Customer Symptoms:

A client called us to say that she had been experiencing inadequate hot water in her home for over a week.

Issue:

Before beginning any inspection, the technician turned off the power to the hot water heater by flipping the switch on the circuit breaker. He then turned the gas pilot control valve so that it was on its pilot setting and shut off the main water supply to the unit.

Resolution:

The technician needed to assess the cause of the poor hot water supply. He believed that it may have been caused due to a faulty plumbing installation in which a technician had mistakenly crossed hot and cold water connections. To verify this, he ensured the water supply was off and turned on a hot water faucet. He noted that water continued to flow, so he checked to see where a cold water connection was attached to a hot water line connection on the heater. After finding the source of the problem, he fixed the connections so that they would flow the correct way and checked to ensure the hot water was at the appropriate temperature.