Install a water softener to protect your tankless water heater. By installing a water softener in your home, you can remove hardness minerals and avoid scale buildup inside of your tankless water heater. This will ensure that your tankless system maintains consistent efficiency levels throughout the year.
Flush to remove hard water deposits
Your tankless water heater should be flushed at least annually. This is to remove mineral deposits, such as calcium. If you've had hard water problems in your home, you might consider flushing out your heater more than once per year to counter mineral deposits.
Any tankless gas water heaters installed when they have hard water the unit will fail because of scale build up inside the unit and when this happens the unit will use more BTU and run longer then nessary to still make the hot water you need.
One way to prevent limescale in a tankless water heater is with a water softener. A water softener removes that hard minerals - calcium and magnesium, from the water so that no limescale can form.
A water softener is essential for the efficient operation of your tankless water heater. By removing the hardness minerals before they can clump together and form scale, a water softener ensures that your heater runs smoothly and maintains its efficiency.
If you have hard water, it is important to descale and flush your unit at least once a year. If you have a water softening system, we recommend performing a flush of the system every 3-5 years.
Some people hesitate to decide on a tankless water heater because they can be a slightly higher cost; however, you get significantly more life out of one. A standard water heater tank lasts about 8-12 years. A tankless water heater can last as long as 25 years!
Use 4 gallons (15.1 liters) of undiluted white vinegar to clean your tankless water heater. Never use chemical solutions of any kind. Since your home's drinking and bathing water mostly likely flows through your tankless water heater, using chemical cleaning solutions could be extremely harmful to your health.
The most complicated and time-consuming tankless water heater maintenance is typically descaling and flushing out the unit. Even with the inline water filter, lime and calcium deposits can build up inside the tankless system. If you have hard water, it's a good idea to descale and flush the unit once a year.
More expensive installation and maintenance.
Tankless systems require special venting, rerouted gas lines, possibly multiple units for a larger household, and sometimes maintenance like installing a softener.
When it comes to addressing hard water comprehensively, especially for drinking, cooking, washing clothes, showering and maintaining appliances and household pipe systems, reverse osmosis (RO) is seriously effective. Here's why undersink RO systems are the best solution.
Scale buildup can reduce the efficiency — and even shorten the lifespan — of many items in a home. Tankless water heaters are particularly sensitive to hard water, but so are dishwashers, ice-makers and washing machines.
Most manufacturers recommend descaling your system once per year.
A tankless water heater descaler specifically designed for this purpose is recommended for optimal results. Alternatively, you can use vinegar as a natural and affordable descaling solution. Prepare the solution according to the manufacturer's instructions.
Just like a tank unit, tankless water heaters need to be flushed once per year. Homeowners with hard water should consider flushing and cleaning the unit even more frequently, perhaps every six to nine months because of the excess amounts of magnesium and calcium found in hard water supplies.
The vinegar will be a bit blue. This is from tiny amounts of corrosion of the copper of the tubes in heater. The copper imparts the blue color. Nothing to worry about.
Installing a tankless water heater cover for winter is another option; it will protect the unit from the coldest temperatures, not to mention snow and ice. Run a Faucet on Low: Water is more likely to freeze when not in motion. To reduce the risk of freezing, run a faucet at a low level during extreme cold.
You still need to flush a tankless water heater if you have a water softener, but you don't have to do it as often.
Flushing your tank will remove some of the calcium from your water heater. To get rid of the rest, you should treat the calcium with a descaling solution. You can find many descaling solutions at your local hardware store. However, an often cheaper and equally effective option is to use vinegar or lye.
A: Yes, but depending on the wattage of your unit, and the temperature you set, the pressure may go down.
Before you commit to buying a tankless water heater, the primary drawbacks to know include: Higher upfront costs. Tankless water heaters are, on average, quite a bit more expensive to buy and install than tank water heaters. Access to fuel.
Absolutely! In fact, tankless water heaters are becoming the standard for new home construction because of the energy efficiency.