Water Heater Help - No Pressure

[buckle97]

Problem solved, maybe. For anyone following my well pump thread, you may remember that the water has been turned off for several months while I have been renovating this house. The night before last when I fixed the well pump issue I decided to leave the water turned on to the house. When I pulled up last night and opened my car door, I could hear water. I looked under the house to see water coming out of a hot water line under the kitchen. This is the last bit of remaining CPVC that I didn't replace with pex. I guess I will be replacing it now! It must be a small crack in the line because I can't hear anything flowing out of the water heater, but obviously it is coming out.

Thanks for everyone's suggestions and I hope my pressure problem will be solved when it dries up enough under the house to replace this water line.

 

[PILOON]

Glad the problem was found!

Pex fittings effectively reduce the flow to 3/8" as that is the ID of the fittings.
For that reason a few plumbers I know do all the main runs with 3/4 and drops or feeds with 1/2".

 

[Highbeam]

It is very common to find entire houses plumbed with nothing but 1/2" copper pipe. Mine is. Including to and from the water heater.

Sure, bigger is almost always better.

 

[Kays Supply]

In Illinois we just adopted PEX into our code. The catch is that all PEX lines with insert fittings must be up sized one size to meet flow requirements. Now it is 1" PEX to the heater, 3/4" PEX to washer , tubs, etc. and 1/2" PEX to stool or Lav. It has taken the fun out of PEX. The 1" is tough to route around things. If you use fittings it gets pretty pricey.

 

[bp fick]

It is very common to find entire houses plumbed with nothing but 1/2" copper pipe. Mine is. Including to and from the water heater.

Sure, bigger is almost always better.

Don't want to side track this thread to a plumbing thread, but seriously, the purpose of trunking with 1" or 3/4", dropping to 1/2" to supply a fixture, and even to 3/8" supply tubes for toilets and faucets is all about stabilizing the pressure between multiple users tapping the water throughout the home.

Yup. You CAN plumb a house with all 1/2", or all 3/4" for that matter, and it will "work" (as in water flows around) but the codes most places wouldn't allow it and I personally think it is lousy. If you have ever been in the shower and gotten half burned because someone flushed a john and "stole" all the cold water pressure, you would appreciate the thought behind it all. It isn't just the "code police" being fussy.
I'm done. Apologize for the sermonizing. See around the forum.

 

[JRobyn]

There are ADVANTAGES to smaller lines in some cases - I am considering running 1/2 copper "trunks" to my upstairs bath in the new house so that hot water will get there quicker. The area (and thus volume) of 3/4 pipe is 2-1/4 times that of 1/2! I have plenty of available pressure, and the upper bath will probably not be used a lot.

- Jay

 

[CurlyDave]

Sure, bigger is almost always better.

I agree with JRobyn. With copper, I have always used 3/4" cold water mains, with 1/2" to individual fixtures. 3/4" to the hot water tank, but all hot water goes in 1/2" just because the hot water gets to the fixture much faster.

 

[captaincrab55]

Glad the problem was found!

Pex fittings effectively reduce the flow to 3/8" as that is the ID of the fittings.
For that reason a few plumbers I know do all the main runs with 3/4 and drops or feeds with 1/2".

Anybody out there use the Sharktoorh Pex fittings??? It's my understanding that size wise they maintain the same ID as copper.. They are pricey, but they will work on copper tube too... Simple push on fit without a torch...

 

[Kays Supply]

There have been a few local plumbers try the Sharkbite fittings to keep from having to up size the pipe. If they are installed as instructed they do OK. BUT if the pipe is in a little bind or stress they have been known to leak. Most all have went to the insert fittings except where the fitting has access. The thought of using them in a closed wall or ceiling gives me the willys.

 

[tommu56]

Anybody out there use the Sharktoorh Pex fittings??? It's my understanding that size wise they maintain the same ID as copper.. They are pricey, but they will work on copper tube too... Simple push on fit without a torch...

I've used them as repairs were I didn't want to solder but prefer the crimps a lot cheaper if you own a crimper like I do.

If you only have 3 or 4 fittings I'd forgo the cost of the crimper ad use shark bites.

tom