uh oh, please help - changed water heater and 1/2 pressure

[motlot77]

i switched out an old water heater (15 yrs old prolly) and installed a new one, same size - 50 gallon.

when i was sweating the new water feed in place i used a couple small pieces of paper towel to block the water flow...DUMB!!! i know, i know. well it didn't work so then i got some bread and shoved a few pieces in there to block it as well.

well now the hot water pressure is 1/2 of what it was. it's just the HOT WATER ONLY. the cold is working just fine.

did i plug the line? i don't believe so cuz the cold runs perfectly. not sure what to do.

thanks for the help!

[jadnashua]

My guess is YES. SOme paper towels are like cloth - they just won't degrade or dissolve. Now, how to get them out is the question.

[motlot77]

any easy idea on how to do this?

the cold flow is perfect though...how could this be if i blocked the line?

[jadnashua]

It spit the stuff into the tank, then it clogged up the outlet. OR, you were lucky, OR it just hasn't worked its way into a place where it could clog anything yet.

[coz]

is it low at every fixture? if so, its blocked at the tank. if its just one or 2 fixtures you can pull the supply tube off and see if its blocked at the stop or in the faucet. then if its at the stop you can usually clean it out with a piece of solder but if its in the faucet you can pull the stem and turn on the stop and clear it there . usually the stem gets clogged up when you do that.Next time drain water better even if you have to open everything up and shop vac it. you could chase this thing for a while.

[master plumber mark]

if youhave a richmond, ge or rheem, they all hvae CHECK BALLS

inside the nipples going into the water heater to keep the heat in..


you might have clogged one of those up and it will most likely

involve takeing it apart again...

[Cass]

Mark, I either remove the traps or change the nips when I install a heater that has them. I never leave them in.