Master Plumber Mark
Sensitivity trainer and plumber of mens souls
I went out to an air b+b house today to check out low water pressure in the home.
guests claiming no pressure in faucets.....I called my rheem guy and he told me it was very possible that if the unit is not de-limed every year it could spit out a bunch of sand into the plumbing system....and the home really must have a water softener.
Anyway, I tore out the rheem tankless heater cause they did not want to throw money into a water softener.....
I installed a 50 gallon power vent and used the flu they had already installed out the side of the house.....This was a first for me.....The house had a tankless rheem gas heater without a water softener or the cleaning ports installed on the unit.... and the unit is about 5 years old.......
anyway after blowing out the hot lines into a bucket I get bunch of scale in the bottom of the bucket ,,,, that is when I realize its scale chipping off the heat exchanger in the Rheem tankless heater and clogging up all the faucets in the home...I got good pressure coming out of the faucets again but after a few minutes the hot sides of both faucets on this double bowl sink clogged up again...The crappy American standard lavatory faucets take a special socket wrench to get the areators out of the nose of the faucet,,,, I ended up taking my turbo torch and heating up the end of a screwdriver and I melted the little cock/uckers out....I also had to back flush the expensive kitchen faucet and it blew out a bunch of scale crap on the hot side too.... I went through the house and cleaned everything out.
I could not get one shower faucet apart cause it took a special long star bit to get the handle off.. and of course I dont have the right size with me... I am thinking this faucet will probably have to be torn out and a new one installed...due to this scale build up..
Soooooo If you dont keep up regular maintenance on your tankless heater you could be doing damage to faucets in your home some day
guests claiming no pressure in faucets.....I called my rheem guy and he told me it was very possible that if the unit is not de-limed every year it could spit out a bunch of sand into the plumbing system....and the home really must have a water softener.
Anyway, I tore out the rheem tankless heater cause they did not want to throw money into a water softener.....
I installed a 50 gallon power vent and used the flu they had already installed out the side of the house.....This was a first for me.....The house had a tankless rheem gas heater without a water softener or the cleaning ports installed on the unit.... and the unit is about 5 years old.......
anyway after blowing out the hot lines into a bucket I get bunch of scale in the bottom of the bucket ,,,, that is when I realize its scale chipping off the heat exchanger in the Rheem tankless heater and clogging up all the faucets in the home...I got good pressure coming out of the faucets again but after a few minutes the hot sides of both faucets on this double bowl sink clogged up again...The crappy American standard lavatory faucets take a special socket wrench to get the areators out of the nose of the faucet,,,, I ended up taking my turbo torch and heating up the end of a screwdriver and I melted the little cock/uckers out....I also had to back flush the expensive kitchen faucet and it blew out a bunch of scale crap on the hot side too.... I went through the house and cleaned everything out.
I could not get one shower faucet apart cause it took a special long star bit to get the handle off.. and of course I dont have the right size with me... I am thinking this faucet will probably have to be torn out and a new one installed...due to this scale build up..
Soooooo If you dont keep up regular maintenance on your tankless heater you could be doing damage to faucets in your home some day
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