Hot when it should be cold

[Bring]

Its getting cold outside and our pipes are underground so I doubt the sun played a role in this. I've been noticing that when I take a shower I run out of COLD water! Happens in the bath tub too. Today I gave water to my ducks using a hose that is connected to a spickett that comes directly from the well. The water started out cold and after about five minutes it started to become warm. Eventually it became warm enough to bathe in comfortably. I am at a loss as to what is causing it. We've had this house for two years and have never had this problem. Any ideas as to what is happening?

[philly_plumber]

This seems like an odd problem, but have you checked to make sure there is not a leak in your hot water pipes, which could be contributing to heating up the cold water?

[johnjh2o]

It sounds like you have a cross connection between the hot and coil water. One of the most common is a bad cartridge in a single lever tub or shower faucet. If it happens when using a hose connection try feeling along the pipe as the hose connection is running to see where the source of the hot water starts from.

John

[Valveman]

You probably have a hole in the pipe just above the pump. I have seen this happen a few times. You can verify this becasue the pump won't shut off. The water just circulates in the well until it gets hot. The first water you get out is cool because it is in the pipe to the pump. But after that is gone you get warm water from the well. One well had been doing this for so long that after I fixed the hole in the pipe the water stayed warm for better than a week. I guess the lady had heated up the entire aquifer under her house.

[Caduceus]

As John said, probably a cross connection with the hot and cold. You could also look into a few other causes of the cross. If you have a hot water recirculation line and the pump is failing/failed and there is no backflow or check vale on the line. It also happens when a hose is connected to a laundry tub that has the hot and cold valves open, but the hose nozzle is closed. The water will cross the valve body and the hot will enter the cold piping.
Just do a little poking around anywhere you have a hot/cold faucet and try to remember if anything was changed or added around the same time that you noticed the problem. Post back and let us know.