The purpose of the check valve is to keep hot water from back flowing into the cold water line, or so I understand. I also thought there is just one and that it's on the incoming cold water line but I could be wrong about that, too. You can leave it off if you want to get you by but I think I'd replace it soon as I can. Last time I bought one at an RV dealer it was only around five bucks. Take the old one with you to match the size and thread.
What bothers me is the coincidence of this valve failing at the same time you turned the water back on. Anyone know if it's possible for an airlock to cause this problem? If so, maybe draining the lines at the low point drains and then opening all faucets (escape path for the air) before turning the water on again would solve it? I'm grasping at straws here.
Is there any chance the winterizing valve for bypassing the water heater was turned when turning off the water? But then you'd get cold water out of the hot faucet. But if your model has two bypass valves like our 2003 did, then if you turned just one off, that might shut off the flow to the hot faucet. Again, grasping here.
Good luck. Please let us know the solution when you figure it out.
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