Water Heater Not Filling

[Oaklevel]

Originally Posted by itat

I picked up a 1/2 inch Sharkbite "slip" ball valve so I can just cut out the old valve beyond the crimp rings and replace it without concern for the length of PEX being cut out.

SharkBite 1/2 in. Brass Push-to-Connect Slip Ball Valve-24735LF - The Home Depot

Let us know what you find........

[youroo]

Originally Posted by Oaklevel

Let us know what you find........

Must have gotten into a Mess? Youroo!!

[itat]

We were only camping for the long weekend (it was Victoria Day weekend here in Ontario - stores were all closed Monday for the holiday). My DW and I agreed it would be wiser to live without the water heater for one more day and I would tackle it this week when we aren't camping since I have to turn off the entire system to cut in a new valve. Plus, I have this USB boroscope at home that I can use inside the HW tank to check for blockages at the water inlet port. Based on my experience, I know to not assume this will be a quick fix for my abilities and I might screw it up royally!

I'll get to it after work one day this week (hopefully tonight) and have it completed and ready to go again this coming weekend.

Here are a couple pics of my valves.



My plan is to check the inlet port inside the tank and if it looks OK, I'll cut out the old valve and install the new Sharkbite slip ball valve.

If I cut the PEX pipe on either side of the crimp fittings on the valve, should I be able to cut out no more than 2" of length? That's the max that the Sharkbite ball valve will fill in. I don't have a lot of flexibility to move the line in because as you can see in the first picture, there's a propane line coming up through the floor beside the bypass (in the black plastic split loom). I guess worst case is that I'll have to get a 90° bend and a short piece of blue PEX and cut out the entire section from the inlet side of the bend (after the bypass) to the outlet side of the valve.

[bubbles]

Those are brass valves not the typical plastic variety. Have you pulled the knob and worked the valve with a wrench? Might be worth a try.

[itat]

Originally Posted by bubbles

Those are brass valves not the typical plastic variety. Have you pulled the knob and worked the valve with a wrench? Might be worth a try.

I tried but wasn't able to get the handle off.

[Iwritecode]

Originally Posted by Obrieri

Remember that you must open the pressure relief value on the water heater to evacuate air from the tank & allow the water heater to fill.

I've never touched my pressure relief valve and my water heater fills up just fine.

[5picker]

Originally Posted by Iwritecode

I've never touched my pressure relief valve and my water heater fills up just fine.

I think the 'open the relief valve' method has gained popularity on the RV forums for those concerned if they actually have a full water tank. Some don't fully understand the bypass valves and it's kind of a fool-proof method of making sure the tank is full. The downside is if you don't really understand your bypass valving and and somehow get confused, your water heater OUTLET valve could still be closed, (with the inlet valve open) and you won't have hot water anyway even if the tank is full.

Like you, I don't open my relief valve, I just open a hot faucet to bleed the air.
But then I've been doing this for 40 years and I know if my valves are set correctly and whether my tank has water or not.

[llr]

when you cut the valve out I would use a towel or dish and have DW briefly run the pump
to flush the input side, just in case it is something being pushed against the valve and it slides back down without pressure

[itat]

Originally Posted by llr

when you cut the valve out I would use a towel or dish and have DW briefly run the pump
to flush the input side, just in case it is something being pushed against the valve and it slides back down without pressure

Good idea. Wouldn't hurt. Thanks.

[itat]

I finally got to work on this problem tonight.

I used the endoscope to look inside the hot water tank and the inlet was clear which told me the problem was definitely at the cold water valve. (BTW, while it worked well, I found that the cable of the endoscope was rather flimsy and it helps if you can tape it to something that will give you better control of where it's pointing. I didn't have one but a telescoping magnetic pick-up tool with a flexing end might work nicely.)

I then cut the PEX pipe as close as I could to the barbed fittings on either side of the brass valve and removed it. With the valve removed I was able to see that the knob was turning the stem properly but the stem had broken away from the ball which was stuck in the closed position. I installed the SharkBite Slip Ball Valve, turned on the water pump and the water flowed with no leaks so it seems to be working fine now.

I found that the SharkBite "Disconnect Clip" didn't work very well at loosening the "slip" end so it was difficult to get it to slide back over the PEX pipe but I did eventually get it slid back and onto the other side of the cut pipe.

Having to cut out the old valve without first removing the crimp rings required that I remove about 2-5/16" from the cold water line. SharkBite says not to remove more than 2" but I had enough flex in the upstream line to be able to seat the cut ends into the SharkBite valve a full 1" as specified.

DW is happy that we'll have hot water for this weekend's trip.

[youroo]

Looks like Post's # 6 &7 were pretty good WAG's! Youroo!!

[itat]

That's why I love this forum!