Water Heaters - flow valves on top of water heater

hey all, heres the question, i recently installed a new gas water heater and when i did so, i removed the two small flow valves installed when i bought it, did i make a mistake? do these two valves help with thermal expansion and cold water bleeding into the water heater???

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They are called heat trap nipples and give a tiny increase in overall energy efficiency. They also reduce flow slightly. I hope you replaced them with plastic lined dielectric nipples, and not just plain galvanized or brass.

Could they be the check valves to keep the hot water in from going up in the cold water pipe The cold water one has a ball that floats up and like close the cold water off till there is a demand and the hot water one has a very light spring to hold a small disk down in it till there is a demand for hot water most have stoped useing them and went over to the dip traps so hot water dont go up the cold water line. When the heater is just setting there

ED ;)

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I just replaced an old water heater with a new GE 50gal gas water heater and am suddenly experiencing low hot water pressure on all faucets, particularly those feeding the showers. I'm thinking of removing the valve on the hot water side (is this called the 'heat trap'?)- is it OK to remove it entirely and not replace it? If the heat trap serves to just SLIGHTLY increase efficiency, can I do without it, or does it serve some other purpose I'm not aware of. I ask cause I think the low pressure I'm experiencing is due to the faulty heat trap on one or both sides. Thanks.

It might not make the difference, but if you do remove them, replace with brass nipples.

Will do it this afternoon- my dad was thinking the silly valve mechanism was causing more trouble than the good it was intending to serve. I figure that insulating the exposed pipes leading out of the heater might save more energy than the trap could. Thanks.

Turns out to be installer-error. Got a piece of weld stuck on hot-side nipple opening, thus blocking outflow. Doh! Removed the impeding element and flow is back to normal.