The cold water works great and has never stopped. But sometimes, when it gets really cold outside, the hot stops working. And then, magically, it will start working again. There is no drop in pressure, it just cuts off completely for an undetermined amount of time. I can't pinpoint a pattern other than the cold weather catalyst. The faucet is a Delta Addison Single-Handle Pull-Down Sprayer Kitchen Faucet in Venetian Bronze with MagnaTite Docking and was installed by a pro plumber. I can't find anything on the Delta site or anywhere else on the Net. Also, I tried running the dishwater, which is connected to the hot water supply line, while the hot was not working and the dishwasher did not fill with any water throughout the entire clean/rinse cycles. It seems like the water is not getting to the area at all.
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1Hot water line is closer to the exterior wall than the cold water line, and freezes first, probably. Find problem area, reroute and/or insulate pipes, at a guess, which is about as well as I can do with the information provided so far.– EcnerwalCommented Nov 13, 2014 at 16:54
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By "really cold outside" are you implying below freezing?– BMitchCommented Nov 13, 2014 at 16:56
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Yes, it seems like when it's freezing outside. I'll check the routing but the supply lines are right next to each other and the cold never stops. They're both in the basement and not all that close to the outside wall.– DonCommented Nov 13, 2014 at 17:07
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ok, the hot water feed is next to the stove's downdraft exhaust vent. Since the vent goes outside and gets cold before anything else around it, it might be getting the hot feed cooler than normal. But since there is hot water in the line, it doesn't seem like it could actually freeze, could it? I'll try to place some foam tubing around the feed, but it's right up against the vent, with not a lot of room between them.– DonCommented Nov 13, 2014 at 17:29
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1ok, new update…after turning on the stove to 500 degrees and running the downdraft on High, within 15-20 mins, the hot water started flowing. It does appear that the cold temp introduced into the basement "ceiling" is causing the hot supply to freeze up until it warms up again. I can't get any insulation in between the feed & vent as they are too close to each other. I'm going to have my contractor address this as it was his plumber/stove guy that put all this into place. Thanks for you help!– DonCommented Nov 13, 2014 at 17:50
1 Answer
Hot water line is closer to the (substitute "source of cold" for "outside wall" in my comment) than the cold water line, and freezes first.
Mysterious water stoppages in cold weather are nearly always from pipes freezing.
The fact that it's the hot water line does not mean that it's full of hot water - after it's sat for a few hours, it's cold, and if it's sat for a few hours by something really, really cold, it will freeze.
Some plumbers can be quite oblivious about this - I've seen pipes clamped to the inside of the sheathing and all the insulation being put on over them - I've also seen those supply pipes, which I was assured would never freeze when I pointed it out, relocated to coming up through the floor inside the wall after a cold spell (not my house, someone else was "in charge" and it evidently took the pipes actually freezing before they would do the job correctly. It probably cost 3 times as much to do over as it would have to do right in the first place.)
