Cold Water not going into Tank

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Daphne Crook

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I recently replaced my water heater and also the hoses that connect to the pipes in the wall. I did have to reem on the wall pipes pretty good, but do not feel I broke or bent then in any way. However, with everything connected and ready to go, I turn on the cold water valve, and it flows for about half a second only. I removed the hose from the water heater end, and turned it on, the flow was a dribble at best. We turned on other faucets in the house and all cold water works. Hot water doesn't, but that's expected since the hot water isn't fully hooked up yet. We've searched the wall and ground for leaks... Nothing. We've troubleshooted a ton! We thought an airlock, but all our faucets are mixed taps and have the "no return" taps, so we can't use normal methods to test for an airlock. After all our testing and trial, a few hours later, we tried the cold water faucets in the house again. Outside hoses work, downstairs cold water works, upstairs cold water does not. And still no change to the cold water valve for our water heater pipe.
Please help!!!
 
Does not make sense. Pictures would possibly help.
Possibly you have a bad/broken cold water shut off valve now. So if there is pressure to the house and no water flows at the WH cold, replace the valve after shutting the main off.
No explanation why your upstairs cold water does not work, unless you are speaking about a shower pressure balanced valve. They will not work unless there is balanced pressure.
 
I believe he said the cold water works in the rest of the house. EDIT: Oops...NOT upstairs.

What kind of valve?
I would shut main valve, then remove the CW valve stem at the water heater, if it is removable, or open to view ball if it's a 3-piece ball valve. If you don't see anything obvious you can try opening the main shut off valve very slowly.
 
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Maybe you have the flood safe type of flex supply lines?

I think the hose thread types are actually meant for a washing machine, so probably are too skinny for good flow for a water heater.
But maybe someone used them there?

They have a built-in valve that shuts off if water flow is too high, as it would be if the water heater ruptured and was gushing water.

The flood safe supply lines act kind of like a fuse, they are supposed to cut off the water supply in an emergency.

But sometimes they can malfunction, especially if you let the water go gushing into a new empty tank.

Just a possibility.

If the hoses are that type, I think there is a way to reset the shutoff inside the supply hose.
 
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Originally I was thinking it could be a jammed heat trap nipple, but it sounds like hardly any water is even getting out of the cold supply hose, is that right?
 
We have turned off the main line, flushed it out, and followed all instructions to turn the water back on again. No change. It seems to be a blockage of some kind somewhere between where the main line enters the house and where it splits to other areas. In our downstairs, two faucets trickle but do not flow. Our kitchen faucet only flows on cold, but has good pressure. Upstairs we still have no water. We believe the water line that goes to the upstairs is the same one that goes to the water heater, and is experiencing the same blockage. I've included videos to help.
 
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Unrelated to your problem, but you should keep the braided hose from contacting the hot flue pipe.
Inside the braid is rubber, it can fail from the very hot metal touching it.

Meanwhile, if you open the water heater drain hose bib, and run a hose from there to a floor drain or wherever, then try opening up the cold water supply valve, does water continue to flow in and out of the heater?
Or does the flow from the cold shutoff still peter out?
 
If water flows in and out continuously through the heater drain without petering out, then you probably have a jammed heat trap nipple on the hot outlet side.
 
One thing at a time.

See if water will run continuously out of the water heater drain.
 
We have disconnected the hose from the water heater altogether and that's how we saw that only a small trickle was coming out of the cold water valve. So even before it goes into the water heater there's a problem.
 
There might be a branch shutoff valve elsewhere upstream of the valve right there at the heater.
It might be partially closed, or entirely closed but failing, so it lets some trickle of water through.

Someone may have operated that branch valve when replacing the valve at the water heater, and forgot to re-open it, or the branch valve is failing and is not opening up properly anymore.
 
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