On-demand hot water! One advantage of installing a tankless water heater is this.
Another benefit is the possible energy savings of up to 50% compared to a conventional tank water heater.
Your water heater will operate more effectively the better you maintain it, just like any other household equipment.
Regular upkeep is a good place to start!
For six suggestions on cleaning tankless water heaters and other important maintenance chores, see today’s article.
Taking care of your water heater both inside and out can assist to guarantee optimum performance.
You could even prolong its usefulness!
#1. How Often Should a Water Heater Be Cleaned?
You probably have concerns about how often you should clean your tankless water heater, whether you’re a new user or have had one for a while.
The majority of manufacturers advise cleaning your water heater once a year.
Nevertheless, the area in which you reside and the quality of your water may alter the frequency.
You may need to cleanse your water heater more often if you reside in a region with hard water.
You may check with your municipal authority if you’re unsure about the water quality in your neighborhood.
Every city gives its citizens monthly or yearly updates on the state of its municipal water supply.
You may pick how often to flush out your water heater with the assistance of your trustworthy plumber.
We’ll discuss cleaning the outside of the appliance next.
#2. Handling Upkeep on the Exterior
A few DIY home maintenance jobs are something that most homeowners love doing.
One approach to ease into water heater maintenance if you’re new to the game is to take care of your water heater’s exterior.
The time and materials needed for exterior upkeep are not very high.
Starting by cleaning the cover.
The equipment is kept dust-free and corrosion is avoided by using a soft cloth and non-abrasive cleaning.
Check the pipes next.
Checking pipes in cold weather helps our northern neighbors prevent frozen pipes.
Despite the mild winters Austin, Texas has, it’s still a good idea to look out for splits or breaks in the pipe insulation.
Finally, you should test the pressure relief valve if your tankless water heater has one.
This function is not available on all models.
Ask a plumber for advice if you’re unsure about your water heater.
Typically, exterior upkeep takes 20 minutes.
It will take a bit longer to flush the water heater.
#3. The Benefits of Flushing
All water heaters accumulate deposits of limescale over time.
Failure to descale in conventional tank models might result in an explosion.
Tankless water heaters won’t blow up, but if the sediment isn’t flushed out, you could make the heat exchanger work harder than it has to.
Maintaining sediment washed out may stop other issues in addition to improving the performance of the water heater.
Isolation valves must be discussed before moving on to descaling.
An isolation valve is similar to the shut-off valve on a conventional tank water heater.
You may use it to stop the unit’s supply of gas or water.
An isolation valve could or might not be present in your water heater.
If not, think about having your plumber install one.
If there is no isolation valve, doing maintenance might put your safety in danger.
#4. What Cleaning Materials Do You Need for the Water Heater?
After talking about safety, we may discuss what is required to flush the unit.
Here is the list of materials:
- Five-Gallon Container
- Pump Submersible
- Hoses
- Descaler
While you may purchase each piece individually, you can also get a flush kit that includes every component.
Descaling solutions are included in flush kits, but you may also use 4 gallons of straight white vinegar.
#5. Tankless Water Heater Descaler Procedures
We’re going to go through the fundamental procedures since descaling a water heater is one of the maintenance jobs that many homeowners can do without much help.
Start by cutting off the power to your water heater.
Find the gas isolation valve, then shut it.
As you work on the appliance, cut off the hot and cold water valves to keep water out of the device.
Open the pressure relief valve on your appliance if it has one to gently release any pressure.
Next, attach the hoses from your flush kit to the hot and cold water service ports on your plumbing system.
The submersible pump should then be placed in your bucket.
Put one end of the hot water hose in the bucket and connect the cold water line to the pump.
Now you may either fill the bucket with four gallons of vinegar or the descaler that came with the flush package.
Open the cold and hot service ports, then start the submersible pump to flush the water heater.
Give the water heater at least one hour to circulate your selected descaling solution.
The scale accumulation won’t be sufficiently broken down in any time frame less than an hour.
Descaling completed, shut off the pump.
Next, discard the vinegar.
#6. Cleaning A Tankless Water Heater: The Last Steps
The cold water service port should be closed, and the cold water shut-off valve should be opened.
This procedure removes any remaining vinegar.
After that, you’ll shut the valve and let the water to completely drain.
The hot water port should now be shut.
Finally, if there is a hot water in-line filter and a cold water input filter, remove them both.
Both should be flushed in the sink to get rid of any lingering sediment.
You now understand how to maintain a tankless water heater! Although it might be a terrific DIY project, keep in mind that you might feel more comfortable hiring a plumber to do the work.
Need to Schedule Maintenance on a Tankless Water Heater?
Cleaning a tankless water heater as part of routine maintenance should happen at least once per year.
If the region where you install the water heater is dusty, you may need to take care of additional responsibilities, including washing off the outside of the unit, more often.
