Plumbing question

[v1ru5879]

Our new home had a tankless water heater and I noticed the hot n cold both had what look like outlets that are capped off. Would I be able to attach a garden hose to the cold side? Figure I would ask here before just trying. I dunno if that is the purpose of this or not so what better place to ask

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[RADcustom]

Yes you should be able to attach a hose to either valve.

 

[Git]

Those are service ports usually used to flush out/descale the heater on a yearly basis

 

[PCustoms]

Those are service ports usually used to flush out/descale the heater on a yearly basis

This.

Thanks for the reminder, I'm due!

 

[Jackfre]

I use them when we wash the dog. Shut of f the building hot, attach a hose to the side outlet. I set my unit to 104* and give her a warm bath. Yes, their purpose is to facilitate flushing, but you can put them to other uses.

 

[v1ru5879]

Ok so would say connecting to a pressure washer be out of the question? Is it ok to just connect to it and open the valve n use as you would normally a spigot?

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[pmiranda]

It's a standard garden hose fitting, so you can do it. But usually you have to shut off the hot water to the house to get water out of them. Also the service valves aren't meant to be used all the time. (I had the handle twist off in my hand the 2nd or 3rd time I flushed our tankless)
If you want to do this on a regular basis, plumb in a proper hose bib.

 

[lilscorpion]

Ok so would say connecting to a pressure washer be out of the question? Is it ok to just connect to it and open the valve n use as you would normally a spigot?

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Depends on what the flow rating is. My pressure washer is 2.1 gpm. If it can handle whatever your pressure washers door rate is then yup.

Edit: that would be sick

 

[v1ru5879]

Now I'm gonna be paranoid my valve is gonna give on me like the guy above. I sure do like the convince of having a hookup there

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[lilscorpion]

Now I'm gonna be paranoid my valve is gonna give on me like the guy above. I sure do like the convince of having a hookup there

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It’s very possible that they’re not heavy duty and not designed for a lot of open and close cycles since they’re really only designed for maintenance. That being said, they look like they could be upgraded/replaced. If so, nothing to be worried about, use as needed.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

Keep in mind, if you use that drain to supply hot water to anything that mixes chemicals, you need to install a backflow preventer and check valve.

On a separate note, if that T & P valve is piped with PVC (it's hard to tell in the photo if it's PVC or CPVC), it's a code violation. You need copper, steel, iron or CPVC.

Tommy

 

[JOE.G]

The handles on mine are a cast/pot type metal, If I don't open them every once in a while they do get hard to open and the handle could break. If you cycle them on a regular basis you should be fine. I flush mine once a year and after flushing this spring I ended up with a small leak in the Heat ex changer. My has been installed for 10 Years and the Heat exchager was still covered under warranty.

Back to your quetion,, Yes you can use them and like has been noted if you hook a chemical cleaner to it you need a Backflow preventer. I don't think you need to shut the flow to the house off but that would be easy to check ( If using cold side I would shut the machine down just to make sure it is not starved for water if someone uses the DHW in the house.