MagicPorkchop
New member
- Joined
- Apr 28, 2011
- Messages
- 4
Back around 2004-2005 I installed an electric tankless water heater. Now I know some here will probably snipe me for going electric, but even though I could use gas, I chose electric because it was going to be easier for me to install due to proper exhausting.
Anyway, to make a long story short(er) my tankless heater is about 7 years old and one of the three heating elements went out. My replacement arrived just yesterday so I'll be replacing it tomorrow. Why was the heating element going out? I reset the element several times last week and it would kick back on, operating normally for a while. Then it would trip again and I'd have to reset it, again. This went on for several hours until finally it would not reset, thus why I ordered a replacement. This heater never once gave me any troubles and has always been able to keep up with demand without breaking a sweat, though my electric meter would spin like a gyroscope at times...that was pretty fun to watch.
Anyway, I suspect the problem was one of mineral deposits or calcium building up inside the small little cylinder tanks that house the heating elements. I checked the annual report at my water utility (I'm on city water) and our water has a hardness of roughly 6-7 parts per gallon, or whatever it is...ppm maybe? Anyway, that's essentially moderate hardness.
When I installed this heater way back when valves such as these tankless isolation and flush valves weren't even available because no one made them. I only learned about them maybe 2 years ago just browsing around the web one night and didn't understand what sort of benefit these things provided because to me they looked like a fancy ball valve setup and I remember thinking I could plumb in my own ball valves a lot cheaper than they were asking for online (around $120 at the time). It wasn't until I spotted a set at Home Depot a couple weeks ago that I truly understood the benefit these things provide and that is the standard garden hose hookup on both valves that, when you shut off the main water to the heater, you're then able to flush out the heater with vinegar or CLR or whatever in order to remove the scale buildup inside.
So, to summarize, please remember to purchase some valves like the ones I bought, Watts TWH valves which can be found at Home Depot for around $80. You will need to purchase the pressure relief valve separately for the hot side. It's cheap insurance when compared to the price of a new tankless heater.
edit: here's a link to the valves
http://www.watts.com/pages/_products_details.asp?pid=6556
Update #1: Got everything installed yesterday and the heater is working fine. Only problem is I noticed there are a couple of very slow leaks on both of the new valves, so I'm going to have to remove those today and put on a little extra teflon tape and hopefully that should stop the leaks. I'll try and tighten them just a little more too.
One interesting thing happened that I wanted to ask here. This was the first time I've been able to completely isolate the hot water lines in my home with these new valves. In other words, I had the water turned on at the meter, had the ball valve on the cold inlet side shut off and had the hot water outlet side completely disconnected at one point. I was still able to turn on the hot water side of any faucet in the house and still get a small stream of water, not hot obviously but nonetheless I was getting water on the hot side. Was this deliberate when they installed the plumbing when they built the place? My place was built in '72 and it's on a slab, so pretty much all piping is run through the slab. I can't see how difficult it would be to keep them separate.
Anyway, to make a long story short(er) my tankless heater is about 7 years old and one of the three heating elements went out. My replacement arrived just yesterday so I'll be replacing it tomorrow. Why was the heating element going out? I reset the element several times last week and it would kick back on, operating normally for a while. Then it would trip again and I'd have to reset it, again. This went on for several hours until finally it would not reset, thus why I ordered a replacement. This heater never once gave me any troubles and has always been able to keep up with demand without breaking a sweat, though my electric meter would spin like a gyroscope at times...that was pretty fun to watch.
Anyway, I suspect the problem was one of mineral deposits or calcium building up inside the small little cylinder tanks that house the heating elements. I checked the annual report at my water utility (I'm on city water) and our water has a hardness of roughly 6-7 parts per gallon, or whatever it is...ppm maybe? Anyway, that's essentially moderate hardness.
When I installed this heater way back when valves such as these tankless isolation and flush valves weren't even available because no one made them. I only learned about them maybe 2 years ago just browsing around the web one night and didn't understand what sort of benefit these things provided because to me they looked like a fancy ball valve setup and I remember thinking I could plumb in my own ball valves a lot cheaper than they were asking for online (around $120 at the time). It wasn't until I spotted a set at Home Depot a couple weeks ago that I truly understood the benefit these things provide and that is the standard garden hose hookup on both valves that, when you shut off the main water to the heater, you're then able to flush out the heater with vinegar or CLR or whatever in order to remove the scale buildup inside.
So, to summarize, please remember to purchase some valves like the ones I bought, Watts TWH valves which can be found at Home Depot for around $80. You will need to purchase the pressure relief valve separately for the hot side. It's cheap insurance when compared to the price of a new tankless heater.
edit: here's a link to the valves
http://www.watts.com/pages/_products_details.asp?pid=6556
Update #1: Got everything installed yesterday and the heater is working fine. Only problem is I noticed there are a couple of very slow leaks on both of the new valves, so I'm going to have to remove those today and put on a little extra teflon tape and hopefully that should stop the leaks. I'll try and tighten them just a little more too.
One interesting thing happened that I wanted to ask here. This was the first time I've been able to completely isolate the hot water lines in my home with these new valves. In other words, I had the water turned on at the meter, had the ball valve on the cold inlet side shut off and had the hot water outlet side completely disconnected at one point. I was still able to turn on the hot water side of any faucet in the house and still get a small stream of water, not hot obviously but nonetheless I was getting water on the hot side. Was this deliberate when they installed the plumbing when they built the place? My place was built in '72 and it's on a slab, so pretty much all piping is run through the slab. I can't see how difficult it would be to keep them separate.
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) . Once a year hook a garden hose to the valve on the bottom of the water heater and open the valve and let it drain for 5 minutes or so . I tell most of my customers to watch the end of the hose and when they see reasonably clean water ( no chunks ) turn it off . Calcium and other mineral deposits are what kill tank water heaters as well ( mostly calcium ) . I have seen old water heaters cut open and the bottom half of the tank looks like its full of Noodles .