A renter said their apartment went nearly a month without hot water after the building's main line was shut off due to plumbing work in the vacant unit next door.
After several repair attempts and parts being swapped out, the cause turned out to be a newly installed thermostat.
Here's what to know
Writing in Reddit's r/Plumbing community, the tenant said the problem started right after a plumber worked on the neighboring empty apartment. The original poster also explained that their unit has a 20-gallon electric Rheem tank heater, while the next unit uses an electric Rheem tankless model.
The OP said three plumbers had looked into the problem. One identified the heating element as the issue, and another replaced that element and then the thermostat, but the apartment still did not get hot water back.
Replies on the thread focused in part on whether the two apartments could be connected in some unexpected way.
"Pipes are crossed in the buildings, it happens with apts sometimes. Very common with AC compressors.... sounds like your neighbor's tankless unit is feeding your hot water pipes," one commenter wrote.
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The OP replied to this, writing, "This was my hunch too. I mentioned this to the landlord and plumber. They both don't know or have the answers for me at the moment,"
An electrician later checked things over and found the panel was fine. The real problem turned out to be the replacement thermostat itself.
OP wrote, "The electrician found that the brand new Home-Flex thermostat installed yesterday by the plumber had an out-of-box factory defect. Specifically, the silver Element Terminal Block at the very base was defective and completely blocked the circuit from working. They bought a second new one, and that did the trick!"
A lack of hot water is more than a minor inconvenience. It can disrupt bathing, washing dishes, doing laundry, and other daily routines for days or even weeks while tenants wait for a landlord-approved repair.
Thankfully, the fix turned out to be unexpectedly simple.
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