All,
I am a complete novice when it comes to any sort of plumbing work. I am having lots of issues with very low pressure in most of my hot water faucets. It kept getting worse over time so I finally replaced my hot water heater and it seems to not having gotten any worse. Now I need to try and get them better. Has anyone every used this method of backflushing using a dime? http://www.ehow.com/how_7764768_use-dime-backflush-water-lines.html
It seems to me that that method would only clear out the crud that’s lodged up against the valve body or aerator. If that’s the case, it’s just going to push it somewhere else in the system. I wouldn’t think this method is going to be particularly effective at getting rid of scale within the pipes themselves.
If the problem is due to scale within the faucet components, you’d be better off replacing (or cleaning) the components or the entire faucet rather then just pushing the junk into other parts of your house.
Also, if you are going to do this, I would suggest that in addition to the directions, you remove the aerator from the ‘good’ faucet. If you do knock anything loose, it’s going to get caught there.
That makes sense. Thanks
Introducing foreign objects (or US dimes) into a sealed plumbing system is a **very **bad idea. Once it’s in the system, there’s no guaranty you will ever get it out again.
Call a plumber.
You probably don’t have a pressure problem, more likely you have a flow problem.
Low flow can be caused by a couple of things, some easy to fix some not.
Easy:
Does your house have a filter system? If so change the filter. They get plugged.
Grit in the faucet aerator. Unscrew the aerator does the faucet now have a better flow? If so take apart the aerator and clean. You may need a toothpick and a small knife to get all the grit out. Or just replace it.
Hard:
What kind of pipes does your house have? If they are galvanized and you have hard water you probably have so much deposits in the pipes there is no way you can flow a decent amount of water. If this is the case you need to replumb the system.
Spendy but it will fix the problem.
I had a similar problem. The pressure was fine, but very low flow. When I turned on the faucet, it started with a good blast, but instantly dropped to a trickle.
I flushed my hot water pipes by removing the shower head from the shower furthest from the water heater. I replaced the shower head with a pipe cap. Then, I disconnected the hot water out from the heater (I turned off the cold water in to the heater first) and attached it to a garden hose to the hot water out line.
When I turned on the cold water in the bath tub, then switched the diverter to the shower head, it drove the cold water back through the hot water lines. A lot of sediment came out. It also fixed the problem.
Afterwards, I removed the pipe cap and replaced the shower head and re-connected the hot water out line to the water heater. All is fine for about two months, now.
excavating (for a mind)
I tried this last night and it worked wonderfully on the only faucet that the dime would actually fit. However,
JoeyP, you are right, it must have just pushed the deposits elsewhere because they never came out the open faucet
Fir na tine, the dime did actually get stuck in the faucet for a bit but I was able to bang it out.
And the pipes are galvanized so it looks like its time to spend money on a plumber 
Thanks everyone.
What the hell, it’s only 10 cents, I got plenty of dimes.
Son, I can give you ten good reasons not to let go of a dime.
Is there any magic cure for a home plumbed with PEX? We’ve got decent static pressure - 65 PSI or so, but the flow is dreadful.
I’m assuming PEX can’t harbor pipe scale, so unless the house is re-plumbed with larger tubing, we’re doomed?