ajc640
Member
About a month ago, my hot water started to not last as long as it used to, my water heater is about 9.5 years old, I think its going bad. A few days after I noticed the hot water not lasting as long, while in the shower, I heard a weird noise, like a thump, and the water pressure dropped significantly in the shower. It has never returned. I tested the pressure at the laundry tub, which is the fixture right before the tub in the water line runs, and it was over 60 psi. I then replaced the shower head, cartridge, and spout/diverter, and shutoff valves behind the access panel in the other room (the old gate valves started leaking once I shut them off and turned them back on, so I put new ball valves in). Still crappy pressure. I then tried flushing the valve by taking the cartridge out and turning the cold water on, then turning the hot water on. I discovered that the cold water shoots out like a fire hydrant, soaked the entire bathroom, but the hot water does not have as much pressure. Since it is only affecting the shower, I'm guessing that there must be a clog in the line going to the shower, or something is wrong with the valve box itself. Pipes are copper pipes. shower fixtures are delta monitor series 1700. Valve box is delta univeral rough in valve r10000-unbx. I read that the dip tube in the water heater could break up and pieces travel through pipes. could a piece of the dip tube be the culprit? Does anyone have any input or suggestions of what I can do?
