Silica/sand sediment in hot water lines to house, worse after freeze

[Megan Ream]

Hello. I am a resident of Austin, Texas and i am looking for expert advice about resolving an ongoing issue. We are having daily build up of fine, tan sand in the filter coming out of our tankless heater, aerators (especially in the kitchen nearby and master bath including shower heads). The problem has cause dishwasher to stop working, flow to significantly decrease and hot water to intermittently fail. We have flushed the system numerous time with vinegar at high flow without change. We have had plumbers out to clean out aerators. The shower heads work better after they are cleaned for a while then go back to the same issue. They are high end European values with separate screens for hot and cold and plumbers say if they get clog at all hot water shuts off. We installed a water softener without change. I have posted in our Next-door neighborhood forum and located numerous people in my neighborhood all with the same issue. We are at a loss as to what to do next. A fellow neighbor said he has a tank heater and having the same problem. Ou plumber says maybe switching back to a tank heater would help, but I don't think it will based on my neighbor's experience.
We have slight issues with the water flow in our master last year, but all of the other issues clearly started after the weeklong freeze in Austin in February this year. We never lost water during that time. i am desperate for advice. I have written to the local newspaper and filed a complaint with Texas water. There is no clear way to city the city of Austin to come out and assess the issue.

 

[Reach4]

You should put in a cartridge filter on your incoming house water.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Tuttles Revenge]

The water heater is not the source of the sediment. Its likely something in the water mains or something that broke loose during the unprecedented freeze.

A tank style water heater will tend to build up sediment as the water slows down in the tank.. your neighbors should be flushing out the drain of their tanks to prevent build up. Filtration may be your first line of defense.

To test if the sediment is coming from the water main, fill a bucket with water from a hose spigot that is closest to the point where the water comes into the house. Water slowing down in a bucket will tend to settle out sediment.