Investor · Bend, OR · Member since 2016 · 52 posts · 15 votes
Hi guys, long story short, we got a great deal on a house that has not been lived in for a year or so. We got the septic up and working, power, and water main at the street (looks like there is an open close knob and two check valves?) and the water main at the house all the way on. We are on a community well with a water main at the street and a pump house down the street.
The outside spigots all flow acceptably, inside the house both bathroom faucets flow well but one shower drips (even when off) but doesn't flow when turned on. The kitchen faucet barely flows.
Hot water does not flow on any of the faucets or showers, the hot water heater filled up, turned on, and heated up.
Is there a way to figure out where clog might be or any other suggestions/advice before we hire a pro?
Rental Property Investor · Cedar Park, TX · Member since 2014 · 414 posts · 272 votes
9y
For the kitchen faucet, the aerator might be clogged with minerals. See if the water flows with the aerator removed. If that's the problem, use CLR or LimeAway (or the dollar-store equivalent) to clean the aerator.
The shower drips because of a bad o-ring or other seal in the valve. Turn off the water to the house, then remove the shower knob and work your way down to the cartridge, which screws into the valve housing. Take the cartridge with you to buy a replacement at Home Depot or Lowe's. (This assumes that you have a modern single-handle, pressure-compensating shower valve. Older homes have separate hot and cold faucets, but the setup is similar.) Clean the interior of the valve housing with CLR or LimeAway, and ideally apply silicon grease to the rubber parts before reassembling the valve.
As for the water supply, does this house have old, galvanized pipes? If so, they may have rusted on the inside to the point of restricting the supply and probably need to be replaced with copper or Pex.
I'll just guess at what to do with the hot-water supply: First turn off the input valve to the water heater and try draining the tank so you an see how much sediment comes out. If the water drains and has a reasonable amount of sediment, I suppose you could disconnect the output side of the water heater and attach a hose there (with a pipe-to-hose-thread adapter). Then you could slowly turn on the input side and see if anything comes out of the output side. If you get flow, then the obstructions are in the pipes. If you don't, then maybe the tank is full of sediment.
Investor · Indianapolis, IN · Member since 2015 · 117 posts · 39 votes
9y
Disconnect supply lines from shutoffs at each faucet and test from shutoff. If water flows at shutoff then you know faucet needs cleaning or replacing. If not you know it's the pipes. A well that has been off a while will throw out a lot of sediment. Therefore you might want to run outside spigots a while to clean out system.