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Water Heater Stability Issues

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  1. #11

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    Quote Originally Posted by timonoj:
    Oh wow, I had no idea that Towngas would come for free for this. In my case I'm certain I have a water flow issue, and currently I have a water saving shower head, which just exacerbates the existing issue. But even with a non-green showerhead, it will still stall after a minute or two. So the solution is a free clean of the pipes by the Towngas guy?
    Quick test: Try taking the entire showerhead off the hose and testing that way.

  2. #12

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    Good point, I'll try that today. Usually if I left the tap at only full hot water, it would work and stay way too hot to actually shower on that. So when you start fiddling with the cold water trying to balance it out a bit, then it immediately would shut down. Nowadays it also shuts down even at full hot water, but I reckon the shower head might have something to do with that.


  3. #13

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    Quote Originally Posted by timonoj:
    Good point, I'll try that today. Usually if I left the tap at only full hot water, it would work and stay way too hot to actually shower on that. So when you start fiddling with the cold water trying to balance it out a bit, then it immediately would shut down. Nowadays it also shuts down even at full hot water, but I reckon the shower head might have something to do with that.
    Shower heads can build up with gunk over years which would decrease flow rate.
    imparanoic likes this.

  4. #14

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    I sort of had the similar issue and thought the new installed town gas heater was mal functioning so called them up to check it again, the town gas guy came in, saw my shower head was one of those with multi massage type ones and he said they are not good so he took it off and showed me that my water heater works perfectly. the guy was in and out of my house in 5 mins LOL he told me to get a regular shower head which I did and works perfectly.


  5. #15

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    Quote Originally Posted by timonoj:
    Oh wow, I had no idea that Towngas would come for free for this. In my case I'm certain I have a water flow issue, and currently I have a water saving shower head, which just exacerbates the existing issue. But even with a non-green showerhead, it will still stall after a minute or two. So the solution is a free clean of the pipes by the Towngas guy?
    Book an appointment by phone or internet, and towngas will come next day to view. At most it will just be a few hundred if basic parts need replacing.

  6. #16

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    For what it's worth we've had the same issue over the last few months. Towngas just came to visit and it turned out there was a water saving device in the shower head. This was slowing water flow and causing the issue.

    MABinPengChau and East_coast like this.

  7. #17

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    Quote Originally Posted by timonoj:
    Good point, I'll try that today. Usually if I left the tap at only full hot water, it would work and stay way too hot to actually shower on that. So when you start fiddling with the cold water trying to balance it out a bit, then it immediately would shut down. Nowadays it also shuts down even at full hot water, but I reckon the shower head might have something to do with that.
    Did you adjust the temperature? The Towngas technicians previously told me that the way to get the heater to work is counter-intuitive - you want to turn the temperature up to the highest, and then reduce the gas flow valve. This tricks the water heater into keeping the fire on
    shri likes this.

  8. #18

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    Quote Originally Posted by answerer:
    Did you adjust the temperature? The Towngas technicians previously told me that the way to get the heater to work is counter-intuitive - you want to turn the temperature up to the highest, and then reduce the gas flow valve. This tricks the water heater into keeping the fire on
    Sorry only saw this now. Yup, you're right that it's absolutely counterintuitive. I'll check that too.

  9. #19

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    Quote Originally Posted by answerer:
    Did you adjust the temperature? The Towngas technicians previously told me that the way to get the heater to work is counter-intuitive - you want to turn the temperature up to the highest, and then reduce the gas flow valve. This tricks the water heater into keeping the fire on
    So...seems you were right, turning the heater to 60ºC makes it work stable...But scalding hot. If I want bearable water, I need to turn the handle a bit past the middle between the hot and cold, leaning on the cold side...and then it turns off again
    So...I still might need to call the towngas guy. But thanks, at least now I know an emergency trick

  10. #20

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    Quote Originally Posted by timonoj:
    So...seems you were right, turning the heater to 60ºC makes it work stable...But scalding hot. If I want bearable water, I need to turn the handle a bit past the middle between the hot and cold, leaning on the cold side...and then it turns off again
    So...I still might need to call the towngas guy. But thanks, at least now I know an emergency trick
    You're almost there I think - the last step is the trickiest. Look for the gas pipe, usually in the middle. Turn the valve on it slightly closed and try the temperature again. If the heater doesn't turn on, you probably closed the gas too much.

    If this doesn't work, arrange towngas to come along.