No water, second floor bathroom

[Robert Jones]

The home I inspected today was built in 1962. There was a half bath on the second floor, but no water pressure at the sink. The toilet had good pressure, flushed and refilled normally. But nothing at the sink. I did make sure the angle stops were open. The downstairs bathroom, directly below half bath, had good pressure. Any ideas?

Galvanized water lines throughout.

Thanks,

[hausdok]

The stops are occluded with rust. Did you take the aerator off and see if it was completely clogged?

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[Robert Jones]

Mike,

I did take the aerator off. Nada.

[SWagar]

If it was a single handle faucet, it could be clogged at the mixer.

If there were two valves, I would think something is very fishy. What are the odds that both valves or both angle stops are clogged at the same time?

Was the house vacant?

[hausdok]

What are the odds that both valves or both angle stops are clogged at the same time?

With 46-year old galvanized pipe? Quite good.

There's a trick that one can do to try and increase water volume with galvy but it is a little bit risky because you run the risk of clogging the stops; the trick is a flush party.

The homeowner flushes the mud out of the bottom of the water heater tank, takes the aerators off of every faucet in the home, opens all of the angle stops to full open and then gets the spouse and some relatives and friends to spread out around the house - placing a person at every sillcock and fixture. On a pre-arranged signal, everyone begins randomly turning the faucets on and off at full volume. This goes on for about 10 minutes. At the end of the process, if the homeowner is lucky they will have broken a bunch of rust loose, flushed it out of the system and manage to increase water volume enough to be considered adequate. If they are not lucky, they end up with a bunch of rust clogging the pipe at the contrictions (stops) and the only way to clear it is to turn off the water, remove the stops, clear the clog manually, and then install new stops. Even then it might not be enough and it might be time to either have the pipe rehabilitated or cut it all out and replace it.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[Robert Jones]

Scott,

Yes the home had been vacant for some time. Bank owned. Water heater was 9 yrs old and drained as part of the winterization of the home.

[Tom Raymond]

If the water heater wasn't cleaned and flushed prior to draining it, the sludge at the bottom of it was whipped into the system when it was refilled for the inspection. At the very least they are going to need a new water heater, the sludge starts to stink if it is left exposed to air in an empty system.

Tom