Hot water heater and water pump acting strange [message #248395] |
Thu, 24 April 2014 19:26 |
An87ttype
Messages: 157 Registered: September 2012
Karma: 0
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Last year I put one of the hot water heater bypass valves with check valve on the water heater for winterizing. All went well. Now Spring is here and I turn the valve and fill up the heater. Great! That was easy. The strange thing is, now it's acting kind of like a pressure tank. The pump cycles real fast, and when you turn the water off it cycles slower and slower until it stops. If I switch the pump off, the water will run for a long time with just the pressure from the tank. If I switch it to bypass everything works normally.
So what's going on? Is there just air in the tank? Does not seem to be any air coming out of the faucet. I've never had this problem without the bypass. Doesn't seem to make a lot of sense to me.
Anybody have any thoughts?...Thanks all
1975 Eleganza II
Hudson Valley NY
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Re: Hot water heater and water pump acting strange [message #248398 is a reply to message #248396] |
Thu, 24 April 2014 19:57 |
Ken Burton
Messages: 10030 Registered: January 2004 Location: Hebron, Indiana
Karma: 10
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It sure sound like the bypass is not installed correctly Is it the type with two valves or one valve and a check valve or just one valve.
An easy way to get most of the air out is to open the safety pressure valve, but that will not fix your real problem. It sounds like the water exit at the top of the tank is not moving any water or air out of the tank.
Ken Burton - N9KB
76 Palm Beach
Hebron, Indiana
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Re: Hot water heater and water pump acting strange [message #248415 is a reply to message #248395] |
Thu, 24 April 2014 22:41 |
Bob de Kruyff
Messages: 4260 Registered: January 2004 Location: Chandler, AZ
Karma: 1
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An87ttype wrote on Thu, 24 April 2014 18:26 | Last year I put one of the hot water heater bypass valves with check valve on the water heater for winterizing. All went well. Now Spring is here and I turn the valve and fill up the heater. Great! That was easy. The strange thing is, now it's acting kind of like a pressure tank. The pump cycles real fast, and when you turn the water off it cycles slower and slower until it stops. If I switch the pump off, the water will run for a long time with just the pressure from the tank. If I switch it to bypass everything works normally.
So what's going on? Is there just air in the tank? Does not seem to be any air coming out of the faucet. I've never had this problem without the bypass. Doesn't seem to make a lot of sense to me.
Anybody have any thoughts?...Thanks all
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Air in the system. It will work its way out.
Bob de Kruyff
78 Eleganza
Chandler, AZ
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Re: Hot water heater and water pump acting strange [message #248436 is a reply to message #248395] |
Fri, 25 April 2014 07:28 |
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Matt Colie
Messages: 8547 Registered: March 2007 Location: S.E. Michigan
Karma: 7
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An87ttype wrote on Thu, 24 April 2014 20:26 | Last year I put one of the hot water heater bypass valves with check valve on the water heater for winterizing. All went well. Now Spring is here and I turn the valve and fill up the heater. Great! That was easy. The strange thing is, now it's acting kind of like a pressure tank. The pump cycles real fast, and when you turn the water off it cycles slower and slower until it stops. If I switch the pump off, the water will run for a long time with just the pressure from the tank. If I switch it to bypass everything works normally.
So what's going on? Is there just air in the tank? Does not seem to be any air coming out of the faucet. I've never had this problem without the bypass. Doesn't seem to make a lot of sense to me.
Anybody have any thoughts?...Thanks all
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Daryn,
Important question to the diagnosis:
Have you gotten a reasonable amount of hot water out of the tank?
It sounds to me like your by-pass is not opening correctly and only opening the cold feed to the tank and the bypass. The hot water has to get drawn out of the top of the tank. What you are seeing would lead me to suspect that you by-pass is either a defective part or installed incorrectly.
This would trap air in the top of the tank, and water would only enter or exit by the bottom (cold) fitting.
Matt
Matt & Mary Colie - Chaumière -'73 Glacier 23 - Members GMCMI, GMCGL, GMCES
Electronically Controlled Quiet Engine Cooling Fan with OE Rear Drum Brakes with Applied Control Arms
SE Michigan - Near DTW - Twixt A2 and Detroit
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