Cold Water not going into Tank

[Daphne Crook]

What does that question mean?

When we do your test, of opening the discharge valve on the water heater, then opening the cold water valve... Does the water heater need to be empty first?

 

[Daphne Crook]

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.

How would we find that valve? Would it be in the wall? We replaced the water heater ourselves, and did not shut off any valve other than the main.

 

[Jeff Handy]

A separate branch shutoff valve could be anywhere in the basement, if you have a basement.
Or elsewhere in the house.
Or near the meter.

If no water is even coming out of the cold supply hose, with the ball valve open, then my theory of a jammed heat trap nipple is wrong.

 

[Jeff Handy]

And things do get fiddled with or shutoff that you forget about, or each one thought the other person took care of it but neither one did, just a suggestion.

 

[Daphne Crook]

Thanks! We'll look around and see what we can find.

 

[Daphne Crook]

We did your test, no water came out. Also, we have searched all over near walls and outside at the main... No sign of another valve. We don't have a basement. We live in Arizona, so no basements.

 

[Daphne Crook]

We really think it's a sediment build up as we don't have great water here. We do have a water softener and reverse osmosis, but those are after the water heater pipes. But how do we flush out the intake pipes?

 

[Jeff Handy]

If you take off the new flex supply hose from the new sharkbite valve, can you run water continuously into a bucket?

Or does the valve itself just start choking down and stopping, even while fully open?

 

[Daphne Crook]

Yes, we have removed the flex pipe hose. The water barely trickles out and eventually stops, even with the valve fully open.

 

[Jeff Handy]

You can get a plastic clip ar Home Depot or anywhere, which lets you release the sharkbite connector from the valve.

It applies pressure towards the little piece of plastic sleeve sticking out of the sharkbite fitting or valve, causing the grip to flex open and the fitting can slide off.

You can see videos of it on Youtube.

I would take the new valve off and see if water flows normally out of the stub from the wall.

You can rig up something to catch the water flowing from the stub.

Maybe there are massive chunks of minerals forming a clog right there.

 

[Jeff Handy]

Although it is unlikely, you might have damaged the pipe back in the wall, when you were removing the old cold supply shutoff valve.

If the old valve was threaded on, and you had to turn it hard to remove it, you might have twisted the pipe into a spiral which is almost totally pinched closed.
And minerals are jamming up the tiny opening that remains.

I have occasionally seen this when someone removes a really old sillcock that is threaded on.

 

[Daphne Crook]

When we removed the old one we actually had to cut the copper pipe to do so. This left us with a small nub to attach the share bite end of the new valve, so it'll be hard to remove, but we'll try! Thank you!

 

[Jeff Handy]

You will pbly have to cut out a little of the drywall around the cold water pipe at the wall, to be able to manipulate the plastic C-shaped clip that releases the grip of the sharkbite valve.

Maybe it’s time to consult a local professional?

Or, remove the new valve with the main shutoff closed, or course.

Then see if you can get full flow from that stub with no valve on it.

You can rig up a temporary hose onto the bare copper stub by adding a rubber clamp coupling, and buy or scrounge up a piece of hose or rubber or vinyl tubing as a drain hose.

 

[Jeff Handy]

3/4 in. Removal Tool For Push Fit Fittings

https://www.homedepot.com/p/309659379

 

[Diehard]

?

 

[Daphne Crook]

We had a friend tell us to bypass our water softener, so we did. It worked! All water has been restored!

 

[Diehard]

A water softener! LOL
So I guess there were some valves down stream of the main shutoff valve.
Isn't this fun?

 

[Jeff Handy]

I should have thought to ask if you had a water softener or water filter.
But you should also have mentioned that you had one on the incoming cold water line.

You described your piping as running from the meter to the water heater, with no other valves in between that you could find.

The water softener usually has at least three valves on it, so you can use plain hard water by bypassing it, or close the bypass valve and open the inlet and outlet valves to route the water through the softener.

Lesson learned for all parties involved.

Meanwhile, you need to figure out why the softener was not passing water.
Maybe the valves were not properly set?
Or it is totally mineral clogged?
Or is there also a water filter there, which needs the filter cartridge changed out?

 

[Mitchell-DIY-Guy]

When my wife and I renovated a 1927 farmhouse about 30 years ago, I was not as experienced with things as I am today, and with my father helping me we started to add the plumbing for the renovated kitchen, from the basement below. We thought we had the water turned off, and as soon as we cut the pipe water came out in full force. I won't bore you with a lot of details but after sleuthing work, we discovered the following stupid things in the house:

1. The water plumbing in the home was a mix of black pipe, galvanized pipe and copper. The black pipe because a previous owner in the 1960s worked for the gas company so he plumbed his house with scraps. The galvanized because that was some of the original plumbing. There was just a smattering of copper from some later work.
2. Equally mysterious were gas lines going every which way in the basement; they would start at one end, go all the way to the far end of the house, then double back before there was a tap. From there they still went everywhere--to outside grill, to gas lamps and more.
3. The water system was plumbed in some kind of weird loop; that meant the shutoff(s) that you saw were not going to completely shut off the water; it would come from the other direction.

The bottom line and why I'm telling you this is you need to trace your water line back from your tap/valve for the water heater back to the house entrance and ensure there is nothing in the way. As others have pointed out, there's probably something else shutoff somewhere. Assume nothing. If you didn't do it, there's no telling what some other person did.

My solution to that old house was to rip out ALL the plumbing; trying to make it work was stupid. So we got rid of all that ridicuous mix of incorrect pipe and added all new copper. Not as difficult as it sounds because everything was accessible from the basement. When we were done it was done cleanly with no mysteries. We ran one main line from the meter, there were stub offs for a later 2nd floor bath; risers for the kitchen and the downstairs bath, and a few frost proof hose bibs. Very easy.

I should note that we did pull out one 5' length of 1" galvanized pipe used for water service. It was so badly corroded on the inside that you could not see through it--so that for sure caused a pressure drop. When we were done we were back at full pressure.

 

[Diehard]

I would treat any complicated plumbing system as I would an electric system. Find everything on valve or circuit breaker that gets affected by it's closure or opening. Then mark it.
Only valves I've ever found that get concealed are usually the ones controlling exterior hose bibs, when they get hidden behind a removable ceiling panel.