I am experiencing a very strange problem with my hot water circuit.
I get warm water at best, not hot, out of all the hot water faucets. With the city hose connected, it's cool water, just a few degrees warmer than the cold water. I have checked my plumbing runs over and over, and can't find a point where it would be crossed or otherwise messed up....
Here's what I got:
Basically, the pump and city water feed the cold water side. This run feeds all the faucets, the toilet and the water heater bottom "cold" side. Just before the water heater inlet, there's a one way valve connected, to prevent hot water from siphoning back through the cold faucets.
The hot water run originates at the top of the water heater, and feeds the hot water side of the faucets only. No secrets, no brain surgery, right?
So why on earth am I not getting a decent shower?....It's as if the water heater was internally by-passed or something like that.
Now, if I turn the pump off, and turn the city water off, I get hot ( nice and hot) water out of the hot faucet in the galley, until the pressure is gone. Turn the pump on, and it's cool water again. The temperature fluctuates a little as the pump cycles. Cool to a little warmer back to cool etc.
Good thing it was blistering hot all weekend, and a coo-ish shower actually felt nice.
Any Ideas?
Uwe,
Wow that 63 looks great! Did your TW shine up that well?
About your hot (not hot) water problem. Water at the hot taps has to go through the water heater or does it? Do you have any kind of mixing valve some where in the trailer to limit the temperture of the hot water? Also are all of your faucets two handle or one? Maybe under pressure water is passing from the cold to the hot at one of these.
The water problem on my TW was alot easier then this to figure out. It worked fine when pumped from the tank, but backwards (hot / cold) when on city water. The city water was connected to a hot water line. What made it really easy to figure out was the PO told me!
Uwe,
Wow that 63 looks great! Did your TW shine up that well?
About your hot (not hot) water problem. Water at the hot taps has to go through the water heater or does it? Do you have any kind of mixing valve some where in the trailer to limit the temperture of the hot water? Also are all of your faucets two handle or one? Maybe under pressure water is passing from the cold to the hot at one of these.
The water problem on my TW was alot easier then this to figure out. It worked fine when pumped from the tank, but backwards (hot / cold) when on city water. The city water was connected to a hot water line. What made it really easy to figure out was the PO told me!
I never polishd the TradeWind - it looked good just cleaned and Walbernized, even though it had some cler coat problems.
All my faucets are 2-handle faucets. I am stumed by this phenomena, and have double checked my work 11 times..how's that for excessive-compulsive.
I had this problem in my Safari once. It turned out the hot and cold lines I had each going to a valve then tee'd to a single drain out the belly pan. Both of these valves were on, even though the cap was on the line under the trailer.
This allowed the water to mix only providing luke warm water. Closing both valves fixed the problem.
Tim,
Thanks for the tip, but the drain valves and caps are still in my tool box, awaiting installation. I am beginning to think that there's something wrong with my brand new water heater. Blocked intake? Shipping caps inside the fittings, something silly like that?
it sounds like under pressure, that the cold lines are not lettting the hot water "escape" from the hot water tank.
Here's a small test.... try using the overpressure valve (the one that you press down outside on the hotwater tank) and see if hot water comes out. Also, although it shouldn't make a difference... did you "burp" the tank when you first fillled it? I usually hold down that overpressure valve until I get water out when it first fills up.
If you get hot water out... then I'd assume that your tank is making hot water. If you get hot water out after the city and pump are off, then I'm assuming that you're getting hot water via gravity feed (from the lower cold water supply line from the tank) - the tank is supplying some pressure until the water level drops down. Maybe the top (hot water) supply line has a plug in it?
Good luck!
Marc
Uwe ~ Have you figured out your lack of hot water problem? Did you install a bypass on the water heater? I looked at the photos that you posted of your Pex, but it does not show where the hoses attach to the water heater...
I have had to pick up a bunch of loose ends here at the office after returning from the 4th of July holiday, so I have not hada chance to investigate the matter further.
My plan is to do some troubleshooting tonight by disconnecting the cold side to the faucts from the circuit, and then checking to see where the cool water is actually coming from. There must be a very silly, simple solution to this problem. I am probably so deep into this that I can't see the forest for the trees.
Uwe ~ Have you figured out your lack of hot water problem? Did you install a bypass on the water heater? I looked at the photos that you posted of your Pex, but it does not show where the hoses attach to the water heater...
I have not yet installed a bypass, or drain valves to clear the lines in the back of the trailer.
I have the same Pex fittings (flare) in my 75 TW. I would try and avoid opening them up. They just will not come apart without a bunch of pressure. Heat helps. I think you have a good plan to remove the connections at the faucets.
Today was exciting! Lynn ( Cloud 55), seamstress extraordinaire, came by with my new upholstery covers.
I got to help prepare the foam for the new covers, by wrapping batting around everything and then stuffing the cushions inside the covers. These pics are of the inside cushions while preparing them for their new covers.
The last picture shows Lynn doing her magic to one of the batting seams.
After stuffing all the foam/batting sandwiches inside the covers, we dragged everything inside the trailer to do a look-see. This must have been one of the most exciting days of the whole process. I imagined this day 2 years ago, because this sort of marks the end of the projectus maximus, as it were. yes, there's a bunch of fine tuning left, but all the major steps are now DONE!
I am so pleased with the colors and fabrics, I can't stop looking at it when I'm at area 63. Everything came together quite the way my wife and I envisioned it. We especially like the color combinations and the way they play with the wood and metal inside the trailer. It's very simple, really. The red just gave it the final "pop" that tied everything together.
We still have to do the dinette backs, and install the cleats that will hold the table top between the seats for making a bed. There will be a curtain to separate the bedroom from the bath also.
Lynn ( Cloud55) has been paramount in the upholstery process, her experience and knowledge in fabrics really shows. What impressed me was that she went with our choices, but made everything look fabulous by means of her expertise! The drapes look crisp and perfect, and the fit and finish is much better than I thought I could afford...can you tell that I am excited?
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