Water heater question

Should a hot water faucet still produce cold water if the water heater's pilot light is not lit? I would imagine the light just affects the temperature of the water, and pressure from the water line drives the water?

I am getting no water from hot water faucet, though it does come from cold water faucet. I am hoping that the following does not cause problems: I have just repiped my house (in copper). Since I plan to move the location of the water heater, I stubbed out hot and cold to the new location, then ran pipes to the existing heater, connected to the stubs by sharkbite connections. These pipes drop down 16" at either location, and there's max 5' distance.

Another possibility is a cascade valve on the input to the water heater, with a newly soldered connection just above it. Could that be stopping water getting into the heater? I do believe though that I heard water going into the heater when I opened the shutoff valve.

Any help appreciated. I've lit the pilot light but I've got the thermostat set down to zero on the water heater just in case, but my family would like to wash. Actually they'd like me to wash.

The valve to the tank could be clogged. I would check that.

Update

Lighting the pilot light brought water from the hot water faucet. Huh?

you scare me....

1. light the water heater....

2. turn the heater up to medium

3. and in about 40 minutes you can take a bath


you cliam that you re-piped your whole house??

I know how to turn on the heater, relax. Just surprised that it won't allow water to flow without a flame...... I was posting here because of my sense of caution, didn't want to run the water heater in case there was no water......

If you only get water from the HW faucets when the water heater is lit then you need to call a competent plumber to look over what you have done.

Okay thanks for the advice.

water

I get the impression that you are saying that NO water comes out of the hot water faucet. If so, that has nothing to do with whether the burner is on or off. But as to where the problem could be we cannot tell you since there are many possibilities, especially since you repiped the system.

Thanks all for the advice. Just had a plumber out to take a look and he did not see any problems.

Just to clarify: I have running hot water. When I originally opened the hot water faucet, nothing came out, not even air. When I lit the flame on the water heater, air and then water came out. The plumber thinks there was just something clogged in the heater, it's old and will have sediment and corrosion buildup, that eventually unclogged, and it was just a coincidence that the hot water came out after lighting the flame.

And oh yeah, I got an estimate on replacing the water heater, as well as all my other plumbing jobs.....

Thanks again, I know not to mess with a water heater.