Hot water issue

We had the cat out for a long weekend this past week. Headed to State College Thurday evening. Got there and set up with no problems as usual. DW and I went for a walk. Son was going to get a shower. When we returned he complained that water was cold the whole time. We had no problems the last time we had it out. The only changes made since then was that I had just changed the shower head to an Oxygenics and I also installed a water heater bypass. I tried the shower and the water would come out warm for a few seconds and then immediately turn cold. The same thing with the vanity sink. Went and tried the kitchen sink and that was hot! Started scratching my head a bit. DW started questioning the shower head. That wouldn't make sense since the vanity water also turned cold. To satisyfy her I pulled the new shower head off and installed the old one. Well it was still cold. Went out to compartment and felt water lines. Some of the hot water lines were warm at some places and cold at others. Somewhere cold water was mixing with hot. Thought mabye one of the faucet valves was going bad. Also checked water heater bypass valves to make sure they were in correct position and they were. After messing around about fifteen minutes a small light went on in my head. When I installed the water filter bypass the prior week I had used the outside shower to release water pressure so I could install the bypass hose. Well there the culprit was. I had the little pushbutton on the shower head closed so water was off. I however had both valves open about 1/3 of the way. I closed both valves and went inside and tried water. The water was now hot. Apparently the open valves allowed the cold water to backflow through the hot water lines. Just thought I would share this and maybe save someone a small bit of aggravation in the future. The one good thing about this is that son took less than a ten minute shower instead of the usual 30 minute + .


KH

Kevin, I too had water mixing somewhere on My Dad's fiver. He just bought this used. I set it up for him on a seasonal site. Couldn't figure it out either. Found the exact same problem in the outside shower. Still had the problem but a little better. This older fiver had a different type of waterheater bypass. I had the valve handle verticle with the line you would use. After I crawled in there and looked with a flashlight, it was labeled. I had it turned the wrong way. It was basicly a T ball valve. The handle was on the other direction. Just something else for others to check too.

i had the same thing happen last year and it took 2 days to find what the problem was. makes you realize how precious hot water is and it sure makes life better with the dw when you have hot water.

Regardless what the problem is, it's usually always something simple, and most times something overlooked.

Glad you got it figured out.

TC

I think we've all had that happen. Fortunatley, I was able to locate the problem between my wifes semi-cold shower and my warm one.

ScottandGrace wrote:I think we've all had that happen. Fortunatley, I was able to locate the problem between my wifes semi-cold shower and my warm one.

I've done that also, but I didn't want to admit it!!!

Hasn't happened to us yet. At least now we'll know what to look for.

Another good reason to add to my list of why I didn't order the ext shower on my trailer.


Earl

I agree Earl. I am sure some people have a use for the outside shower but we don't use it. We purchsaed the cat used and it has the shower. We ordered our last fiver and thought the outside shower was a good idea. Had the camper 13 years and I think we used the outside shower one time. If you have a need for this it makes more sense to me to install a y on the campground faucet and use a short hoze with a nozzle.
KH

The only advantage I ever found to it was I would use it to wash greasy pots and pans. The hot water shur does help out on that.