Learn Me: Hot Water Heaters

SV reX said:

In reply to preach :

My apologies for the disctraction. 

It added fun to my unshowered condition.

Mark, I will go berkeley with it now. Sorry I did not reply to your text.

EDIT I just tried both the 3/8s allen one, opening it until water came out, then tightened it until it closed and pushed a little water out of the threads at the bottom of the valve (blue tape).

I also took the mixer and went full hot and full warm a couple times. Locked it back at a low 115*.

I had the kitchen HW on so Mrs. preach could stomp on the floor if the flow got better. It did not.

Oh, and the trickle in the kitchen is hot. Just would take a year to do some dishes.

That really stinks. Not you, but the situation.

Since you know your way around piping, I'd start tearing it apart, starting with the cold water supply to the WH. If it's not going in, it can't come out. Then take out the mix valve, see what the flow is. You could make a temporary pex hose with a shark bite fitting to run it to a drain or bucket. Definitely sounds like blockage, but hard to tell where it starts.

Edit: You said there is a ball valve above the mixing valve. Prime suspect, and redundant. You should only need a valve on the cold supply side. See above. 

Oh, and you should kill the power to it. No point in continuously heating water you can't use. Water pressure won't be affected.