Piper308
New Member
Hello, and thank you to all the replies in advance. First time posting, have a question about lukewarm water temps during a bathroom addition.
I have a 2.5 bath house, which I am having a basement full bathroom addition (toilet, shower, etc.) completed at this time. The contractor (professional), who is going through the permit process has done a wonderful job. This project was agreed by both parties that it was not a priority, therefore the final completion has been postponed several months. The current status is completed except for final fixtures (vanity, toilet, and shower controls) have not been installed. This addition required a grinder pump install, and plumbing connections to a pre-existing "rough in" from the original home builder.
A few months back, right around the time of the final basement bathroom plumbing was completed, I started to notice a loss of hot water within the house. Mainly the water points that seemed to be an issue were at mix valve water faucets. Such as the kitchen sink, and showers. (I did not consider the bathroom addition to be a factor at this point)
I started to trouble shoot this issue, replacing the dip tube on a 12 year old gas water heater which did not change the lukewarm water issue (tube was NOT broken). I eventually replaced the gas water heater with a Bradford White 50 gallon unit (40,000 BTU), and had an expansion tank installed since there was not one to begin with. The new water heater is hot at a single source sink faucet (separate hot and cold knobs), but still lukewarm at mixing valve faucets (kitchen, showers). The brand new water heater is set at temperature "C", which is the highest setting I have ever used on a gas heater, and is the second to highest setting on the unit. I still only have lukewarm showers.
I went another step further, and replaced the shower cartridge and mixing valve on my shower. I adjusted the temperature controls on the cartridge even putting the red scold prevention ring on the opposite side of the valve so it doesn't stop the full range of the shower valve. I still have lukewarm showers.
The shower water is mild to hot for a few mins, then goes lukewarm for the rest of the shower. Sometimes, if I have washed dishes or something causing the water heater to kick on, I can get slightly warmer showers, but nothing like before the bathroom addition.
With all this in mind, is it possible that the unfinished bathroom addition is causing some sort of cross mixing of hot/cold water since the final shower/sink controls have not been installed? Could it be that the original hot water heater might not have been the problem with lukewarm water? (I needed to replace a 12 year old unit anyway) Is it possible this issue will resolve once the fixtures are completed and working in the bathroom addition? Or am I just nuts.
I am also wondering if the issue is the expansion tank. Of course my lukewarm water issues pre-dates the expansion tank which is why I replaced the WH and added the expansion tank. So, I must deduct the lukewarm water issue is something unrelated to the WH and expansion tank.
Could a pressure drop of the hot side cause mixing valve faucets to not blend correctly? Where would this pressure loss come from? Expansion tank? New bathroom addition?
Any thoughts? Thank you again for any guidance you can provide.
I have a 2.5 bath house, which I am having a basement full bathroom addition (toilet, shower, etc.) completed at this time. The contractor (professional), who is going through the permit process has done a wonderful job. This project was agreed by both parties that it was not a priority, therefore the final completion has been postponed several months. The current status is completed except for final fixtures (vanity, toilet, and shower controls) have not been installed. This addition required a grinder pump install, and plumbing connections to a pre-existing "rough in" from the original home builder.
A few months back, right around the time of the final basement bathroom plumbing was completed, I started to notice a loss of hot water within the house. Mainly the water points that seemed to be an issue were at mix valve water faucets. Such as the kitchen sink, and showers. (I did not consider the bathroom addition to be a factor at this point)
I started to trouble shoot this issue, replacing the dip tube on a 12 year old gas water heater which did not change the lukewarm water issue (tube was NOT broken). I eventually replaced the gas water heater with a Bradford White 50 gallon unit (40,000 BTU), and had an expansion tank installed since there was not one to begin with. The new water heater is hot at a single source sink faucet (separate hot and cold knobs), but still lukewarm at mixing valve faucets (kitchen, showers). The brand new water heater is set at temperature "C", which is the highest setting I have ever used on a gas heater, and is the second to highest setting on the unit. I still only have lukewarm showers.
I went another step further, and replaced the shower cartridge and mixing valve on my shower. I adjusted the temperature controls on the cartridge even putting the red scold prevention ring on the opposite side of the valve so it doesn't stop the full range of the shower valve. I still have lukewarm showers.
The shower water is mild to hot for a few mins, then goes lukewarm for the rest of the shower. Sometimes, if I have washed dishes or something causing the water heater to kick on, I can get slightly warmer showers, but nothing like before the bathroom addition.
With all this in mind, is it possible that the unfinished bathroom addition is causing some sort of cross mixing of hot/cold water since the final shower/sink controls have not been installed? Could it be that the original hot water heater might not have been the problem with lukewarm water? (I needed to replace a 12 year old unit anyway) Is it possible this issue will resolve once the fixtures are completed and working in the bathroom addition? Or am I just nuts.
I am also wondering if the issue is the expansion tank. Of course my lukewarm water issues pre-dates the expansion tank which is why I replaced the WH and added the expansion tank. So, I must deduct the lukewarm water issue is something unrelated to the WH and expansion tank.
Could a pressure drop of the hot side cause mixing valve faucets to not blend correctly? Where would this pressure loss come from? Expansion tank? New bathroom addition?
Any thoughts? Thank you again for any guidance you can provide.