Toilets, Sinks, Showers, Tubs and Disposals - Please Help Me Teach My Realty Company

Hello All,

I am hoping you can help me out with an extremely frustrating situation. For about a month, I have not had any hot water in my bathroom. I live in a highrise apartment building, on the 7th floor. When I turn on my hot water in the morning (around 6:15am), barely a trickle of water comes out of the hot water side of the single-spigot, twist-knob faucet in the tub. It is not even enough water to make the shower turn on. The same goes for the hot water faucet in the sink; barely a trickle of water comes out of the hot water side. In the evenings (when the demand for water in my building is lessened), I get lots of water coming out of the hot water side of the tub faucet...but it is COLD water. If I leave the water on for about 40 minutes, it eventually will get WARM. Taking a shower in the morning, however, is out of the question; it is essentially a dry spigot. Do you know what the problem might be? My realty company claims that there was an electrical problem with the pump but that it was fixed last week. It was not. Can you please help provide me with some information so I can prove to them that there are real problems going on here? Could it be a grundfos or circulating pump problem? Unfortunately, because I am young and female, I keep getting the run-around by the maintenance folks. Please, please help me.

Sincerely,
Kristi

It is a recirc problem. With any multi-story building there will be a recirculation pump for hot domestic water. If you do not have warm to hot water within 30 seconds or so, there is a problem.

Ask you maintenance department what the developed length of water line is from YOUR farthest to the hot water source (tub, K/s faucet, etc). If it is over 100 feet, virtually all codes require a recirculation pump. There should also be a backup recirculation pump, but call a local building code inspector first to confirm this, but I think you will find this to be the case.

You may also want to mention that a minimum pressure of 8 PSI is required on building lines at peak flow times. This again is a building code issue along with a public safety issue for backflow protection. I'm sure you will be told that pressure is different from flow and it is, but offer to have a pressure gauge attached to you faucet for the peak flow periods.

Hope this helps, more questions, ask away and someone will answer them.

Thank you for your helpful answer. I used it when speaking to my realty company. They claim that there was a problem with the electrical on the recirculating pump when I first reported the problem, but that it was fixed last week, and that they now plan to "blow out the lines" tomorrow morning. What does this mean, and do you think this is a valid resolution to the problem, or what else might I say to prove that the problem is still with the recirculating pump and not my specific lines?

Thanks a million for your help!
Kristi

Without seeing how many stories your building has or the plumbing set, yes it would be possible to have air in the lines and causing problems with flow and recirculation. This being said, provisions should also be in place with automatic air relief valves in the highest areas.

As for blowing out the lines, what are they actually trying to clear out, air or sediment? If maintenance some into your place and takes off the aerators from the faucets, then they are trying to get rid of sediment, air does not really need to have this done. (be sure to read 3 paragraphs down for how this should be done)

If you are told it is a sediment problem, ask about what the actual cause is and if there are health issues. If you are told about air, ask if there are air relief valves in place and if they are properly working.

If there is a sediment issue, there could be a partial blockage on your lines at the valves and fixture stems. This would still not explain why it takes water so long to become hot at your tap. Hot water would still be available in the hot water riser, and even if you have a low flow of 1 gallon a minute, you would have hot water within 2 minutes max. Longer than this is a recirculation problem.

To solve a sediment problem in your hot water lines, the lines from the stops to the fixture needs to taken apart at the stop, the stop turned on for just a few seconds to clear the valve. re-install as it was. The stems then need to be removed from the fixture and water again flushed through, put stems back in place, then remove the faucet aerator and flush whole fixture to see if flow has improved. Tub faucets are different as there are no stop valves like there should be for the lav, toilet, and kitchen sink. The hot water line needs to be shut down and then the tub stem removed. Turn water back on for just a few seconds to flush tub valve then put stem back in place. Remove shower head and check for flow. (probably should replace shower head at same time)

Hope this helps and gives you a little insight on problem. More questions or problems, I'm sure someone will chime in and help out.