Low Pressure at Faucets After New Water Heater

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No heat trap. Tested again and confirmed the flow coming out of the water heater is good. It's just very slow at the faucets. All pipe in the house is copper. I'm giving up and waiting for the plumber. Hopefully this next one will have a clue!
 
I checked the flow of hot water coming OUT of the water heater and it appears fine, but I'll try one more time and remove the nipple to check for a heat trap.
And while you're at it, take a couple of pictures at top of WH and HW discharge line.

You mentioned, "flow coming out of the water heater is good." however, you said that was the flow coming out the drain connection. THAT'S NOT THE HOT WATER FLOW, ONLY THE COLD WATER IN TO THE DRAIN GOING OUT.

Are you sure you would recognize a heat trap at the HW line leaving the tank?
 
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Look at those flexible water lines on top of the WH, in that video.

What I found interesting was the fact that both water lines were installed with a loop, effectively forming their own heat traps.
 
Ok, the problem has been found! I had another plumber come over and he was also totally stumped, but it was good to have a pro here to walk through everything I had done and know it wasn't something obvious. Based on my attempts to backflush the system, I knew that if I had good flow to where the water heater used to be located that I'd have good flow to all the hot faucets. So I ran a hose out of the water heater to the old water heater location and that did result in good flow of hot water to everywhere. Today, I cut the pipe going from the new water heater location to where it meets up with the rest of the system near the old WH location and tried to run a fish tape through it and it wouldn't go. Luckily, that section of pipe was not too terribly difficult to replace so that's what I did and violaa: hot water flowing everywhere.

This is a section of the pipe I removed. The inside is totally clogged with some sort of plastic looking stuff. I've noticed this stuff lining other pipes in the house, but in this pipe is was no longer stuck to the interior walls of the pipe and instead had broken into pieces and clogged up the pipe. I'm fairly certain this stuff is running all through the house on both the hot and cold sides - which would explain why even setting the PRV to 80 psi I still don't feel like there's very good pressure coming from the faucets. Anyone know what this stuff is? Where my pipes "relined" at some point and now it's breaking loose?
 
Glad to hear that you found and fixed the problem.

Now keep your eye on that T&P relief valve on the water heater.

Or better still, invest in an expansion tank, charge the air to match your water service pressure, then install it on the cold water line feeding the water heater.
 
Congrats on fixing your issue!

However, I don’t remember you ever saying that you installed the new heater in a new location.

If you did, I missed it.

Even though that was not apparently part of the problem, it could have been an important clue.

Post some pics of the crud inside the pipes.
 
I guess my photo didn't post so I'll try again. I'm pretty sure this is some kind of pipe lining since it's in ALL of the original pipe in the house. In most places, it's still nicely coating the entire inside surface of the pipe. In some places it's broken free and is flaking in big chunks and in this one place it was completely packed. I've already repiped one of the two bathrooms during a remodel and I'll be remodeling the other bathroom very soon and will repipe that one then. Then I'll just have to run new lines to the kitchen and replace a few other short runs. I just hope what I have now will last for another year since I'm about to undergo shoulder surgery and will be recovering from that for 6-12 months before I'll have full use of my arm back.

Clogged_hot_water_line.jpg
 
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I guess my photo didn't post so I'll try again. I'm pretty sure this is some kind of pipe lining since it's in ALL of the original pipe in the house. In most places, it's still nicely coating the entire inside surface of the pipe. In some places it's broken free and is flaking in big chunks and in this one place it was completely packed. I've already repiped one of the two bathrooms during a remodel and I'll be remodeling the other bathroom very soon and will repipe that one then. Then I'll just have to run new lines to the kitchen and replace a few other short runs. I just hope what I have now will last for another year since I'm about to undergo shoulder surgery and will be recovering from that for 6-12 months before I'll have full use of my arm back.
view
I can't see the pic
 
Looks like heavy mineral and calcium build up that broke free.

That stuff does normally form inside copper, and is beneficial if just a thin layer forms.

It helps isolate the copper from corrosion and friction damage, I think.

But yours looks excessive.

Looks like you have, or had, extremely hard water.
 
I guess my photo didn't post so I'll try again. I'm pretty sure this is some kind of pipe lining since it's in ALL of the original pipe in the house. In most places, it's still nicely coating the entire inside surface of the pipe. In some places it's broken free and is flaking in big chunks and in this one place it was completely packed. I've already repiped one of the two bathrooms during a remodel and I'll be remodeling the other bathroom very soon and will repipe that one then. Then I'll just have to run new lines to the kitchen and replace a few other short runs. I just hope what I have now will last for another year since I'm about to undergo shoulder surgery and will be recovering from that for 6-12 months before I'll have full use of my arm back.

Clogged_hot_water_line.jpg
WOW !!!
 
You should flush out all your pipes, and you might want to filter the water that is being flushed through a colander or something, to catch the big chunks so they don’t clog your drains.

Flush the new water heater also.

You will probably be getting more loose stuff floating around for awhile, from moving the water heater.
 
I have flushed the pipes as best as I can and will do the same with the water heater. I haven't seen much come out of any of the pipes with the flushing, but I know there's more of this stuff in them. We do have extremely hard water (25 grains per gallon) so maybe it is just that. I added a water softener 6 years ago, but the house is 60 years old and never had a softener before. The stuff I'm pulling out of the pipe feels like thin PVC though, which makes me think it might be some sort of pipe lining. Most of my neighbors have had slab leaks at some point so maybe my pipes were lined at some point to avoid that. In either case, some of the pipe I replaced had huge pieces of this stuff inside that looked like giant plastic straws had been shoved into the pipe - in lengths as much as 18 inches. Regardless of what it actually is, I know there's more of it in the pipes and that would also explain why the pressure/flow everywhere in the house still seems a little low despite the pressure now being set at the PRV to 80 psi. Seems like a re-pipe is the only real long-term solution, no? I think I've finally won this battle, but the war is far from over.

BTW - I didn't relocate the water heater. It had been relocated before I bought the house in 2008.
 
In the pic, that stuff just looks like mineral scale that formed inside the pipes, then broke loose.

But maybe it could be something else, maybe some pros on here could advise.
 
In the pic, that stuff just looks like mineral scale that formed inside the pipes, then broke loose.

But maybe it could be something else, maybe some pros on here could advise.
 

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