A few days ago I posted on Facebook about our water problems and I asked some help from those that could know a thing or two about plumbing. I tried my very best to explain, in simple words, what the issue was; cold water was coming on the hot water pipe.
Some tried to help me but very few actually understood the issue, but now I can tell you that we are getting close to fixing it.
So, quite a while now we are experiencing hot water issues. Most of the times, it barely comes to the faucets, although the water heater works and there is hot water inside. One may think the problem is the water pressure from the city and, although that certainly plays a part, hot water should still come even though in small amounts. You see, we've had problems with the pressure for more than a year now but the hot water was coming regardless.
I wrote about our problem on Facebook the day I decided to become a plumber. I had disconnected both pipes from the heater, the one that brings cold water in and the other than takes hot water out into the system. I was quite shocked to realize that cold water was coming from the opposite direction where the hot water should go in the wall. I am talking about the direction of the flow of water. The hot water should comes from the heater and goes into the wall, but on the same pipe there was cold water coming from the wall into the boiler.
The picture below was done using Romanian words but let me explain really fast.
Everything in blue is cold water. The arrow also shows normal direction of the water.
Everything in red is hot water. The arrow shows its normal direction.
Everything in yellow is just information. The top part says "There is hot water" because the gauge shows that. The bottom part says "Power cable".
I received all sorts of good advice, but sadly almost none of them were helpful in my situation. Some suggested the water heater may have gone bad, others that it needs to be cleaned and so on. With the picture below in front of you, I can now explain exactly what is happening. The red arrow shows the water coming from the heater into the wall. Once I disconnected that same pipe, I saw there is also cold water coming from the wall heading into the boiler. In the same pipe, both cold and hot water meet head to head. Normally, I shouldn't have anything coming back, maybe just a bit of reflux from the system, but nothing major. Lita and I waited and waited thinking it may just be the water from the system coming back but no, it was cold water, coming with pressure from the city. I knew immediately that there is a problem somewhere.
These types of water heaters are called pressure-based. In other words, the pressure of cold water that gets in the heater determines the pressure of hot water coming out. Very simple. Hot water should come out even if it is just trickling.
In my case, though, it seems as if the same pressure of cold water from the city gets divided in two; the first part coming through normally while the other one "fighting" against the hot water, if I may say. The outgoing hot water cannot push the incoming cold water so the entire system basically works against itself and against us, since hot water has become a commodity in our family :).
After a while I started to think about the possibility that somehow, somewhere, the cold water mixes with the hot water. The only place that could happen is in the faucet, if it has gone bad.
Suspecting the issue I asked man's best friend, Google, and soon enough I found the "official" name for my problem: water crossover, and the picture above shows everything very clear. The only place where that could happen was inside the water heater or at the fixtures. Soon after that I found ways to test and spot the culprit, and all fingers pointed to the bathtub and shower faucet.
It has been part of our lives for 4 years now and it is time for it to be changed. We planned to get one in Blantyre today but, of course, I forgot to measure the size of the inlet. I will need to do that now and go back probably on Monday.
I was mentioning above that I did the work of a plumber. On the mission field, I learned to do and fix many things I didn't know before. Some of them I like, others not that much, but in a small town of a third world country, we don't always have experts to come and sort things out. Many times we call a friend, we ask Google or we try to figure it out.
I have worked on my car here in Malawi many times, I even opened up the engine. I mixed cement, welded, did electrical work and repairs, fixed computers, fixed software issues, did carpentry work, fixed the couch and even unclogged the toilet. In my spare time, I do mission work also :)
It is not always easy and certain things require a lot of precious time. You see, in a modern country you go to the store, buy a replacement and have someone fix it for you, while you do your own stuff. It doesn't work that way here; just to live it takes time and work. There is no store I can go to in our little town, I have to travel to the next one. Plumber? You will have a hard time finding someone who would know how to do it and do a good job. I have seen plumbers trying to unclog toilets using bamboo sticks or even tree branches.
Pray for us. We need wisdom, patience and understanding of how things work.
Rugați-vă pentru noi!
Rugați-vă pentru Malawi!
Labels: cold water, crossover, hot water, Malawi, plumbing, water, water heater
