Phil Clemence
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I have a friend .... no ... really!
She has a Delta pressure balanced valve about 3 years old.
She has galvanized supply lines and quite low hot water pressure.. but her cold water pressure is VERY good (near a river).
She told me that things have gotten pregressively worse over the last couple of years, and it takes up to about 40 minutes to fill her tub enough for a bath!
I went there and replaced her hot side supply from the main T to her valve but that did not help. I used a dielectric on a 4" long iron stub from the "T" and made a flushout pipe from another. I reamed out the 4" pipe and screwed on the flushout to the "T" line dielectric and got a lot of crud out and checked the section of copper that led to her valve.
I screwed on the supply to the valve and checked to see if there was any improvement, but ... it was worse. I could only get a few drops of water from the tub spout.
With the cartridge removed i turned on the main a bit. I held my finger on the cold port and saw there was very little water from the hot side port. I opened the sink (within reach) and saw the hot port could flow very well with the mixing of the pressure via the sink.
So, i figure there must be so much pressure difference that the pressure balance cartridge is preventing any water flow. I have never seen this before. I have seen the same thing if one supply line is totally closed, but never checked it with a partialy closed supply.
I figure the temporary solution is to put in a shut-off for the cold side to limit the pressure there and the cartridge should allow some flow again. I guess she needs to have the whole house repiped as soon as she can afford it
My biggest question is: Has anyone seen this effect? (I thought they operated at the lowest pressure available at either side, so this seems strange)
Thanks!
She has a Delta pressure balanced valve about 3 years old.
She has galvanized supply lines and quite low hot water pressure.. but her cold water pressure is VERY good (near a river).
She told me that things have gotten pregressively worse over the last couple of years, and it takes up to about 40 minutes to fill her tub enough for a bath!
I went there and replaced her hot side supply from the main T to her valve but that did not help. I used a dielectric on a 4" long iron stub from the "T" and made a flushout pipe from another. I reamed out the 4" pipe and screwed on the flushout to the "T" line dielectric and got a lot of crud out and checked the section of copper that led to her valve.
I screwed on the supply to the valve and checked to see if there was any improvement, but ... it was worse. I could only get a few drops of water from the tub spout.
With the cartridge removed i turned on the main a bit. I held my finger on the cold port and saw there was very little water from the hot side port. I opened the sink (within reach) and saw the hot port could flow very well with the mixing of the pressure via the sink.
So, i figure there must be so much pressure difference that the pressure balance cartridge is preventing any water flow. I have never seen this before. I have seen the same thing if one supply line is totally closed, but never checked it with a partialy closed supply.
I figure the temporary solution is to put in a shut-off for the cold side to limit the pressure there and the cartridge should allow some flow again. I guess she needs to have the whole house repiped as soon as she can afford it
My biggest question is: Has anyone seen this effect? (I thought they operated at the lowest pressure available at either side, so this seems strange)
Thanks!