Water heaters

[markiver54]

I'll be interested to hear what they determine. A year ago, I had a Navien tankless installed.
BTW Jim. do you flush and de-scale yours yourself? or do you have it done. I know they sell the kits for DIY. My original plumber wants $389.00 to do it, but I can purchase the kit for about $140.00. I don't really want to do it myself though.

[JEBar]

our youngest so made me kit to flush ours .... after looking at it, I wasn't confident enough to do it .... consequently, ours has never been serviced .... if they install a new one, I do plan to have them walk me through the process of doing so

[markiver54]

I was told after installation that it should be flushed once a year. Don't know how necessary that is but I am wanting to do it or have it done. There was a lot of sediment in our city water as a result of hurricane Helene. The water we had to boil left visible foreign matter in the bottom of the pot...YUK! Might have collected in the filters of the unit.

[markiver54]

All I know about tankless is that parts are expensive and electric ones require a lot of amperage.

Hope I don't need any parts for a long time. That's why I want to stay on top of maintenance as much as I can.
Glad my unit is gas.

[Hatchdog]

Not “tankless” related but I hav a question about my water heater. I saw an add on tv the other day offering for $90 a water tank flush. I’ve never considered a flush of my water heater and didn’t know that was a process to consider. My question is those of you who have a standard water heater do you do an annual flush? My water is good from my well and has no iron to speak of.

Looks like it should be pretty easy to do myself???

[markiver54]

Hatch, I always had a "tank" (standard) water heater all my life previous to this "tankless". Never did I flush a single one. They say you should flush them occasionally to cleanse them of lime build up, but again, I never did. Only once did I have one fail. That was when I lived in California. The unit was in the garage and developed a leak. Not a problem from lack of flushing. I don't think it is nearly as important as it is for a tankless where you have water running through a series of pipes to be heated. In retrospect, if it had not been because of the undesirable location of my last water heater I would have just replaced it with another standard tank type. Turns out I do NOT like the tankless....bummer. Oh well, I'm getting used to waiting for hot water.
BTW, it is MUCH easier to flush the standard tank type if you choose to do so.

[Mags]

... My question is those of you who have a standard water heater do you do an annual flush? My water is good from my well and has no iron to speak of.

Looks like it should be pretty easy to do myself???

I have flushed. But don't anymore. During the flush I got a lot of sediment out, but found it was not possible to get even close to all of it. After the flush, it took a long time for the stirred up water in the heater to run clear, gunking up the showers, sinks, dishwasher and bath towels. We're also on a well. The water is extremely hard. Mostly Iron, sulfur, calcium and some very fine sediment that is able to get through the 10micron filter. I have a water treatment system to deal with the iron and sulfur and a water softner to deal with the calcium. The whole setup probably only 75-80% effective though. We get drinking water via RO. Back to the tank, I believe it best to let sleeping sediments lie and not stir things up.

Flushing is easy. Hook up a garden hose to the bottom tank facet, run the hose outdoors and open the tank facet. Let it run until water is clear as you can get it. With the bottom facet open, the drain turbulence in the tank stirs things up. That sediment circulates over and over getting diluted, but never quite clearing.

[Sir Henry]

I’m on a well and have a 15 year old tankless. In the soon to be three years I’ve lived here all i do is clean the already clean filter. My well water is almost perfect with an occasional bit of sand caught in the filter. It’s hit or miss around here on wells. Drill anywhere and you get water. The question is how clean will the water be. A neighbor’s water a couple thousand yards away is terrible and even tastes rancid.

[JEBar]

plumbers have come and gone, they have determined that the problem with our tankless water heater is in the electrical line between the breaker box and water heater .... an electrician has been called and will be here later today, as soon as he finishes the job he is working on .... the plumbers have rigged it to work so Maureen has hot water .... as a side note, they thoroughly checked the tankless heater and said it is amazingly clean .... I knew our water is clean and am very happy to learn the problem isn't with maintenance

[markiver54]

plumbers have come and gone, they have determined that the problem with our tankless water heater is in the electrical line between the breaker box and water heater .... an electrician has been called and will be here later today, as soon as he finishes the job he is working on .... the plumbers have rigged it to work so Maureen has hot water .... as a side note, they thoroughly checked the tankless heater and said it is amazingly clean .... I knew our water is clean and am very happy to learn the problem isn't with maintenance

Glad to hear your tankless is clean! Maybe flushing mine is not as urgent as I thought. Hope you get the electrical problem resolved quickly.

[Hatchdog]

... My question is those of you who have a standard water heater do you do an annual flush? My water is good from my well and has no iron to speak of.

Looks like it should be pretty easy to do myself???

I have flushed. But don't anymore. During the flush I got a lot of sediment out, but found it was not possible to get even close to all of it. After the flush, it took a long time for the stirred up water in the heater to run clear, gunking up the showers, sinks, dishwasher and bath towels. We're also on a well. The water is extremely hard. Mostly Iron, sulfur, calcium and some very fine sediment that is able to get through the 10micron filter. I have a water treatment system to deal with the iron and sulfur and a water softner to deal with the calcium. The whole setup probably only 75-80% effective though. We get drinking water via RO. Back to the tank, I believe it best to let sleeping sediments lie and not stir things up.

Flushing is easy. Hook up a garden hose to the bottom tank facet, run the hose outdoors and open the tank facet. Let it run until water is clear as you can get it. With the bottom facet open, the drain turbulence in the tank stirs things up. That sediment circulates over and over getting diluted, but never quite clearing.

Good points Mags I may let sleeping sediments lie as you suggested. My hearer is in the basement so I would have to drain it into the sump pump and pump it up to the septic tank.

[Mags]

...It’s hit or miss around here on wells. Drill anywhere and you get water. The question is how clean will the water be. A neighbor’s water a couple thousand yards away is terrible and even tastes rancid.

Similar here. Our water is terrible but the two closest neighbor's is at least drinkable.

[dave77]

...It’s hit or miss around here on wells. Drill anywhere and you get water. The question is how clean will the water be. A neighbor’s water a couple thousand yards away is terrible and even tastes rancid.

Similar here. Our water is terrible but the two closest neighbor's is at least drinkable.

When I was a kid we would usually go to visit my mom's brother where she grew up in North Dakota, the water was so bad I couldn't drink it, they were used to it and said it tasted fine.

I have a deep well, no aquifer, it's filtered through sand seams in the surrounding shale/clay (at least that's what the well driller said) and it tasted fine from day one. No treatment at all other than my refrigerator filter.

[Mags]

... the water was so bad I couldn't drink it, they were used to it and said it tasted fine....

My grand parents on my dad's side said the same thing. Half mile away, the water at my other grand parents tasted good.

[Sir Henry]

...It’s hit or miss around here on wells. Drill anywhere and you get water. The question is how clean will the water be. A neighbor’s water a couple thousand yards away is terrible and even tastes rancid.

Similar here. Our water is terrible but the two closest neighbor's is at least drinkable.

When I was a kid we would usually go to visit my mom's brother where she grew up in North Dakota, the water was so bad I couldn't drink it, they were used to it and said it tasted fine.

I have a deep well, no aquifer, it's filtered through sand seams in the surrounding shale/clay (at least that's what the well driller said) and it tasted fine from day one. No treatment at all other than my refrigerator filter.

I’m lucky to have good tasting water also. Some buy bottled water for drinking.

[Mags]

...
I’m lucky to have good tasting water also. Some buy bottled water for drinking.

Decades ago we were temporarily living in Escondido, CA. City water there was horrible. We had bottled water delivery service with a office like water stand under a 5 gal bottle.

[markiver54]

I've been drinking bottled water ONLY for decades and I'm very selective regarding which ones of those I consume. Don't trust the city water here and even though we're on a well at the cottage I still stick to bottled. I'm just used to it.

[JEBar]

Hope you get the electrical problem resolved quickly.

the problem turned out to be a blown GFCI breaker that I didn't know was there coupled by a bad on/off light switch that sends power to the tankless water heater .... we are very happy with a $200 plumbing/electric bill instead of $2,000 replacement cost

[markiver54]

Hope you get the electrical problem resolved quickly.

the problem turned out to be a blown GFCI breaker that I didn't know was there coupled by a bad on/off light switch that sends power to the tankless water heater .... we are very happy with a $200 plumbing/electric bill instead of $2,000 replacement cost

Glad it was a relatively simple fix. I must say though that it troubles me how much plumbers want for their services anymore.
Glad you're back to normal.

[JEBar]

young folks today who have the aptitude to work in skilled trades can make some serious money without being saddled with huge college loans