Hot Wife in Cold Shower - Need Advice !!

The problem is caused by a pressure drop in the cold water pipe that serves as input to the water heater. The pressure of that incoming cold water, is what pushes the hot water out. When you turn on another faucet or flusgh a toilet, there just isn't enough water volume to maintain the pressure. I solved this problem in my house by replacing the 1/2" copper with 3/4" from the meter, across the house to the opposite side, so that all the branches are supplied from this 3/4 inch pipe and there is now enough water available so that you can flush every toilet and turn on all faucets at once and the shower remains hot. The difference in capacity between 1/2" and 3/4 " is substantial. Visualize a hole the size of a dime and one the size of a quarter. I did nothing to the hot water circuits. In my case the fix was feasible because the line across the basement was easily accessible at both ends. I also ran the 3/4" pipe to the outside sillcocks, including new valves, and commercial sized hose. Watering the garden now takes half as long.

BB

Reply to
BinaryBillTheSailor
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Yes, one hole is used for temp control, one for volume flow.

Reply to
John Hines

According to RZ :

[I assume you mean switching 1/2 to 3/4 inch pipe ;-)]

It will _help_, but whether it will completely solve the problem depends on a very large number of factors - pipe layout, feed flow restriction, etc. In one home, I replaced some 1/2" runs with 3/4" and it made a huge difference - so a simultaneous shower and something else was okay.

This only worked the house was originally very strangely plumbed (the main line made a complete circle of the "utility room" and went up and down in size several times - probably due to a later water softener installation), and the distribution layout was particularly conducive to upsizing "subfeeders" before they split off to individual fixtures - all in the utility room.

In other words, you have to drastically reduce all flow restrictions up to the last "split" before the fixtures.

The improvement was idiosyncratic to that particular house. I wouldn't expect to get anywhere near as much improvement in most homes. If your flow problems are due to a restricted size municipal feed, you're SOL.

You may be able to improve things quite cheaply with a low-flow shower head, but still, it may not improve the situation much.

Nothing beats a pressure balance fixture. Which is what we're using in our current house. In our current house, you can have a shower without noticable temperature or flow changes while the dishwasher, clothes washer, irrigation system and a water hose are all running. On a well no less...

It's usually not necessary to worry about that. Most p-bal fixtures have optional bezels that will "convert" a two (or 3) holer to a "one holer". When installed carefully, they work well.

[I installed a Moen p-bal valve in place of a three valve in a fiberglass shower surround (I had access from the back). If I recall correctly, I didn't have to cut the fiberglass at all, just silicone-seal the bezel carefully to the fiberglass. Still working fine about 10 years later...]
Reply to
Chris Lewis

Post a picture of your naked hot wife and I'll post a picture of my hot naked pipe. :)

Reply to
nospam

/snip/

Please set your system clock - it is at least 24 hours fast.

Reply to
Travis Jordan

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He could also check that the valve on the cold water line to the heater is fully open.

Bob

Reply to
Bob

Now that I have your attention.....when ever the shower/tub is being used, and either a cold or hot water tap is opened elsewhere in the house, the unlucky person in the shower/tub gets cool water only...there is some mixture of hot and cold, but the water temp drops significantly....

The copper piping from the hot water tank feeding both washrooms is

5/8 inch (outside diameter) throughout. Now, before I go out and purchase a couple of pressure-equalizing fixture sets and have them installed, could increasing the hot water feeder pipes to 7/8 inch solve my problem? I would go with cheaper, easier to install poly pipe.

Also, if my problem can only be solved with pressure-equalizing fixture sets, are there pressure-equalizing fixtures that have two taps (hot and cold) so that I don't have rip out tile and drywall to create one center hole. Thanks

Reply to
RZ

Now that I have your attention.....when ever the shower/tub is being used, and either a cold or hot water tap is opened elsewhere in the house, the unlucky person in the shower/tub gets cool water only...there is some mixture of hot and cold, but the water temp drops significantly....

The copper piping from the hot water tank feeding both washrooms is

5/8 inch (outside diameter) throughout. Now, before I go out and purchase a couple of pressure-equalizing fixture sets and have them installed, could increasing the hot water feeder pipes to 7/8 inch solve my problem? I would go with cheaper, easier to install poly pipe.

Also, if my problem can only be solved with pressure-equalizing fixture sets, are there pressure-equalizing fixtures that have two taps (hot and cold) so that I don't have rip out tile and drywall to create one center hole. Thanks

Reply to
RZ

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