Got a shower upstairs that works fine for about 5 minutes, then the water gets really hot, then colder and so on. This is happening without anyone in the house using anything. House was built in the late 70's early 80's I guess with a newer water heater and copper piping. Any ideas?
Shower upstairs hot-cold-hot-cold..
Aug 29, 2007
7 Replies
Gas? Electric? Heater
Run water and feel the outlet pipe at the heater. Does the temp vary (a lot)?
Does the shower control have scald-gard or similar temp control?
Jim
Gas heater. No, no scald guard.
Then do the "feel-the-pipe" test. Jim
Ok, I will let you know.
On Wed, 29 Aug 2007 14:22:17 -0700, snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com wrote Re Re: Shower upstairs hot-cold-hot-cold..:
Dip tube fell off?
I would first look at pipe to see if it is plumbed correctly with proper size. Quite likely someone may have cut corners when house was built. This would not be the first time.
your faucet valves are shot. most likely just the washers on them.
hot water heats the cold valve, causes expansion of washer and associated parts, more cold water. everything cools off, back to more hot water, cycle repeats.
couple of bucks to replace the parts. maybe an hour of labor.
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