Tankless WH maintenance

[KD]

What is the procedure for maintenance on a tank less gas water heater? I believe it involves flushing with white vinegar...

 

[Cass]

You need to read your owners manual and follow their instructions. If you no longer have the manual you need to post the brand and model.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Master Plumber Mark]

flushing out the unit--how often

Like Cass said...look in your owners manuel

How is your unit working?? what brand is it??


No one really knows how often it needs to be done,
and they dont mention that issue too much when they sell you one...

You are supposed to flush out the unit for an
hour or so with a vinegar solution to clean out the
exchanger of any lime and sediment deposits...


Hopefully the plumber who installed it put in one
of those brass bypasses so this can be done easily

One of the big issue is how often this should be done

and how hard your water in your home is...


If you have a water conditioner or water at a hardness
at about 11parts hard you might not have to do it very often..
perhaps once or twice a year???

so read the instructions and let me know what they say.....

 

[Gary Slusser]

And if the softener is sized and programed correctly, you never have to do this. I find that most softeners are not sized and programed correctly but, if any softener has ever been allowed to run out of salt, you will have hardness scale build up in a water heater of any type.

If you have more than 3 gpg of hardness in your water, you need a softener for more than just the water heater's benefit anyway.

Just running vinegar through the heater isn't going to remove much hardness scale. It has to be allowed to 'soak', then flushed and replaced and more soaking. How you tell when enough is enough is beyond me.

 

[Master Plumber Mark]

Just running vinegar through the heater isn't going to remove much hardness scale. It has to be allowed to 'soak', then flushed and replaced and more soaking. How you tell when enough is enough is beyond me.

that is why I am leerey of them....

if you are not a hands on guy you are gonna have to pay someone to de-lime that heat exchanger

and I wonder what its worth to do this process
once or twice a year??

read this complaint and especially #4

http://www.complaints.com/2007/march/1/Bosch_Aquastar_240_FX_tankless_water_heater_18190.htm