Thank you for this video. I live in Alpharetta, GA and called 5 plumbing companys. They all quoted me #$325.00 to $375.00 bucks. I watched this video and went to home depot. I got a pump 1/6 HP 28gpm, a home depot bucket, CLR cleaning agent. I already had the washing machine hoses. Did it myself and saved myself $325-$375 bucks - the cost of the pump and bucket - Thanks, Thanks, Thanks. Now I can do this myself every 6-8 months and have the pump to use to drain my hottub too. Very happy
Very good friend of mine Bob spent a chunk of change to covert to a tankless upon remodeling a 1979 home he purchased. He did not flush the new tankless ever ( didn’t know he was supposed to ) It went belly up ruined the thing so Bob went back to a conventional tank water heater and boy was he pissed that flushing the thing was so important and he is extremely handy!! Now I have one on a brand new home and for sure will be flushing the thing out the recommended once per year!
Quick note I’m a tankless technician and there were a few steps missed when descaling this Rinnai unit each manufacturer has certain steps to take before descaling or flushing the tankless. On Rinnai’s there’s something called a bypass valve that has to be in the fully open position this units bypass valve wasn’t fully opened. The steps you take to open the bypass is you unplug the unit from the outlet for atleast thirty seconds and you have to have the front cover off when doing this. After thirty seconds you plug it back in and you’ll hear a buzzing type of sound coming from the valves and you have to wait for the buzzing to stop once it stops that means the bypass is in the fully open position and you can go ahead and rapidly unplug the tankless. And now you have allowed for the unit to be fully descaled at every possible location within the unit. With rogers current procedure there’s a few spots that didn’t get descaled. And same goes for other manufacturers like Noritz but not so much Takagi or navien on those units you can just take the current steps roger did. And also be aware if you are planning on descaling a unit that hasn’t been descale in over 8 years it may be prone to a Heat Exchanger leak and that will ruin your unit so if your unit has never been descaled I would advice you to call the manufacturer so they can recommend your nearest professional tankless company to come inspect the unit before it could possibly get damaged.
Modern noritz models have a wire that needs to be connected to the left of the motherboard to time and record the flush in the unit history. Im most familiar with Noritz here in Utah. I see Navien a lot too though.
David Mancilla, The AO Smith electric water heater doesn't come with two drains underneath. My lines and tank were recently flushed and so much calcium comes out hot side only. Why flush the cold side? Also, how does the vinegar help?
Excellent instructions! I’ve been flushing my Navien tankless water heater this way for 5 years using vinegar. I bought a cheap sump pump and washing machine hose kit from amazon and an orange bucket from Home Depot for my flushing system. I’ll isolate the heater and drain it then take out the small screen filter on the inlet side and wash it out. Finally I’ll circulate vinegar for 1.5 hours. I do unplug the heater and have found that the pump over the course of the flush will heat up the vinegar nicely. Upon completion of flushing, I’ll just drain what I can out of the heater and put it back in the plumbing circuit and run several gallons out the nearest hot water tap to purge any remaining vinegar and air. Works like a champ. Finally, I’ll write on the side of the heater the date of flush with a sharpie so the history of flushing is readily apparent.
Thank you for this video. Because of health reason my husband couldn’t help me , BUT , I just accomplished the flush. Couldn’t have done it without this video. My only suggestion is that when you turn something on or off have the camera show us up close what valve you are working on. For an amateur just calling it by name is confusing. Since there are 4 valves we have to do something to. But again thank you. I got it done.
I had NO IDEA about flushing these things! I decided to go tankless over a year ago and LOVED IT AT FIRST! Recently it’s driving me crazy trying to get my water hot!! Thank you for this video!! This is now my project this weekend!! 😊
The Rinnai tankless water heater in our daughter's house was so clogged up with solids that it had stopped working entirely. There was not enough flow through the heat exchanger, so the logic board would not turn on the heat. I flushed it for 45 minutes with one gallon of stronger 9% vinegar, and it was so green that you could no see two inches down into the bucket. I threw that vinegar out and then flushed in the opposite direction with another gallon of 9% solution. Then after rinsing it out, the heater now works perfectly again. Thanks Roger!!
Watched the video prior then ordered what I needed on Amazon (don’t purchase the descale bundle... it’s cheaper to buy separate) it was about $50 for the hoses & pump which now I’ll use for future de-scaling & the solution was about $20. I just de-scaled my Rinnai RL94 Tankless Heater..watched the video again to walk through the process while Roger was doing it & it went seamless..So easy & plumber was going to charged $250. I would recommend giving it a try...you’ll be surprised how easy it is & you’ll save yourself lots of money!!! Thanks so much Roger!!!!
what pump did you buy? what pump did you buy? what pump did you buy? A stupid omission from the original video. The jackass doesnt tell us which pump to buy out of over 500 choices.
Great video. We watched and felt pretty secure. We had installed our own electric Rheem tankless over 4 years ago when we were moving into this house we built. First time for both building a house and installing a water heater. At the time we did not realize we would be needing to flush the Rheem so no appropriate valves were put in. 4 years pass and we started getting very little hot water. (big surprise) So we did research and learned we should have been flushing all along. Oh darn. So we obtained the bucket, hose, submersible pump kit and installed the appropriate valves. We got it all set up. But the Rheem was just too plugged up to accept and flush more than a trickle of solution. We have been on rain water collection all these years also so we have the big tanks and a really strong pump that delivers water into the house. On a hunch, we rigged up the flush solution bucket to the bigger much stronger pump and WOW! It worked. We flushed a bunch of crud out of that Rheem with that stronger pump circulating the solution and it is working very well again. We decided to do a vinegar flush in maybe 3 months using the submersible pump from the kit. And of course hopefully use the kit and the vinegar flush twice a year from now on. Considering our neglect, I am impressed that the Rheem tankless is still fine and delivering lots of hot water.
Done this every year myself for the past 3 years. After the initial purchase of a pump and hoses, the cost is only $3 for the desacaling solution vs $300+ that a plumber would charge. Thanks Roger!
Wow!!!! Roger, I am a C10 contractor and I am going for the B License, you are a really good Business mentor, the best videos I ever watched, thank you .
Very helpful video, Roger. I have a 20 year old 50 gallon water heater that I know is about to throw in the towel, so I"m researching the ins and outs of tankless. Very clear and easy to understand. If I had more teachers like you in high school, I'd have probably graduated with a higher GPA
Just my two cents. We recently got a tank-less water, it is terrible. It is very slow to heat the water and they did not install the isolation kit. The maintenance is ridiculously more difficult. I cannot wait for it to break. This is a big step backwards in technology.
Ours works great. I got the isolation valves and a pump and bucket. It takes me about an hour, every six months or so. Very cheap. The plumber wanted $500.00. Yikes!
@@warrenb2856since you don’t have isolation valves, investigate using food grade SHMP (Siliphos) as a way of disrupting calcium and magnesium crystallization inside the tank. This is done extensively in industrial boilers. I don’t know why more plumbers don’t use SHMP on the cold water inlet on all homes with high mineral content. Guess they would prefer to install a whole house water softener instead.
And.....here’s some tips also, when you’re flushing a tankless, after about 15 mins of cold flushing, turn the unit on and get it hot, shut your outlet valve off and let the pump run and pressure up the exchanger and let it soak for 15-20 mins. While the exchanger is soaking, go around the house and pull off all the shower heads and faucet aerators and throw them in the bucket of hot solution, clean them with a brush if necessary. These tankless heaters rely on good flow for steady operation so if any jets are plugged in shower heads or aerators you may notice inconsistent temperatures. Pull out the inlet filter and clean it, re-install it. Rinse the unit with a hot rinse into a nearby floor drain preferably, turn the hot outlet back on and run tub tap for 5-10 mins. And if you’re a licensed plumber and gas fitter like me, clean the burners, replace igniter and sensor, check and adjust gas pressures as specified on rating plate. You’re welcome.
This was very useful and I followed it step by step to flush my tankless. So thanks! A few things that could have been better: - tell me to fill a bucket with water before I turn off the water, man! Haha - there's a bunch of "oh don't forget this" after you've told me to do it. It would be better if it was all in chronological order so I didn't have to watch it all the way through every time. I had already watched it all the way through a few days ago to decide this was the video I was gonna use. Thanks again!
Watched several videos on this subject. You were best at covering ALL aspects of cleaning a tankless water heater. Especially adding the comment regarding vinegar. Natural products all the way!!
Fantastic instructional video! Ordered the pump and washing machine hoses from Amazon, used distilled vinegar. I also added an old sock attached to the discharge hose to prevent sediment from running back through and flushed for two hours. Saved a bundle. Thanks again!
You can also add a garden hose filter screen into the coupler at the end of the hose that connects to the hot water outlet. That way any particulate doesn't go through your pump, potentially damaging it. I got a dozen of these on eBay, I think. They were actually a rubber garden hose washer with an embedded stainless steel screen for not a lot of money. Good to add to any hose that provides water to a machine, like a pressure washer.
My system has one (cold) shut off/close water supply, must videos show a shut off/close valve on the hot as well. Your explanation of using the service valves over the flush valves kept me from pumping vinegar through my lines. Thank you
I just had a tankless system installed this very day. The plumber told me that I should rely on 'them' to do the annual maintenance at a cost of $250 a pop. Thank you for showing that it's relatively easy for someone with moderate skills to do this on their own.
The thing that blows my mind is that my tankless instructions said nothing about doing this flushing so I think I'll be going out this weekend and picking up a pump and some vinegar to flush mine out since it's a few years old.
same here, bought my house 3 years ago and the builder told me nothing about flushing the tankless water heater every year. I better get to doing this soon!
You dnt have to do it just will make your unit last twice as long same with traditional tanked water heaters supposed to be flushed yearly it cleans all sediments and minerals in the units.
We have crazy hard water and a new 2.5 year old build with a tankless water heater. This winter our tankless heater kept losing flame and lately has had terrible pressure and takes a significant amount of time to "warm up". So I just ordered all the stuff I need to flush it since it hasn't been done yet. Unfortunately, our builder was cheap and it was installed with no flush valves so I'm going to have to add those myself. Thankfully I'm handy enough to know how to do that kind of stuff! Thanks for the guidance, looking forward to our tankless being back to normal!
Hello, thank you for your wonderful video. Would this kind of pump work? DEKOPRO Submersible Water Pump 1/3 HP 2450GPH Utility Pump Thermoplastic Electric Portable Transfer Water Pump with 10-Foot Cord for Pool Tub Garden Pond Draining
Great video really helpful. I do HVAC for a living so I have installed a few of these units. And I have replaced units that are only 3 to 5 years old because they were already rotted out and emitting CO from not being cleaned yearly.
I the tank man in my neighborhood. 75.00 created my own little business. Our water heaters also have a small screen filter that i remove to check for debris or calcium build-up
Roger i love this video this is a spot on for all that don’t know how to flush tankless water heaters …… i see that you didn’t talk much on the Vinegar trick which i teach it to the guys but i had a issue where one of the tech didn’t know the mix. Would love to see a video touching up on this……. Keep up the videos bro.
My favorite tool those 428 Channellocks.I worked there once shovelling pliers with a pitchfork and pulling sledge hammer heads from the oven with a 12' steel pole.
I am a new HVAC tech and I really enjoy your videos to see how the plumbing side goes. Since we do tankless and tanked heaters it is always nice to see how someone else does it too.
I can tell you I did not know this needed to be done. I have been in my house over 5 years now and the water heater performance was not very good. I paid a company to come out and do the flushing they flushed the tankless heater and my wallet just over $189 Canadian + tax, about $145 US. Money well spent though, big improvement in the performance of the heater. A flushing may be all your water heater needs to get back to producing the hot water you want After watching the video and the guy do the job in my house I think it is a job that most home owners should be able to handle. Just need to get the equipment, Amazon !
Great video,I have used vinegar before,& its time to do it again. I use a dc bilge pump,same set up as your electric pump.pump was here so I Plummed it & just let er go! Just refresh my set up watching your vid.quick ques,just recently kids noticed water gets cold for no reason,(Rheem tankless) temp on display shows 120,& no error codes,I go full hot on shower valve & heat comes back up. That's why I'm cleaning it but I'm wondering if a flow valve is going,thoughts?
Excellent video, thank you! I personally would not leave the unit on when flushing. heating those chemicals, heating the hoses.... it's putting potentially a lot more problems. i just read in the rinnai manual recommends shut off of heat or warranty could be voided.
I read the same thing. I don’t get it when many you tube videos tell you to leave on, but turn down the heat to 98 degrees. To me it makes more sense to leave on for a better flush and the fact the water will be warmer and better for the flush. Any advice?
Roger I have a tankless Navien combo system and I am wondering how you de-scale the space heating side of this unit? I understand it is a closed loop system. Much appreciated...Michael from Virginia. You will be helping a combat veteran.
Another fall season comes and here I am cleaning the unit. Always feel confident with your help. Thank you so very much! 2 thumbs way up, if I had more thumbs you'd get those too!!
I don't understand why it makes any sense to leave the unit power on. The gas is disconnected so how can the heater heat up any solution or vinegar passing through it?
Thanks Roger, I will be doing this soon. Question: Our Rheem tankless is making a thunk backfire noise when turned on. I see online that tank sediment is most likely the culprit. Any ideas on what else that could be, it still heats the water fine, but makes loud backfire noise. No obstruction on vent to outside, gas is full, I cleaned the water filter screen. Doesnt always do the backfire but most of the time. Any info would be appreciated, Thank you.
Im having an issue with my on-demand water heater. Ever 5 or 6 weeks the condensation line will dump around 2 gallons of water into the floor pump tank i have setup and it runs over. The pump works fine but for some reason every 5 or 6 weeks it runs over. Do the on demand water heaters have a timed system purge? Any help is greatly appreciated.
Hello and thank you for the informative video I purchased a flush kit for my tankless water heater and quickly realized one end of the flush kit has a threaded side the other side is just smooth so how am I supposed to adapt that to my threaded lines that go to my water heater..?? Thank you kindly 👍
That is a great informative video. As a precautionary measure, I am planning to descale an electrical tankless heater from a German manufacturer called Clage. I have 2 questions in mind since I am a homeowner : 1. What are the minimum requirements (HP or discharge rate) of the circulation pump? 2. Is there any extra precautions for the electrical heater besides unplugging it? Thanks in advance and here is a new subscriber ;)
Was very glad to see your final minute. The (major) manufacturer of my 4-year-old tankless water heater specifically warned against using anything but food-grade white vinegar, 4 gallons in a 5-gallon bucket. Using harsher cleaning chemicals can void some warranties, not to mention presenting potential health issues if the final water flushing is inadequate. Some people use hot tap water for drinking or cooking...why present them with this risk? I flush my heater annually with vinegar (food grade @ 5% acidic) at a cost of less than $20, and it is safe. What I did not see addressed was an installation like mine where immediately below the water heater and in-line with the cold water supply is a thimble-sized water filter that needs to be removed and cleaned after every flushing...or more often if your supply water is unfiltered or otherwise prone to have fine debris, sand, etc. Recirculating "contaminated" or particle-heavy cleaning solutions is asking for such a filter like this to clog and fail. The typical homeowner is then stuck with having to call a plumber to remove and clean the internal spinning flow-control device needed to inform the heater of flow demands. Fouling the filter would be a major whoops.
agreed, I do this for a living and there is so much wrong with this presentation, food grad vinegar, cleaning the filter before flushing the unit, checking the flow, I could go on and on
I've been using Citrid acid to clean out chlorine out of the washing machine and the heater jug. Does a great job. What do you thing of using it in this case?
Great video but when you mention the vinegar, do you say turn on or turn off the unit? I have a Rinnai tankless water heater and the manual says to turn gas and power off…just don’t get it. I was going to leave on but turn it down to 98 degrees and flush the vinegar that way. Please advise…thank you!
Thanks for the video, a lot of great comments also, everyone appreciated the video .the main things I liked about it not just a fact there I can clean my own water heater out ,its the fact that he didn't spend 15 minutes Explaining himself away ,,he got straight to the point and the video was done and now i can get to work
Hello Roger, Thanks for the video. While flushing my Rinnai Water Tankless heater the cold water isolation valve handle broke. Where can I just buy the handle for future service.
thank you.. am considering going tankless and heard this was necessary but no details on how. Great video. Now I know if we do this we should have those extra valves
Annually cleaning these hot water heaters is a "tankless" job, but a necessary evil. We had a new home built 4 years ago and it has this same exact Rannai tankless hot water heater. Our building contractor did actually inform us of this annual maintenance during the walk-through orientation. I flush our hot water heater every July (our anniversary move-in month) with 3 gallons of white vinegar, a 5 gallon bucket, two 6 foot steel braided washing machine hoses and a submersible pump that I purchased on Amazon. The local plumbing contractor told us to turn off the gas and power during flushing, but I have heard of people also leaving them on, so I am not sure if it really matters either way. Luckily, we also have a garage sink right next to the hot water heater, so this makes this annual flushing procedure really easy. I follow all of the procedures shown here and let the pump run for 90 minutes. We have VERY hard water where we live, and this annual flushing seems to keep the hot water heater (and faucets) free of scale. Also, before AND after flushing, don't forget to clean the mesh cold water inlet filter. It is behind the little black plastic cap directly below the hot water heater housing. This filter also fills with calcium and other mineral deposits, and will restrict the flow of water into the hot water heater if it becomes clogged. Make sure you flush the hot water heater, pump and hoses with clean water after flushing. Vinegar is acidic and very corrosive to certain metals. This well help the pump and hoses last many years. We really like our tankless hot water heater, but don't believe all of the money savings hype. From our experience, there is really no difference in cost between running a tank and tankless hot water heater. The advantage of the tankless system is that you will (almost) always have an endless supply of hot water on demand and multiple showers can be taken simultaneously. The "Almost" comes when the power goes out. The tankless hot water heater requires electricity and gas to work, and there is no 30 to 50 gallon reserve tank to store hot water. This annual flushing is a really easy procedure, and doing it yourself will save you anywhere from $100 to $150 by not calling a plumber to do it for you. Have fun folks!
@Sargon Oshana Yikes, $400!? What a ripoff! The flushing procedure is so easy to do yourself. It sounds like the local plumbing contractor is really price gouging people for a very simple job. You can buy (one-time purchase) the submersible pump, 5-gallon bucket, and washing machine hoses for around $75. Then, 3 to 4 gallons of distilled white vinegar will run about $10 annually, if that. The entire flushing procedure takes 60 to 90 minutes, and you can't overdo it, so it's not like you (or the plumber) has to stand there and monitor the process the entire time. The alternative (depending on the water hardness in your area) is not flushing the hot water heater and shortening its life span immensely. At that point, you are looking at about $1,500 to $2,000 to replace the unit. Probably much more in your area. As I said in my previous post, all of the money savings hype of a tankless hot water heater is a myth. The good part is an endless supply of hot water that never runs out. The bad part is no electricity, no hot water, as the tankless hot water heaters have no storage and require electricity to run the ignitors and exhaust fans. Good luck!🙂
Don't forget to mention, some homes use a recirculation loop so that you have hot water sooner at the faucets, some tankless water heaters have a recirculation pump internal, some you have to install an external pump, either way if you have a recirculation pump and a loop, you need to turn that off with a valve (isolate the loop) or you'll be flushing your loop and pump with the cleaner (vinegar or haymaker product whichever), and you'll need more solution because you're flushing your loop out too which many times can be large enough to hold multiple gallons of water.
nice video - makes the process easy to understand. it's 2021 and i'm having my plumber replace my 20-year-old hot water tank with a Rheem tankless hot water unit next week.
Nice review. Went to tank less and never looked back. I received the same recommendation from local plumber on use of vinegar 5% food grade verses de scaling agent. First time took about 2 hours and was told leave unit off. We have "hard" water and clean ours every year, some have said I don't need clean every year? It seems $7.00 of vinegar is cheaper then ruined heating elemets, yes our is electric.
I would recommend to find a plumber that not only flushes the tankless but offers during the service to remove the exhaust fan and clean out the buildup on the blades, and also opens the gas burner section and blows that area out too. Exhaust fans have to move a certain amount of air, and if it doesn't do so because of dirt/dust build-up on the blades the CFM sensor will shut down the unit and throw a code. Flushing is only part of the service. Also, I recommend once every 4 or 5 years, dependent on your water source/qaulity. If they are trying to tell you to do this every year then they are trying to milk you for more money.
Question...I just had my tankless water heater purged. (Once through cold intake followed by second time through hot side). Worked fine before. Would not heat after. Gas system. Box gas blower fan doesn't come on. Thoughts?
Thanks for the video! I have a problem on my rinnai condensing water heater. I flushed it today and after doing it, even when heater is not running, there is a steady flow of water from condensing pipe. What to do to fix it. Thanks!
Great video! We've been having issues with our hot water going hot then cool then hot again while taking showers. Also the unit beeps when we wash clothes on hot and also when we take showers. Will flushing the tankless water heater fix these issues?
Should i descale my electric tankless water heater as i was told by a local plumber that he never heard of descaling an electric tankless water heater only done if its gas?
Thanks for the video. I still am not confident about install mine. I have a rheem rtx-18 and I live in Dallas. 2bedroom 1 bath house. Is this thing going to still work when it gets cold?
Hmm, my manual said power should be shut off first, like at the control panel? I also learned yearly maintenance includes cleaning internal parts, checking vent, flame, pressure relief valve, lubrication, etc. and recommends a licensed pro. One mistake could be trouble so, I think I'll watch a pro do it before I try.
I had a tankless system installed back in 2003 before many knew how to take care of them. I have no "Flush valves and the installers now won't do anything with these units unless they installed it. The company that installed it is long gone...any ideas?
Thank you sir. I help with maintenance on several newer townhouse apartments, and they have an all Electric Tankless Water Heater and have one that is not staying hot when being used.
I need help. There were no flush valves installed on my water heater and it has been here for over 20 years, never flushed. Where can I get the valves you showed in the video? And what about a flush kit? It's a Bosch. Thank you
Hi Roger, it is a very good and informative video. What kind of pump do you use in the video? Rinnai said the pump should be 4-5 gallons per minutes, what kind do you suggest that is not too expensive. Thank you.
Thank you for this video. I live in Alpharetta, GA and called 5 plumbing companys. They all quoted me #$325.00 to $375.00 bucks. I watched this video and went to home depot. I got a pump 1/6 HP 28gpm, a home depot bucket, CLR cleaning agent. I already had the washing machine hoses. Did it myself and saved myself $325-$375 bucks - the cost of the pump and bucket - Thanks, Thanks, Thanks. Now I can do this myself every 6-8 months and have the pump to use to drain my hottub too. Very happy
Glad it helped! I was just in Alpharetta a couple weeks ago for a conference! Love it there
Alpharetta is awesome place to live. I'm close by you over in Rome, GA!😊
Very good friend of mine Bob spent a chunk of change to covert to a tankless upon remodeling a 1979 home he purchased.
He did not flush the new tankless ever ( didn’t know he was supposed to )
It went belly up ruined the thing so Bob went back to a conventional tank water heater and boy was he pissed that flushing the thing was so important and he is extremely handy!!
Now I have one on a brand new home and for sure will be flushing the thing out the recommended once per year!
This guy is an absolute G! 5 years later still helping people
I love what I get to do...hopefully this video helped you out
Quick note I’m a tankless technician and there were a few steps missed when descaling this Rinnai unit each manufacturer has certain steps to take before descaling or flushing the tankless. On Rinnai’s there’s something called a bypass valve that has to be in the fully open position this units bypass valve wasn’t fully opened. The steps you take to open the bypass is you unplug the unit from the outlet for atleast thirty seconds and you have to have the front cover off when doing this. After thirty seconds you plug it back in and you’ll hear a buzzing type of sound coming from the valves and you have to wait for the buzzing to stop once it stops that means the bypass is in the fully open position and you can go ahead and rapidly unplug the tankless. And now you have allowed for the unit to be fully descaled at every possible location within the unit. With rogers current procedure there’s a few spots that didn’t get descaled. And same goes for other manufacturers like Noritz but not so much Takagi or navien on those units you can just take the current steps roger did. And also be aware if you are planning on descaling a unit that hasn’t been descale in over 8 years it may be prone to a Heat Exchanger leak and that will ruin your unit so if your unit has never been descaled I would advice you to call the manufacturer so they can recommend your nearest professional tankless company to come inspect the unit before it could possibly get damaged.
Noritz procedure is different than Rinnai’s
Wow…some great advice….thank you!
Modern noritz models have a wire that needs to be connected to the left of the motherboard to time and record the flush in the unit history. Im most familiar with Noritz here in Utah. I see Navien a lot too though.
Thx man, I was about to proceed and after reading your comments I watched a video from Noritz which says to leave the unit ON!
David Mancilla, The AO Smith electric water heater doesn't come with two drains underneath. My lines and tank were recently flushed and so much calcium comes out hot side only. Why flush the cold side? Also, how does the vinegar help?
Excellent instructions! I’ve been flushing my Navien tankless water heater this way for 5 years using vinegar. I bought a cheap sump pump and washing machine hose kit from amazon and an orange bucket from Home Depot for my flushing system. I’ll isolate the heater and drain it then take out the small screen filter on the inlet side and wash it out. Finally I’ll circulate vinegar for 1.5 hours. I do unplug the heater and have found that the pump over the course of the flush will heat up the vinegar nicely. Upon completion of flushing, I’ll just drain what I can out of the heater and put it back in the plumbing circuit and run several gallons out the nearest hot water tap to purge any remaining vinegar and air. Works like a champ. Finally, I’ll write on the side of the heater the date of flush with a sharpie so the history of flushing is readily apparent.
How much vinegar did you use
Thank you for this video. Because of health reason my husband couldn’t help me , BUT , I just accomplished the flush. Couldn’t have done it without this video. My only suggestion is that when you turn something on or off have the camera show us up close what valve you are working on. For an amateur just calling it by name is confusing. Since there are 4 valves we have to do something to. But again thank you. I got it done.
I had NO IDEA about flushing these things! I decided to go tankless over a year ago and LOVED IT AT FIRST! Recently it’s driving me crazy trying to get my water hot!! Thank you for this video!! This is now my project this weekend!! 😊
Let me know how it goes!
The Rinnai tankless water heater in our daughter's house was so clogged up with solids that it had stopped working entirely. There was not enough flow through the heat exchanger, so the logic board would not turn on the heat.
I flushed it for 45 minutes with one gallon of stronger 9% vinegar, and it was so green that you could no see two inches down into the bucket. I threw that vinegar out and then flushed in the opposite direction with another gallon of 9% solution.
Then after rinsing it out, the heater now works perfectly again. Thanks Roger!!
Glad you got it working!
Been plumbing for 15 years and always watch your videos. You definitely got a lot of experience thanks
Watched the video prior then ordered what I needed on Amazon (don’t purchase the descale bundle... it’s cheaper to buy separate) it was about $50 for the hoses & pump which now I’ll use for future de-scaling & the solution was about $20. I just de-scaled my Rinnai RL94 Tankless Heater..watched the video again to walk through the process while Roger was doing it & it went seamless..So easy & plumber was going to charged $250. I would recommend giving it a try...you’ll be surprised how easy it is & you’ll save yourself lots of money!!!
Thanks so much Roger!!!!
what pump did you buy?
Where is the list of stuff to buy?
what pump did you buy? what pump did you buy? what pump did you buy? A stupid omission from the original video. The jackass doesnt tell us which pump to buy out of over 500 choices.
Great video. We watched and felt pretty secure. We had installed our own electric Rheem tankless over 4 years ago when we were moving into this house we built. First time for both building a house and installing a water heater. At the time we did not realize we would be needing to flush the Rheem so no appropriate valves were put in. 4 years pass and we started getting very little hot water. (big surprise) So we did research and learned we should have been flushing all along. Oh darn. So we obtained the bucket, hose, submersible pump kit and installed the appropriate valves. We got it all set up. But the Rheem was just too plugged up to accept and flush more than a trickle of solution. We have been on rain water collection all these years also so we have the big tanks and a really strong pump that delivers water into the house. On a hunch, we rigged up the flush solution bucket to the bigger much stronger pump and WOW! It worked. We flushed a bunch of crud out of that Rheem with that stronger pump circulating the solution and it is working very well again. We decided to do a vinegar flush in maybe 3 months using the submersible pump from the kit. And of course hopefully use the kit and the vinegar flush twice a year from now on. Considering our neglect, I am impressed that the Rheem tankless is still fine and delivering lots of hot water.
Great video! As a new homeowner I'm going to try this in the spring when it's a bit warmer outside.
Thank you for this. Just saved me $200 by doing this myself!
Done this every year myself for the past 3 years. After the initial purchase of a pump and hoses, the cost is only $3 for the desacaling solution vs $300+ that a plumber would charge. Thanks Roger!
Wow!!!! Roger, I am a C10 contractor and I am going for the B License, you are a really good Business mentor, the best videos I ever watched, thank you .
Thank you. I appreciate that!
He gives that warm and fuzzy feeling .Great mentor !
Very helpful video, Roger. I have a 20 year old 50 gallon water heater that I know is about to throw in the towel, so I"m researching the ins and outs of tankless.
Very clear and easy to understand. If I had more teachers like you in high school, I'd have probably graduated with a higher GPA
Just my two cents. We recently got a tank-less water, it is terrible. It is very slow to heat the water and they did not install the isolation kit. The maintenance is ridiculously more difficult. I cannot wait for it to break. This is a big step backwards in technology.
Probably installed incorrectly. They work quite well.
Ours works great. I got the isolation valves and a pump and bucket. It takes me about an hour, every six months or so. Very cheap. The plumber wanted $500.00. Yikes!
@@warrenb2856since you don’t have isolation valves, investigate using food grade SHMP (Siliphos) as a way of disrupting calcium and magnesium crystallization inside the tank. This is done extensively in industrial boilers. I don’t know why more plumbers don’t use SHMP on the cold water inlet on all homes with high mineral content. Guess they would prefer to install a whole house water softener instead.
Good job brother. I'm a Master Plumber and luv yr channel. I have never tried letting yr w/h run while u are flushing unit. Ty for the tip.
No problem! Where are you located?
@@RogerWakefield I'm in Harper, close to Fredericksurg.
And.....here’s some tips also, when you’re flushing a tankless, after about 15 mins of cold flushing, turn the unit on and get it hot, shut your outlet valve off and let the pump run and pressure up the exchanger and let it soak for 15-20 mins. While the exchanger is soaking, go around the house and pull off all the shower heads and faucet aerators and throw them in the bucket of hot solution, clean them with a brush if necessary. These tankless heaters rely on good flow for steady operation so if any jets are plugged in shower heads or aerators you may notice inconsistent temperatures. Pull out the inlet filter and clean it, re-install it. Rinse the unit with a hot rinse into a nearby floor drain preferably, turn the hot outlet back on and run tub tap for 5-10 mins. And if you’re a licensed plumber and gas fitter like me, clean the burners, replace igniter and sensor, check and adjust gas pressures as specified on rating plate. You’re welcome.
Thanks!
Life saver! Thanks for your super easy step by step instructions! Saved me some money, and impressed the MIL. Thank you!
I use a Home Depot bucket with two garden hoses and I taped a pond pump on one end and run vinegar through it for a couple hours. Works great!
This was very useful and I followed it step by step to flush my tankless. So thanks!
A few things that could have been better:
- tell me to fill a bucket with water before I turn off the water, man! Haha
- there's a bunch of "oh don't forget this" after you've told me to do it. It would be better if it was all in chronological order so I didn't have to watch it all the way through every time. I had already watched it all the way through a few days ago to decide this was the video I was gonna use.
Thanks again!
Watched several videos on this subject. You were best at covering ALL aspects of cleaning a tankless water heater. Especially adding the comment regarding vinegar. Natural products all the way!!
@Bugsy thank you so much. Did you flush yours?
Fantastic instructional video! Ordered the pump and washing machine hoses from Amazon, used distilled vinegar. I also added an old sock attached to the discharge hose to prevent sediment from running back through and flushed for two hours. Saved a bundle. Thanks again!
Kory M. I hope the old sock doesn't make your water smell funky... Thanks for watching and commenting! I do appreciate it!
Awsome if made video on your technical flush.
I don't see that he shared which pump to buy? Do you mind sharing what you ordered?
@@davidgeske9715 0:56 explains it's a haymaker product
You can also add a garden hose filter screen into the coupler at the end of the hose that connects to the hot water outlet. That way any particulate doesn't go through your pump, potentially damaging it. I got a dozen of these on eBay, I think. They were actually a rubber garden hose washer with an embedded stainless steel screen for not a lot of money. Good to add to any hose that provides water to a machine, like a pressure washer.
I just paid a plumber 285 bucks to do this......how ridiculous. new construction so I'm tankless, this will save me in the future, thanks!!
My system has one (cold) shut off/close water supply, must videos show a shut off/close valve on the hot as well. Your explanation of using the service valves over the flush valves kept me from pumping vinegar through my lines. Thank you
I just had a tankless system installed this very day. The plumber told me that I should rely on 'them' to do the annual maintenance at a cost of $250 a pop. Thank you for showing that it's relatively easy for someone with moderate skills to do this on their own.
my gas company does it for $80.00 but I just bought a pump and the washer hoses and 3 gallons of vinegar, gonna do it myself.
What do you do for a living?
The thing that blows my mind is that my tankless instructions said nothing about doing this flushing so I think I'll be going out this weekend and picking up a pump and some vinegar to flush mine out since it's a few years old.
same here, bought my house 3 years ago and the builder told me nothing about flushing the tankless water heater every year. I better get to doing this soon!
@@joeymesa4952 Know your equipment!
You dnt have to do it just will make your unit last twice as long same with traditional tanked water heaters supposed to be flushed yearly it cleans all sediments and minerals in the units.
Vinegar has chewed through 2 of my pumps. Apparently it will slowly eat certain plastics. I've switched to a citric acid mix.
@@homealone5087 what formula do you use.
We have crazy hard water and a new 2.5 year old build with a tankless water heater. This winter our tankless heater kept losing flame and lately has had terrible pressure and takes a significant amount of time to "warm up". So I just ordered all the stuff I need to flush it since it hasn't been done yet. Unfortunately, our builder was cheap and it was installed with no flush valves so I'm going to have to add those myself. Thankfully I'm handy enough to know how to do that kind of stuff! Thanks for the guidance, looking forward to our tankless being back to normal!
Thanks bro!
You remind me of my uncle Ernie identical.
Ernie's plumbing RIP victim of COVID 2019
Hello, thank you for your wonderful video. Would this kind of pump work? DEKOPRO Submersible Water Pump 1/3 HP 2450GPH Utility Pump Thermoplastic Electric Portable Transfer Water Pump with 10-Foot Cord for Pool Tub Garden Pond Draining
Thank you. I do this every Daylight savings change. This will be my second flush and I WILL flush with Vinegar for 90 minutes.....
Awesome instructions and step by step guide. Thank you. I’m not a pro like you, but I am comfortable doing this maintenance on my own.
It sounds daunting, but is quite easy, you got this!
Great video really helpful. I do HVAC for a living so I have installed a few of these units. And I have replaced units that are only 3 to 5 years old because they were already rotted out and emitting CO from not being cleaned yearly.
I the tank man in my neighborhood. 75.00 created my own little business. Our water heaters also have a small screen filter that i remove to check for debris or calcium build-up
Roger i love this video this is a spot on for all that don’t know how to flush tankless water heaters …… i see that you didn’t talk much on the Vinegar trick which i teach it to the guys but i had a issue where one of the tech didn’t know the mix. Would love to see a video touching up on this……. Keep up the videos bro.
My favorite tool those 428 Channellocks.I worked there once shovelling pliers with a pitchfork and pulling sledge hammer heads from the oven with a 12' steel pole.
I am a new HVAC tech and I really enjoy your videos to see how the plumbing side goes. Since we do tankless and tanked heaters it is always nice to see how someone else does it too.
I can tell you I did not know this needed to be done. I have been in my house over 5 years now and the water heater performance was not very good.
I paid a company to come out and do the flushing they flushed the tankless heater and my wallet
just over $189 Canadian + tax, about $145 US. Money well spent though, big improvement in the performance of the heater.
A flushing may be all your water heater needs to get back to producing the hot water you want
After watching the video and the guy do the job in my house I think it is a job that most home owners should be able to handle. Just need to get the equipment, Amazon !
Great video,I have used vinegar before,& its time to do it again. I use a dc bilge pump,same set up as your electric pump.pump was here so I Plummed it & just let er go! Just refresh my set up watching your vid.quick ques,just recently kids noticed water gets cold for no reason,(Rheem tankless) temp on display shows 120,& no error codes,I go full hot on shower valve & heat comes back up. That's why I'm cleaning it but I'm wondering if a flow valve is going,thoughts?
Excellent video, thank you! I personally would not leave the unit on when flushing. heating those chemicals, heating the hoses.... it's putting potentially a lot more problems. i just read in the rinnai manual recommends shut off of heat or warranty could be voided.
I read the same thing. I don’t get it when many you tube videos tell you to leave on, but turn down the heat to 98 degrees. To me it makes more sense to leave on for a better flush and the fact the water will be warmer and better for the flush. Any advice?
Roger I have a tankless Navien combo system and I am wondering how you de-scale the space heating side of this unit? I understand it is a closed loop system. Much appreciated...Michael from Virginia. You will be helping a combat veteran.
Another fall season comes and here I am cleaning the unit. Always feel confident with your help. Thank you so very much! 2 thumbs way up, if I had more thumbs you'd get those too!!
Glad I was able to help! Thanks for the kind words
@@RogerWakefield is there a diy kit for a homeowner that you would recommend?
I don't understand why it makes any sense to leave the unit power on. The gas is disconnected so how can the heater heat up any solution or vinegar passing through it?
Thanks Roger, I will be doing this soon.
Question: Our Rheem tankless is making a thunk backfire noise when turned on. I see online that tank sediment is most likely the culprit. Any ideas on what else that could be, it still heats the water fine, but makes loud backfire noise. No obstruction on vent to outside, gas is full, I cleaned the water filter screen. Doesnt always do the backfire but most of the time.
Any info would be appreciated, Thank you.
What’s pump your used it and where can buy it? Thanks so much and appreciate your sharing this video.
Do you recommend cleaning the screen on the tankless when descaling as well?
Im having an issue with my on-demand water heater. Ever 5 or 6 weeks the condensation line will dump around 2 gallons of water into the floor pump tank i have setup and it runs over. The pump works fine but for some reason every 5 or 6 weeks it runs over. Do the on demand water heaters have a timed system purge? Any help is greatly appreciated.
Do you have to turn off the gas and power before cycling the solution through the water heater?
Roger keeping America strong, awesome info. Saving people a lot of time and hassle
Thank you very much for sharing this knowledge. I am purchasing a new home which comes with a tankless and was wondering how to maintain it.
Hello and thank you for the informative video I purchased a flush kit for my tankless water heater and quickly realized one end of the flush kit has a threaded side the other side is just smooth so how am I supposed to adapt that to my threaded lines that go to my water heater..?? Thank you kindly 👍
That is a great informative video. As a precautionary measure, I am planning to descale an electrical tankless heater from a German manufacturer called Clage.
I have 2 questions in mind since I am a homeowner :
1. What are the minimum requirements (HP or discharge rate) of the circulation pump?
2. Is there any extra precautions for the electrical heater besides unplugging it?
Thanks in advance and here is a new subscriber ;)
Was very glad to see your final minute. The (major) manufacturer of my 4-year-old tankless water heater specifically warned against using anything but food-grade white vinegar, 4 gallons in a 5-gallon bucket. Using harsher cleaning chemicals can void some warranties, not to mention presenting potential health issues if the final water flushing is inadequate. Some people use hot tap water for drinking or cooking...why present them with this risk? I flush my heater annually with vinegar (food grade @ 5% acidic) at a cost of less than $20, and it is safe.
What I did not see addressed was an installation like mine where immediately below the water heater and in-line with the cold water supply is a thimble-sized water filter that needs to be removed and cleaned after every flushing...or more often if your supply water is unfiltered or otherwise prone to have fine debris, sand, etc. Recirculating "contaminated" or particle-heavy cleaning solutions is asking for such a filter like this to clog and fail. The typical homeowner is then stuck with having to call a plumber to remove and clean the internal spinning flow-control device needed to inform the heater of flow demands. Fouling the filter would be a major whoops.
agreed, I do this for a living and there is so much wrong with this presentation, food grad vinegar, cleaning the filter before flushing the unit, checking the flow, I could go on and on
@@ajslam41 you should go on...
Good stuff! Very easy to follow and loved the explanations you provided.
Glad it was helpful! Was this your first time flushing it?
@@RogerWakefield Yes and it definitely needed it. All thanks to your expertise, I saved a lot!
What type of cleaning solution do you use? Also, is there a pump you recommend? Thanks
I am installing a tankless and need to know what the valves are that I need to install to do the flushes in the future.
Great video ...thanks for the advice and thorough instructions
You bet
Where do you buy recirculating pump?
I've been using Citrid acid to clean out chlorine out of the washing machine and the heater jug. Does a great job. What do you thing of using it in this case?
Thank you. From cleaning DE pool systems I learned you clean "backwards", so why does this clean "forwards" from in-out?
Great video but when you mention the vinegar, do you say turn on or turn off the unit? I have a Rinnai tankless water heater and the manual says to turn gas and power off…just don’t get it. I was going to leave on but turn it down to 98 degrees and flush the vinegar that way. Please advise…thank you!
Do you need to turn your water heater off before doing this?? And can you use vinegar?
Thanks for the video, a lot of great comments also, everyone appreciated the video .the main things I liked about it not just a fact there I can clean my own water heater out ,its the fact that he didn't spend 15 minutes Explaining himself away ,,he got straight to the point and the video was done and now i can get to work
Hello Roger, Thanks for the video. While flushing my Rinnai Water Tankless heater the cold water isolation valve handle broke. Where can I just buy the handle for future service.
thank you.. am considering going tankless and heard this was necessary but no details on how. Great video. Now I know if we do this we should have those extra valves
That pump w mesh foam filter I can't find it. What's brand and model?
Annually cleaning these hot water heaters is a "tankless" job, but a necessary evil. We had a new home built 4 years ago and it has this same exact Rannai tankless hot water heater. Our building contractor did actually inform us of this annual maintenance during the walk-through orientation. I flush our hot water heater every July (our anniversary move-in month) with 3 gallons of white vinegar, a 5 gallon bucket, two 6 foot steel braided washing machine hoses and a submersible pump that I purchased on Amazon. The local plumbing contractor told us to turn off the gas and power during flushing, but I have heard of people also leaving them on, so I am not sure if it really matters either way. Luckily, we also have a garage sink right next to the hot water heater, so this makes this annual flushing procedure really easy. I follow all of the procedures shown here and let the pump run for 90 minutes. We have VERY hard water where we live, and this annual flushing seems to keep the hot water heater (and faucets) free of scale. Also, before AND after flushing, don't forget to clean the mesh cold water inlet filter. It is behind the little black plastic cap directly below the hot water heater housing. This filter also fills with calcium and other mineral deposits, and will restrict the flow of water into the hot water heater if it becomes clogged. Make sure you flush the hot water heater, pump and hoses with clean water after flushing. Vinegar is acidic and very corrosive to certain metals. This well help the pump and hoses last many years. We really like our tankless hot water heater, but don't believe all of the money savings hype. From our experience, there is really no difference in cost between running a tank and tankless hot water heater. The advantage of the tankless system is that you will (almost) always have an endless supply of hot water on demand and multiple showers can be taken simultaneously. The "Almost" comes when the power goes out. The tankless hot water heater requires electricity and gas to work, and there is no 30 to 50 gallon reserve tank to store hot water. This annual flushing is a really easy procedure, and doing it yourself will save you anywhere from $100 to $150 by not calling a plumber to do it for you. Have fun folks!
In Chicago one company said $400 a year for flush descaling. If there was any savings, thats out the window.
@Sargon Oshana Yikes, $400!? What a ripoff! The flushing procedure is so easy to do yourself. It sounds like the local plumbing contractor is really price gouging people for a very simple job. You can buy (one-time purchase) the submersible pump, 5-gallon bucket, and washing machine hoses for around $75. Then, 3 to 4 gallons of distilled white vinegar will run about $10 annually, if that. The entire flushing procedure takes 60 to 90 minutes, and you can't overdo it, so it's not like you (or the plumber) has to stand there and monitor the process the entire time. The alternative (depending on the water hardness in your area) is not flushing the hot water heater and shortening its life span immensely. At that point, you are looking at about $1,500 to $2,000 to replace the unit. Probably much more in your area. As I said in my previous post, all of the money savings hype of a tankless hot water heater is a myth. The good part is an endless supply of hot water that never runs out. The bad part is no electricity, no hot water, as the tankless hot water heaters have no storage and require electricity to run the ignitors and exhaust fans. Good luck!🙂
Thank you brother well explained now I can do mine with confidence!
Not a hard job at all! You've got this!
What is the cleansing agent you use?
What do you do with the descaling solution after it's done? Can u pour it down the drain?
Where do I get the pump at? I didn't see that thanks
Don't forget to mention, some homes use a recirculation loop so that you have hot water sooner at the faucets, some tankless water heaters have a recirculation pump internal, some you have to install an external pump, either way if you have a recirculation pump and a loop, you need to turn that off with a valve (isolate the loop) or you'll be flushing your loop and pump with the cleaner (vinegar or haymaker product whichever), and you'll need more solution because you're flushing your loop out too which many times can be large enough to hold multiple gallons of water.
the isolation valves are closed I dont see water going into the system at all?
nice video - makes the process easy to understand. it's 2021 and i'm having my plumber replace my 20-year-old hot water tank with a Rheem tankless hot water unit next week.
I have Navien and my water comes out hot but my heat stay cold I got no heat...can someone tell me what's the problem
Excellent video, thank you!
Roger, your video is very easy to understand , you voice is clear. I like it !
Great video thank you! Any link to this pump and chemicals used? Does it come in a kit?
Nice review. Went to tank less and never looked back. I received the same recommendation from local plumber on use of vinegar 5% food grade verses de scaling agent. First time took about 2 hours and was told leave unit off. We have "hard" water and clean ours every year, some have said I don't need clean every year? It seems $7.00 of vinegar is cheaper then ruined heating elemets, yes our is electric.
What about well water system with Culligan water filtration ? How often does it need to be cleaned?
Link for the circulation pump?
What horsepower pump do you need for this?
Great video! I have 2 tankless WHs at a rental duplex that I flush yearly with vinegar.
I would recommend to find a plumber that not only flushes the tankless but offers during the service to remove the exhaust fan and clean out the buildup on the blades, and also opens the gas burner section and blows that area out too. Exhaust fans have to move a certain amount of air, and if it doesn't do so because of dirt/dust build-up on the blades the CFM sensor will shut down the unit and throw a code. Flushing is only part of the service. Also, I recommend once every 4 or 5 years, dependent on your water source/qaulity. If they are trying to tell you to do this every year then they are trying to milk you for more money.
Question...I just had my tankless water heater purged. (Once through cold intake followed by second time through hot side). Worked fine before. Would not heat after. Gas system. Box gas blower fan doesn't come on. Thoughts?
Thanks for the video!
I have a problem on my rinnai condensing water heater. I flushed it today and after doing it, even when heater is not running, there is a steady flow of water from condensing pipe. What to do to fix it. Thanks!
Great video! We've been having issues with our hot water going hot then cool then hot again while taking showers. Also the unit beeps when we wash clothes on hot and also when we take showers. Will flushing the tankless water heater fix these issues?
It's possible, but could be something else too
Should i descale my electric tankless water heater as i was told by a local plumber that he never heard of descaling an electric tankless water heater only done if its gas?
Nice DIY tutorial! I managed to did it myself for around $100 wheres all plumbing company quoted me for around $300.
Nice work!
Thanks for the video. I still am not confident about install mine. I have a rheem rtx-18 and I live in Dallas. 2bedroom 1 bath house. Is this thing going to still work when it gets cold?
Great video well xplain what the name of the químical and also the strips to check out ?
Hmm, my manual said power should be shut off first, like at the control panel? I also learned yearly maintenance includes cleaning internal parts, checking vent, flame, pressure relief valve, lubrication, etc. and recommends a licensed pro. One mistake could be trouble so, I think I'll watch a pro do it before I try.
I had a tankless system installed back in 2003 before many knew how to take care of them. I have no "Flush valves and the installers now won't do anything with these units unless they installed it. The company that installed it is long gone...any ideas?
Thank you sir. I help with maintenance on several newer townhouse apartments, and they have an all Electric Tankless Water Heater and have one that is not staying hot when being used.
What if my tankless water heater dosen't have those valves? It will have to be connected directly to the heater?
How do you know if it is time to clean it or not yet? Thank you.
I need help. There were no flush valves installed on my water heater and it has been here for over 20 years, never flushed. Where can I get the valves you showed in the video? And what about a flush kit? It's a Bosch. Thank you
Your voice should be use for reading books is very relaxing
What size (hp or gph) submersible pump would you recommend?
Hi Roger, it is a very good and informative video. What kind of pump do you use in the video? Rinnai said the pump should be 4-5 gallons per minutes, what kind do you suggest that is not too expensive. Thank you.
Sir you have alots of knowledge for this work i always watching your videos it's really help my work .thank you
Glad I could help, Zafir
@@RogerWakefield thank you sir ) you are nice person 🤩