80grit
New Member
First off, I am new to the site. Hello everyone, and thanks for your contributions.
I have a Rinnai 94LSe outdoor propane water heater. It's right at 5 years old, and we started experiencing problems with reduced flow in our bath tubs about a year ago. The reduced flow has been consistent, but there have also been spells of inconsistent temps and even hardly any flow at all. Those spells were infrequent, and we tolerated it. They have become more frequent, and the burner even shuts off if I try to increase demand for more hot by using multiple fixtures at once. I have done everything I know to do. Here is what I know:
-The heater is rated at 9.8gpm. The cold at our whirlpool tub is over 6gpm. The hot starts at the same flow, but shows down to less than 3gpm when it finally comes up to temp. It takes 15-20 minutes to run a bath.
-I'm not getting any error codes at all.
-I have a consistent pressure of 85psi throughout the house, including each side of the heater.
-I flushed the tank with white vinegar for an hour. There was a lot of dark material in it, so i did it again the next day. No real noticeable improvement. I have checked the filter several times since, and it's all clear.
-The burner has a nice, even blue flame.
-The vent is all clear.
- I have been using the pressure release to valve to watch the burner as I increase flow. If I just open it to full flow and once, the burner kicks on, reduces flame height, and then settles in for about 15-20 seconds before it just shuts of. If I open to about half flow, it will stay on but not get very hot. If I start slow and steadily increase flow, it gets really hot until the flow is too much and it shuts off.
Any ideas. I have held out calling the installer because I am stubborn, but I've exhausted my options.
I have a Rinnai 94LSe outdoor propane water heater. It's right at 5 years old, and we started experiencing problems with reduced flow in our bath tubs about a year ago. The reduced flow has been consistent, but there have also been spells of inconsistent temps and even hardly any flow at all. Those spells were infrequent, and we tolerated it. They have become more frequent, and the burner even shuts off if I try to increase demand for more hot by using multiple fixtures at once. I have done everything I know to do. Here is what I know:
-The heater is rated at 9.8gpm. The cold at our whirlpool tub is over 6gpm. The hot starts at the same flow, but shows down to less than 3gpm when it finally comes up to temp. It takes 15-20 minutes to run a bath.
-I'm not getting any error codes at all.
-I have a consistent pressure of 85psi throughout the house, including each side of the heater.
-I flushed the tank with white vinegar for an hour. There was a lot of dark material in it, so i did it again the next day. No real noticeable improvement. I have checked the filter several times since, and it's all clear.
-The burner has a nice, even blue flame.
-The vent is all clear.
- I have been using the pressure release to valve to watch the burner as I increase flow. If I just open it to full flow and once, the burner kicks on, reduces flame height, and then settles in for about 15-20 seconds before it just shuts of. If I open to about half flow, it will stay on but not get very hot. If I start slow and steadily increase flow, it gets really hot until the flow is too much and it shuts off.
Any ideas. I have held out calling the installer because I am stubborn, but I've exhausted my options.