Tankless water heater vs. hard water?
boden
| Posted in Energy, Heating & Insulation on
In trying to update a recently purchased house, I have been looking into updating a water heater with some type of tankless water heater. I was told by a local plumbing/heating company that the tankless water heaters will not hold up to the hard water that is commonly associated with our geology. There is a culligan water softener installed on the system, which reduces much of the mineral deposits associated with hard water. Is anyone familiar with this issue or had any problems with tankless in a hard water area?
Replies
In trying to update a recently purchased house, I have been looking into updating a water heater with some type of tankless water heater.
Is the old one bad?
Will the tankless suit the needs of the new residents?
Those are things to consider, & recouping the added cost of going tankless.
Now for hard water & Tankless.
Most tankless water heaters operate on a flow switch, witch means moving parts.
Moving parts & hard water do not go well together.
Softeners & filters in the 5 micron range will exted the life of any plumbing equipment.
I installed an Aquastar 125 in 2003 with very hard water. Montana, like a lot of the arid West, has alkaline soil, but i'm used to it, so i haven't treated my well water. No problems so far and it stills heats excellently, though i keep waiting for it to crash so i can put in the piezo ignition upgrade i got on sale for $200 last year. Upkeep on mine so far amounts to 30-minutes worth of standing-pilot cleaning once a year or so, and 15 minutes of that is lost to wondering where i dropped the teeny orifice.
Are you going with electric or gas?
And then there are those that install cleanout valves before and after the unit - so to be able to acid wash out such deposits.
I have only heard of such...
IMO - rethink tankless if you already haven't.
Check the manufacturer's requirements. Rheem specifically voids warrantee in areas with hard water. My plumber has installed and uninstalled several units do to lime precipitation and he will no longer warrant any tankless installations.
Bruce
The instruction booklet that came with mine (Rinnai) has detailed instructions on how to set up a circulating pump with vinegar or mild acid to clean it. It came with a pretty impressive array of valves & fittings to isolate the unit and attach hoses for cleaning.