koreywill
Member
Hello! First time poster here. My wife has noticed over the last month or so that she's getting less hot water flow at the tub. It's a single handle Delta faucet with no thermostatic mixing valve. Turn left for more hot water and right for more cold. Simple. The house is 37 y/o and, we had it re-piped with Pex about 10 years ago because the original poly butyl was breaking down. Every fixture in the house has a flow restrictor of some type to keep flow at 2 gpm or less. But not the tub. That used to crank out the water like crazy. It still does on the cold side but noticeably less on the hot. I took the faucet apart and found no obstructions of any type in the water pathways.
The water heater is 12 years old and is probably due for replacement. There is a 9" piece of galvanized pipe that comes out of the hot water outlet and then connects to the pex. We have a medium to high calcium/lime density or hardness water system - not a well.
Is it possible that after 12 years the calcium has built up inside that short piece of galvanized pipe to restrict the wide open flow at the tub? All the other outlets are seemingly unaffected (hot and/or cold) because they all have a low flow rate any way.
And, if that is the case, does it make sense to just replace the 9" galvanized piece and hope for the best or just bite the bullet and replace the water heater anyway?
Thanks for any ideas and suggestions.
The water heater is 12 years old and is probably due for replacement. There is a 9" piece of galvanized pipe that comes out of the hot water outlet and then connects to the pex. We have a medium to high calcium/lime density or hardness water system - not a well.
Is it possible that after 12 years the calcium has built up inside that short piece of galvanized pipe to restrict the wide open flow at the tub? All the other outlets are seemingly unaffected (hot and/or cold) because they all have a low flow rate any way.
And, if that is the case, does it make sense to just replace the 9" galvanized piece and hope for the best or just bite the bullet and replace the water heater anyway?
Thanks for any ideas and suggestions.