Household plumbing... what'd I break and how do I fix it?

[russc2542]

Water heater element failed. Turned water off, drained it, replaced the element, turned water back on, waited till the tank filled again, and ran the bathroom fixtures to purge air. Now half the house (bathrooms) has terrible water pressure on the cold side and OK on the hot side (faucet and shower in both bathrooms). Toilets seem to fill OK (but that's a small hose anyway)Both toilet's flappers also decided to start leaking the same day. Kitchen sink on the other side of the house is fine, hot and cold. Only thing I can think of is hard water deposits came loose at the valve, passed through the T to the hot and cold branches and jammed where the cold side branches from one side of the house to the other because we purged the air that way.

INGO plumbers, any credence to that theory and how do I fix it?

 

[PGRChaplain]

You stirred up the Crap in the bottom of the Water Heater. Reduced Pressure is probably due to that Crap plugging up the Faucet aerators.

 

[Jaybird1980]

Water heater element failed. Turned water off, drained it, replaced the element, turned water back on, waited till the tank filled again, and ran the bathroom fixtures to purge air. Now half the house (bathrooms) has terrible water pressure on the cold side and OK on the hot side (faucet and shower in both bathrooms). Toilets seem to fill OK (but that's a small hose anyway)Both toilet's flappers also decided to start leaking the same day. Kitchen sink on the other side of the house is fine, hot and cold. Only thing I can think of is hard water deposits came loose at the valve, passed through the T to the hot and cold branches and jammed where the cold side branches from one side of the house to the other because we purged the air that way.

INGO plumbers, any credence to that theory and how do I fix it?

I would start with cleaning out the aerators and flow restrictors if you have them.

Then drain/flush the water heater again with full water pressure going to it.

 

[Jin]

While you’ve got the aerators out, run the faucets hot&cold, for a couple seconds to get the crap out the pipes if there’s still anything left