Part of the hot water pressure is stolen by the man for dishes. Shower suddenly gets cold. This doesn’t happen if you’re on city hot water probably, but it’s very noticeable when you have your own heater
Yeah, this didn’t happen in my childhood home, but it happens in the rental I’m currently in. I sorta assume it’s some sort of cost cutting measure, but I suppose a plumber would have to confirm.
Not a plumber but I do have some experience with plumbing. This issue tends to happen with older plumbing methods where you run one main trunk pipe that you then branch into every fixture. Basically turning on the hot water farther up that trunk from the shower can cause a large pressure drop in the hot water supply at the shower. Basically the closer a fixture is to the source of the hot water, the more priority it has for the hot water supply. Also undersized piping can also make the issue much worse.
The problem can be mitigated in a few ways. By using low flow aerators on your sinks, you limit the maximum flow rate of water out of the sink and thus cause a smaller pressure drop when you turn the sink on. Having the shower be the first fixture along that plumbing trunk can also ensure that it gets priority for hot water. Also just increasing pipe sizing throught the system can help.
Newer style systems where you have a central manifold that immediately branches off to each room or fixture mitigate the issue because all of the fixtures share the water pressure more evenly. I’ve also seen some more expensive newer houses just have the bathroom fed by a seperate tankless water heater which eliminates the issue entirely because then it has it’s own dedicated hot water supply.
That makes a lot of sense, and is kinda what I imagined. I believe I heard my dad say that he got a tip from someone to use larger pipes when he was building my childhood home.
I’ve seen this joke done hundreds of times on TV and in movies growing up, but never experienced it myself. I have pretty much always lived in the suburbs in homes with their own water heaters, yet I still have yet to experience this phenomenon.
I don’t doubt that it’s possible, but the conditions to “trigger” it are probably very specific to regions where film makers and comic artists live.
As long as the temperature is high enough in the tank there should be plenty of hot water to wash dishes and not have a cold shower. Cooler sure, but just move the handle a smidge.
Oddly we found it happened most when we used an electric shower. Which heats its own water because only uses cold water. How the fuck that was the most effected I have no idea.
Moved across town and now got a heat pump that does our heating and hot water, it doesn’t really seem to care that much.
If you’re in a cold environment, the water that’s been sitting in the pipes in the house will be warmer than the water coming in from outside the house. If the sink/toilet/whatever increases water usage, that warmer water gets used up more quickly.
Water chills the body about 25 times faster than air of the same temperature, so even a 1-2 degree temperature change can feel like a LOT when it’s sudden.
It depends mostly on how it’s plumbed I believe. In many houses, it’s one hot water pipe that goes to every faucet. If there are multiple pipes in parallel, it’s supposedly better
I don’t get it.
Part of the hot water pressure is stolen by the man for dishes. Shower suddenly gets cold. This doesn’t happen if you’re on city hot water probably, but it’s very noticeable when you have your own heater
I have my own heater and that seems like a plumbing issue that i assumed only happens on tv as a joke.
Yeah, this didn’t happen in my childhood home, but it happens in the rental I’m currently in. I sorta assume it’s some sort of cost cutting measure, but I suppose a plumber would have to confirm.
Not a plumber but I do have some experience with plumbing. This issue tends to happen with older plumbing methods where you run one main trunk pipe that you then branch into every fixture. Basically turning on the hot water farther up that trunk from the shower can cause a large pressure drop in the hot water supply at the shower. Basically the closer a fixture is to the source of the hot water, the more priority it has for the hot water supply. Also undersized piping can also make the issue much worse.
The problem can be mitigated in a few ways. By using low flow aerators on your sinks, you limit the maximum flow rate of water out of the sink and thus cause a smaller pressure drop when you turn the sink on. Having the shower be the first fixture along that plumbing trunk can also ensure that it gets priority for hot water. Also just increasing pipe sizing throught the system can help.
Newer style systems where you have a central manifold that immediately branches off to each room or fixture mitigate the issue because all of the fixtures share the water pressure more evenly. I’ve also seen some more expensive newer houses just have the bathroom fed by a seperate tankless water heater which eliminates the issue entirely because then it has it’s own dedicated hot water supply.
That makes a lot of sense, and is kinda what I imagined. I believe I heard my dad say that he got a tip from someone to use larger pipes when he was building my childhood home.
I’ve seen this joke done hundreds of times on TV and in movies growing up, but never experienced it myself. I have pretty much always lived in the suburbs in homes with their own water heaters, yet I still have yet to experience this phenomenon.
I don’t doubt that it’s possible, but the conditions to “trigger” it are probably very specific to regions where film makers and comic artists live.
Happens for me for sure. Has happened in more than one place I’ve lived lol
As long as the temperature is high enough in the tank there should be plenty of hot water to wash dishes and not have a cold shower. Cooler sure, but just move the handle a smidge.
Then the dishwashing stops and suddenly you have a boiling shower lol
Oddly we found it happened most when we used an electric shower. Which heats its own water because only uses cold water. How the fuck that was the most effected I have no idea.
Moved across town and now got a heat pump that does our heating and hot water, it doesn’t really seem to care that much.
If you’re in a cold environment, the water that’s been sitting in the pipes in the house will be warmer than the water coming in from outside the house. If the sink/toilet/whatever increases water usage, that warmer water gets used up more quickly.
Water chills the body about 25 times faster than air of the same temperature, so even a 1-2 degree temperature change can feel like a LOT when it’s sudden.
It depends mostly on how it’s plumbed I believe. In many houses, it’s one hot water pipe that goes to every faucet. If there are multiple pipes in parallel, it’s supposedly better