My stepdaughter, Susan's daughter, is attending a university in a large city on the east coast. She just moved into a new apartment and discovered the toilet tank is receiving . . . yes, you read the title correctly . . . hot water. There's a fella who lives in the building, apparently a maintenance sort of guy, who shared with her that apparently it's been this way for the past four years. That's when the apartment was remodeled. And apparently the previous tenants did not either notice it or never said anything. He also said that if the plumbing is screwed up, and yes it is since in the shower the cold turns on the hot and the hot turns on the cold, to fix it a plumber will have to be called.

The question she has is this: Is it worth it to "bother" the landlord about this.

I asked her who pays utilities. She said she does. Then I said I would "bother" the landlord.

She's more of the timid type and does not want to create problems. There's an empty apartment on the same floor and I suggested she check that bathroom and move there if it's got the plumbing act together.

So the question is, how much extra is this going to cost her, say monthly. A ballpark figure if you will. It's an electric hot water tank. Say she flushes three times a day, probably a smaller, newer toilet that holds how many gallons of water, I don't know. Add to this she's going to be there probably for less than a year. Maybe longer.

Any plumbing experts here like to throw out a ballpark figure? Yea, I know there are too variables, size of tank, how many flushes a day, electric rate, etc. But somebody come up with a ballpark figure that will somewhat make some sense, please. At least she can weigh what the extra costs will be against "bothering" the landlord. Personally, I'd like to see her bother the landlord and assert herself, but . . .

What say ye? How much extra a flush? That would be interesting. Maybe if it came to a nickel or dime a flush she could place a piggy bank on the toilet and toss a coin in every time she flushes.

She needs to make them fix it before she burns herself turning the wrong handle in the shower.

Most single handle shower valves are easy to correct the cartridge pulls out and you reverse it and reinstall then hot-cold are correct. As for the toilet it least the tank won’t sweat in the summer. I recommend fixing the shower and would call the landlord immediately! Also document all corespondents I suggest using email. I think emailing might make it easier for her not as intimidating as phone call or in person. The maintenance guy is acting negligent.

Definitely insist on it being fixed. As for the toilet sweating I've heard of a special mixing valve that let's enough hot in to stop it.

I would chalk it up to a great College experience and not be worried about hot water in the toilet lol.

Maybe its one of those fancy toilets that pressure washes your butt.

Some plumbers install a tempering valve that mixes hot/cold water for the toilet so it won’t sweat in the summer. It saves the bathroom floor from rotting around the toilet from being wet constantly. It works well.

Sometimes toilets are intentionally done that way to prevent or lessen sweating. Usually only when on a cold well, typically not city water. Not a big deal or an extra expense.

How many have the dishwasher plumbed to hot water and run it until it's hot before starting the dishwasher?

As far as increasing cost in electric might not be noticeable. Now if it was a family of 5 with young children it still wouldn't be that much of a difference but still noticeable.
Yes email the landlord regarding this issue it can become a big safety issue for her and the landlord.

I had a shower control valve go bad on me, allowing hot water to bleed into the cold water and end up in the toilet tanks after a flush. No problem, right?
Wrong! Before it went bad, the tank was full of cold water. Once the cold porcelain got filled with the hot water, the tank blew up and flooded the house. Thankfully I didn't leave the house right after the toilet was flushed or it would have been much worse.
The bad thing was that we didn't know what caused it, and later on, flushed the other toilet, and sure enough that one blew up too!

I wouldn't worry about the toilet but the shower is a safety issue and almost certainly a code compliance issue. If your S/D was to have a guest that burned themselves she may be held responsible because she knew of the problem and did nothing.

Flies will get a warm meal

Don't think it ever took off but I do recall a time when some plumbers were putting mix valves on toilets. Idea was to temper the water so the tank and lines didn't sweat..Remember the fuzzy tank covers? same thing stop tank sweat..The case you describe sound more like a screw up or some one was lazy and hooked stool to closes line, or wrong line..

Mac

I did not readl all the post but yes a mixing valve will stop the tank from sweating.

That's what they do to stop toilet sweat, I tried the insulation of the tank, worked good couple years, now it sweats again on humid days

my dad intentionally plumbs all toilets to get hot water , it keeps the tank from sweating. hot water also tends to have some of the iron dropped out of it in the water heater so it kept the toilet cleaner

also it didn't make flushing the toilet scald the person in the shower.

I understand the insulation in the tank and the mixing valves in showers basically makes this un-need now but it was a fix to two problems in the past.


also if your toilet pulls 2 gallons of the water that sat in the pipe overnight that was 2 gallons less water you ran down the drain waiting on the shower to warm up in the morning.