that fine sediment settles out on the heating elements.

something easy to try, anyways!

Brenda

[oldfart]

Folks allow me to back-pedal a bit an hope to explain some of the problems with having a well. One of the first problems is minerals in the water. And not all minerals are the same. If iron ("hard water") is present it shows up as red/orange deposits in the toilet/shower and possibly the sink. Iron/hard-water is a nusiance but not nearly so much as lime in the water. Lime is a dissolved mineral. (Think of it as sugar..dissolved in water) It can flow thru the lines and never give a problem..until it's heated. As in a hot water heater. When lime water hits the heating elements in the water heater it solidifies like concrete. This stuff builds up in the bottom of the hot water tank..as sediment..and like concrete. It piles up around the lower heating element until...POOF!..the element burns out. Now the top heating element has to do all the work..and your elec. bill skyrockets. Next problem..turning the water off/on releases chunks of this stuff thru the waterlines (hot&cold) and it clogs the arerators on all the faucets. That's the little thingy's ya unscrew on all the faucet nozzles. And it clogs up the screens on the lines for the washing machine. And gums up the ball-cock valve on the toilet. If ya have any old galv. lines in the house..big chunks of rust break loose and clog up whatever the lime doesn't clog up. Before doing any plumbing work..remove the areators on all the faucets on the house. If the faucet doesn't work after the needed repair..don't dispair. Turn the faucet on/off until it breaks free and launches that big chunk'a stuff out off the passage. Finally...rip off the shower head before/after doing any plumbing repairs! Seems we all have to abide by the "California Code" with low-flow showerheads. California..sorry about yer water problem. Actually the problem is not a lack of water..it's too many people. Pull the shower head off the pipe and rip out that rubber grommet with the tiny hole in the middle. Problem solved. Audie..the grumpy Oldfart...