cold burst of water
Has anyone found a cure for that cold burst of water that occurs when you have the shower head turned off while soaping or shampooing, and a minute later turn back on what was a perfect temperature to...
Forum Discussion
yup, cure is usually very simple.
The solution isn't to ADD a check valve, it is to REMOVE an existing check valve!!!
Most common cause is the "one quarter turn valve" winter bypass setup. they use a one way check valve on the hot output of the water heater and a quarter turn ball valve on cold inlet. Unfortunetly the one way valve on the hot outlet is very cheap and poorly designed and the restriction is very pressure and flow dependent and not a linear function. So when you turn down the flow, hot water restriction through the valve increases signficantly and hot water flow decreases more than cold water and you get the cold blast. In fact, at low flow, restriction is high enough to almost completely turn off the hot water flow.
Solution, remove the check valve completely on the hot outlet and install a winter bypass system with two quarter turn valves. Problem solved.
BTW when I did this on mine and mentioned to the local dealer service dept, they said, yes, very common complaint and they do the same as i did to fix the problem.
I took one of the valves apart. It's design is very good at backflow prevention for use when winterizing. However, the design when water if flowing through it leaves a lot to be desired to get flow that is a linear function of pressure and downstream restriction.
The solution isn't to ADD a check valve, it is to REMOVE an existing check valve!!!
Most common cause is the "one quarter turn valve" winter bypass setup. they use a one way check valve on the hot output of the water heater and a quarter turn ball valve on cold inlet. Unfortunetly the one way valve on the hot outlet is very cheap and poorly designed and the restriction is very pressure and flow dependent and not a linear function. So when you turn down the flow, hot water restriction through the valve increases signficantly and hot water flow decreases more than cold water and you get the cold blast. In fact, at low flow, restriction is high enough to almost completely turn off the hot water flow.
Solution, remove the check valve completely on the hot outlet and install a winter bypass system with two quarter turn valves. Problem solved.
BTW when I did this on mine and mentioned to the local dealer service dept, they said, yes, very common complaint and they do the same as i did to fix the problem.
I took one of the valves apart. It's design is very good at backflow prevention for use when winterizing. However, the design when water if flowing through it leaves a lot to be desired to get flow that is a linear function of pressure and downstream restriction.
