Water Heaters - No Hot Water Pressure
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lrgolfer
03-27-05, 10:22 AM
Recently I inherited a 60 year old home and there is nobody living there full time. I was there last week and noticed the hot water was running out quickly and taking forever to heat up enough to take a shower. But the pressure was always fine. I turned the heat up a little and turned it back down when I left. We have friends using the house this week and today they called and said there was no hot water pressure in the entire house. When they turn on any of the facets nothing comes out. I asked them to open the drain valve and a black sludge came out and after a very short time clear water came out. After doing this the hot water facets had a very slow stream but not too much.
The hot water heater is Bradford White, electric, model #LE3OGDC, 30 gal, serial #E462565392. I have no idea when installed or by whom...there is no information on the tank. I cannot even find out anything about the model on the internet.
Here is the crux of my probelm, it is 850 miles away and I have to try to talk them through anything and I have to work off of memory. As usual you really don't pay attention to too many things until it is broke.
Any advice or help will be greatly appreciated.
The hot water heater is Bradford White, electric, model #LE3OGDC, 30 gal, serial #E462565392. I have no idea when installed or by whom...there is no information on the tank. I cannot even find out anything about the model on the internet.
Here is the crux of my probelm, it is 850 miles away and I have to try to talk them through anything and I have to work off of memory. As usual you really don't pay attention to too many things until it is broke.
Any advice or help will be greatly appreciated.
majakdragon
03-27-05, 05:12 PM
Irgolfer, Welcome to the DIY Forums.
First off, sounds like you need a flush and drain of the water heater. I have included a link on how to properly do this.
http://forum.doityourself.com/showthread.php?t=134483
You said the hot water ran out quickly. This sounds like a missing or broken dip tube. The dip tube takes the cold water to the bottom of the tank and thus pushes the hot water out. When the dip tube is not working, the cold water "short circuits" and goes directly out the hot water outlet.
So far you have all DIY problems. It's just the mileage you have to go to do it. Reply back with any other questions and perhaps we can have you loaded with everything you need when you visit the cabin again. Good luck.
First off, sounds like you need a flush and drain of the water heater. I have included a link on how to properly do this.
http://forum.doityourself.com/showthread.php?t=134483
You said the hot water ran out quickly. This sounds like a missing or broken dip tube. The dip tube takes the cold water to the bottom of the tank and thus pushes the hot water out. When the dip tube is not working, the cold water "short circuits" and goes directly out the hot water outlet.
So far you have all DIY problems. It's just the mileage you have to go to do it. Reply back with any other questions and perhaps we can have you loaded with everything you need when you visit the cabin again. Good luck.
lrgolfer
03-27-05, 06:34 PM
Thanks for the note and especially thanks for the welcome. Looks like I will be frequently checking this site for advice. OK...back to my problem. The folks there have tried to turn off the hot water heater and they keep hearing water running in the tank. The area around the tank (floor, walls, etc) is dry. The back yard apparently is wet...yard slopes from front to back. Sounds like the pipe busted between the tank and the house? Tank is located in an outside room of the house. In the mean time I had them shut the water main off. House is in Florida so not a freeze. Would explain why no water was coming out of the hot water facet and why the week before we were running out of water. It was leaking out and the tank could not keep up. I did some work around the house last week and never noticed there was a leak but it may have only been slight versus what they are seeing now. Anyhow...because we have other people using it before I get there I called a local plumber and he is going to come look at it tomorrow. This will hurt but better than making him come out on Easter. :( But I am thankful it was caught while someone was there. Imagine the water bill not to mention the possible damage.