I've watched 4 videos trying to find out how to flush the system 3 of the guys were stoned, you were the only one to show clearly step by step. thank you.
Watched the first video, and didn’t see the updated link to this video, so now I’m doing it a second time today. I’m sure no one has bought more vinegar than me in the last 24 hours lol. Great video and thanks!
Tell them at the store you love salads. Sorry for the inconvenience. Had you caught before dumping the old vinegar you could have reused it. Thanks for the feedback.
I wish I had, but I did it yesterday, and started perusing the comments this morning. But the hour went by fast, and I’m back up and running. Thanks Again
Helpful! I appreciate the brief video! I’m a first time diyer I watched this one and another video one and this one got straight to the point and I did it. Bought the hoses and pump from Lowe’s total $120 with tax and now I’m prepared to do it myself every year! Thanks
Congrats, its a great feeling when you finish doing it yourself. You'll save money and know the job was done correctly. Glad we were able to help with the solution, thanks for watching.
Thank you for the great video. Clear instructions, overview of what is needed to complete task. Saved me well over $150 dollars by doing it myself. Thanks again!!
I saw the other guy's comment that lead me down a youtube rabbit hole. I ended up calling tech services at Rheem and they sent me updated instructions that specifically mention the bypass valve. Here is directly from the PDF 1. The entire process can take up to an hour or more to complete. 2. Turn OFF the gas and both the hot at cold water supply to the tankless water heater. The gas must remain OFF during the flushing process. 3. To properly flush the heater the electronic bypass valve inside the heater must be closed. Follow these steps to do this: At the remote control, turn OFF the power and wait 10 seconds. Turn ON the power at the remote control, wait 10 seconds, and disconnect the water heater from the electrical source. *The rest of the steps are basically the same for the flush. I could email you the PDF if you like. I'll include the rest of the steps for anyone else who is interested as I don't want to email everyone. 4. Leaving the water OFF to the heater, connect the two drain hoses, (provided with this kit), to the hose connections on the service valves under the tankless water heater. 5. Place the loose ends of the hose into a 5 gallon bucket. 6. Open the service port valve on each side, (hot and cold valves), to allow the heater to drain. Connect the hose for the cold water side to the outlet of the utility pump and place the pump on the bottom of the bucket. 7. Pour two gallons of vinegar into the bucket, and plug the pump into an electrical source. 8. Allow the pump to circulate the vinegar for 45 to 60 minutes. Depending upon the mineral build up and hardness of the water some regions may require a longer circulation time. 9. After completing the circulation time, disconnect the power to the pump and loosen the hose from the pump. Allow the vin- egar from the heater to drain from the heater into the bucket. 10.Close the service port on the cold water side and disconnect the hose from the cold side service valve. 11. Remove the hot water side drain hose from the bucket and route it to a suitable drain, use a second bucket if needed. 12.Follow the instructions in the Use and Care Manual, (supplied with the heater), to clean the cold water inlet filter. 13.ONLY turn ON the cold water supply to the heater, NOTE: DO NOT TURN ON THE HOT WATER SUPPLY TO THE SYSTEM AS VINEGAR IS STILL IN THE HEATER. Water will begin to flow through the heater, this will rinse out any remaining vinegar from the water heater. Allow the water to run for about 5 minutes to thoroughly out the vinegar. 14.After 5 minutes, close the hot water service port and discon- nect the drain hose from the hot water side service valve. 15.Open a hot water fixture, such as a tub, and turn ON the hot water supply to the system. Allow the water to flow for a minute to ensure no air remains in the system, then turn OFF the fixture. 16.Reconnect power to the water heater and turn ON the gas supply. At the remote control turn on the power to the heater. 17.Run a couple of hot water fixtures to ensure the heater is operating properly.
thank you so much for this video, I saw a video previously where they mentioned that the bypass valve inside needs to be closed but didn't mention how. was looking for this info for a while !
Interesting. I have been cleaning mine for about 6 years just by shutting the power off at the breaker to it. I wonder why they want you to turn the power off and on for 10 seconds?
Thank you for a great how-to video. After having my Rheem Tankless go into error 13 repeatedly making for cold showers. I watched this video. I had to add the bypass valves then cleaned my water heater the vinegar solution was full of sediment. today for the first time in months all of us in the house had a nice hot shower.
Hard to believe it not mandatory to include these valves during installation. Glad to hear the video contributed to getting your family in hot water. Thanks for sharing.
@@cfldriven I have not had any problems with my water heater. I always have good hot water, but I need to wait around 1 min to get the hot water from the faucet.
@@alitarokh1 I was initially concerned since the water in our area tends to be really cold, but the wait experience is close to what we had with warmer CA water. Thanks for the reply.
Excellent video. I added a step. After the vinegar process, I ran a bucket of clean water through to clean the vinegar out of the pump. Does that make sense?
Well it is extra work that is not necessary. When done with the cleaning solution, just open the cold inlet side to flush out the system into your bucket. When clean of vinegar restore system and you're done.
Completed project yesterday,used 12v boat bilge pump! No issues,ran an hour,did notice green tint to vinegar after finishing,thanks again. Concerning pressure drop,filter only had a few s specs on screen,not the reason for pressure drop!
Good to hear the system cleaning went well and great idea to use bilge pump. If you ever discover why there is a pressure change at low temp, I be interested in hearing about it.
Thanks so much for a clear, concise explanation of this process. It will come in handy once I take the plunge on buying a new tankless. I would love to get the non condensing unit, but unfortunately I don’t seem to have a viable option for the condensate line, at least as far as I can tell. I do have one observation: I don’t see a drip line in your gas line connection. I understand it is recommended to prolong your appliance’s life (keeps particulate matter from entering the appliance). It would be an easy mod for you.
Depending on your local plumbing codes you can route the condensate line to external or to internal drain. Because the Rheem neutralizes the condensate there no danger of damaging your pipes. As to my gas line in CA you can put a loop and that handles any particulate matter. Thank you for the questions and for watching. I know you will be happy once you go tankless, just make sure they include the service valves.
Thank you for the feedback. I'm sure the bad ones will, the others will realize that at least this creates awareness this maintenance needs to be done which they can offer.
@@TojiZenin3956 If you have extra hard water then twice a year might be a good idea. For just hard water once a year is good enough. The solution is not corrosive, if there is no mineral deposits to dissolve it won't do any harm.
Thank you for the feed back. It is a Little Giant 20 GPM 1/6hp submersible water pump. It just happened to be a pump I had laying around. I imagine the gpm could be less and the results would be the same.
Nice presentation and confirms what I was going to do to clean my system. I wish the installer would have installed isolation valves on the hot and cold, but as time goes one sees which plumbers do it on the cheap and those that provide a more user friendly installation. Again, thank you.
It would be so much easier if isolation valves were included with all tankless units. I have had two of these installed and each time had to specify the valves. Strange as it such an easy up sell for the installer. Thanks for the feedback and sharing.
Hi. Do you drain the system of water first, or circulate the vinegar solution with the water that was in the unit at the time? Thanks for informative video.
Flushing will not help with error code 13. Depending on your diy level you could some or all of the following: Check that the air intake and exhaust venting for obstructions. Check the Flame Rod FL-24. Check the Blower Motor. Check gas valve assembly. Or have a prof check these things for you. Thanks for watching and I would be interested in learning the cause of your error message.
What I have is a discarded submersible pump, nothing special about it except the house thread. Since it only pumping a few feet and being used once or twice a year, just about an UL rated submersible will do with a few gpm will do.
I used this one from ebay: www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Electric-Portable-Utility-Water-Transfer-Pump-Pony-Pump-115-120-v-1-imp/233550828263?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649 you would need 3 hoses, since it is not submersible. I only needed one gallon of 5% vinegar.
@@cfldriven Thanks for the quick reply. Was thinking of doing that, but didn't know how contaminated the vinegar would be after descaling. Appreciate it!
@@chapmanbuddies2388 No prob, the contaminates in the vinegar are the same ones that were deposited from the water. Okay for the drain but not on the salad.
@@cfldriven This is my instinct...BUT, I have a septic system and just read that large amounts of vinegar can be bad for the bacteria that works it's magic down in my tank. Any other ides?
Rheem doesn't give a frequency because it depends on the hardness of your water supply. In Southern California 100-300 PPM, I would do it once a year. Where I live now it is 4 PPM, and therefore I can go much longer. Check with your water supplier for hardness level.
Shut off the water supply? Depending the location of the leak, service valve port, you may be able to tighten connections. If internal to unit, that is a call to Rheem. My unit started leaking a few days after installation around the union and I had the plumber come back out and correct it. Hope it gets resolved soon. Let us know what the solution was.
@@rgmagz5719 I hope you are able to share how your experience with Rheem support goes. I lived in two homes that each had Rheem units and never had a reason to call them. Hope it is an easy fix.
Hi there, did you ever resolve the internal leaking issue? I just performed the descaling and now that everything is reconnected I notice a good amount of internal leaking. There’s a ton of salt or limescale or whatever on the inside of the unit, so this leaking might’ve been happening prior to the descale.
There shouldn't be any dirt, all you are doing is dissolving the mineral deposits. Any particulate that gets sucked up the pump will be stopped by the built in filter on the cold water inlet. This filter should be cleaned after flushing to eliminate any particles trapped from the incoming cold water. Depending on your water supply check the filter one to two times a year. Thanks for the questions.
Wouldn't it be recommended that the system be backflushed from hot through cold? Also if a softener is used would it really be necessary to flush annually?
Couldn't flushing the vinegar out of the system when done to the outside, couldn't you just run your the taps for 5 minutes? Same thing? Would it harm the existing pipe?
There is only a small amount of solution in the tankless unit, therefore running the tap will quickly remove it. It won't harm anything as it is fairly weak acid and staying in contact for long. If you system is outside or your temp & pressure valve vents to the outside you can use that to clear the last of the solution.
What is the significance of one of the hoses being a female to male? I never saw any distinct use of that male connection in the video. Thank you for the video.
As you know the average garden hose has a male and female connectors which works for most applications. However in this situation the output of the pump requires a female connection and since the other end needs to connect to the service valve it too needs to be a female connection. Of course the output from the Rheem will made to a female connector and the other end which is discharging into the bucket can be any connector or no connector. Sorry if it wasn't clear in the video. Thanks for the feedback.
cfldriven ah ok makes sense. I ended up just using a bucket and discharging 5 gallons of the clean out water into a bucket so get rid of the strong vinegar. and then sent the rest to the outside via the relief valve. Thanks for the video. Procedure went much easier than I even anticipated.
Here is what I found, hope it helps. If you receive an error code 29 on a Mid-Efficiency or Condensing unit, it indicates that the heat exchanger temperature is too low. However, it could also indicate that the neutralizer is clogged on a condensing unit. Here's where to start when you see this error code: Clean the air inlet screen. Clean the fins on the heat exchanger. If you're still seeing the error code after doing the above AND your Rheem tankless is a condensing model, check the following: Check that the drain line isn't blocked and that the shipping cap has been removed. Inside the unit, clear all of the neutralizer drainage ports. Outside the unit, clear the neutralizer drainage line.
It is instantaneous from the unit. Of course it has to travel to the faucet thus the further away the longer it takes to arrive. Also if the existing water in the pipe has cooled off then the part of the heat energy is lost in heating up the pipe. Really no different then an old fashion water heater. There are re-circulation pumps that can mitigate this issue.
@@josemadrigal5918 If you don't have a loop system there is a device you can attach to a sink and it will provide the loop through. Check their website under accessories.
@@josemadrigal5918 No the booster is for boosting water temp, what you want is the Rhemm Cross over valve kit. Check out HD website www.homedepot.com/p/Rheem-PROTECH-Cross-Over-Valve-Kit-RTG20285/311689089
Hung, the first time I had a stuck valve, the plumber came over and just put a wrench to it. Of course if the valve were to snap he was there all the tools. Since that time I have been very careful not to apply too much pressure for fear of breaking something. My advise would be to be firm, but gentle enough not to do damage. If it won't budge open, get help.
Robert, very good catch. After three gallons I was concerned that adding another would cause spillage once the pump started running. But as you see in the video it still did the job. Next time if I can get a large enough container, I will go with the four gallons. Thanks for watching.
Even if you accidentally put Rheem in bypass mode fluid will still flow in and out. Service valve in correct position? Did pump overload circuit? Kink in hose? Does pump time out on its own when not connected to Rheem? Hope that helps.
Got to your video because a local plumber recommended I google this rather than pay him $250 (hell of a business model! Even offered to walk me through it over the phone for free if I had any issues!) After watching your video I guess he had better things to do than sit at my house for an hour watching vinegar flush. He did mention a special procedure to flush an upper coil? Do you know anything about that?
I guess he figures he could make more money doing something else, still nice that he was willing to walk you through it. Never heard about flushing upper coil as a separate procedure. The incoming cold water gets preheated by the upper coil before entering the heating chamber so this flushing would take care of that. If you get more info please pass it on. Thanks for watching.
It all depends on the hardness of your water. When I lived in Southern California, where mineral deposits formed on fixtures, I did it once a year. If your water is softer or you use a water softener then once every other year should do. Thank you for watching.
Heres a question for you, I live in Ohio & when the weather goes above freezing I wash the car using water thru my Rheem(outside faucet) at lowest temp setting(think 85) i noticed the water pressure drops,but only at lowest temp,if i use water at 110 deg,no pressure drop,any ideas??
According to Rheem: Will a tankless water heater work on a ½-inch gas line? Yes and No. Apparently there are several variables that need to be factored in. In my situation we upgraded the meter, installed a one inch pipe and reduced to 3/4 inch for the final connection. The really scary part is most of plumbers bidding on the project did not check NG pressure, BTU being used by other devices, or size of existing pipes. Rheem was a great source for info even though some got a little too techie for me. Thanks for bringing up the issue.
I'm thinking there is a reason the manufacture tells you to circulate several gallons of cooking grade vinegar through the system. Using a stronger acidic level and letting it sit may not be good for the internal components.
@@pland99 Except in circulating you're moving a lot more volume of solution that can work on the lime and scale for a longer time. The limited static solution will become less effective as it dissolves the lime and scale.
Just use cheap washing machine hoses. I use the waste vinegar to clean my concrete driveway, that green coloration is copper that leached out into the vinegar.
In the video I did shut off the cold water valve before the isolation valve because it is part of the prescribed procedure from Rheem. It just a safety precaution, same as turning off the gas. You could decide not to turn off the water main or the gas, but if you turned the wrong service valve you could spray water out, or it the unit wasn't de energized and you left the gas on it could fire up. It a bit of extra safety and if the valves are there why not? Great question, thanks for watching.
I've watched 4 videos trying to find out how to flush the system 3 of the guys were stoned, you were the only one to show clearly step by step. thank you.
It certainly helps to be sober! Glad you found it useful. Feel free to check out my other sober videos.
Watched the first video, and didn’t see the updated link to this video, so now I’m doing it a second time today. I’m sure no one has bought more vinegar than me in the last 24 hours lol. Great video and thanks!
Tell them at the store you love salads.
Sorry for the inconvenience. Had you caught before dumping the old vinegar you could have reused it. Thanks for the feedback.
I wish I had, but I did it yesterday, and started perusing the comments this morning. But the hour went by fast, and I’m back up and running. Thanks Again
@@tonyt0906 And now you know the drill for next time. Thanks for sharing.
Helpful! I appreciate the brief video! I’m a first time diyer I watched this one and another video one and this one got straight to the point and I did it. Bought the hoses and pump from Lowe’s total $120 with tax and now I’m prepared to do it myself every year! Thanks
Congrats, its a great feeling when you finish doing it yourself. You'll save money and know the job was done correctly. Glad we were able to help with the solution, thanks for watching.
Thank you for the great video. Clear instructions, overview of what is needed to complete task. Saved me well over $150 dollars by doing it myself. Thanks again!!
Glad you saved some money and got it done. Thank you for the positive feedback.
Great video, never thought about the unplug step. Great catch
Thanks for watching and taking the time to write.
I saw the other guy's comment that lead me down a youtube rabbit hole. I ended up calling tech services at Rheem and they sent me updated instructions that specifically mention the bypass valve. Here is directly from the PDF
1. The entire process can take up to an hour or more to complete.
2. Turn OFF the gas and both the hot at cold water supply to the
tankless water heater. The gas must remain OFF during the
flushing process.
3. To properly flush the heater the electronic bypass valve inside
the heater must be closed. Follow these steps to do this: At
the remote control, turn OFF the power and wait 10 seconds.
Turn ON the power at the remote control, wait 10 seconds,
and disconnect the water heater from the electrical source.
*The rest of the steps are basically the same for the flush. I could email you the PDF if you like. I'll include the rest of the steps for anyone else who is interested as I don't want to email everyone.
4. Leaving the water OFF to the heater, connect the two drain
hoses, (provided with this kit), to the hose connections on the
service valves under the tankless water heater.
5. Place the loose ends of the hose into a 5 gallon bucket.
6. Open the service port valve on each side, (hot and cold
valves), to allow the heater to drain. Connect the hose for the
cold water side to the outlet of the utility pump and place the
pump on the bottom of the bucket.
7. Pour two gallons of vinegar into the bucket, and plug the pump
into an electrical source.
8. Allow the pump to circulate the vinegar for 45 to 60 minutes.
Depending upon the mineral build up and hardness of the
water some regions may require a longer circulation time.
9. After completing the circulation time, disconnect the power to
the pump and loosen the hose from the pump. Allow the vin-
egar from the heater to drain from the heater into the bucket.
10.Close the service port on the cold water side and disconnect
the hose from the cold side service valve.
11. Remove the hot water side drain hose from the bucket and
route it to a suitable drain, use a second bucket if needed.
12.Follow the instructions in the Use and Care Manual, (supplied
with the heater), to clean the cold water inlet filter.
13.ONLY turn ON the cold water supply to the heater,
NOTE: DO NOT TURN ON THE HOT WATER SUPPLY TO
THE SYSTEM AS VINEGAR IS STILL IN THE HEATER.
Water will begin to flow through the heater, this will rinse out
any remaining vinegar from the water heater. Allow the water
to run for about 5 minutes to thoroughly out the vinegar.
14.After 5 minutes, close the hot water service port and discon-
nect the drain hose from the hot water side service valve.
15.Open a hot water fixture, such as a tub, and turn ON the
hot water supply to the system. Allow the water to flow for a
minute to ensure no air remains in the system, then turn OFF
the fixture.
16.Reconnect power to the water heater and turn ON the gas
supply. At the remote control turn on the power to the heater.
17.Run a couple of hot water fixtures to ensure the heater is
operating properly.
Thank you for taking the time to post and share the info.
thank you so much for this video, I saw a video previously where they mentioned that the bypass valve inside needs to be closed but didn't mention how. was looking for this info for a while !
@@ShrimpCracka Thank you for the feedback, delighted to hear the video was helpful.
Interesting. I have been cleaning mine for about 6 years just by shutting the power off at the breaker to it. I wonder why they want you to turn the power off and on for 10 seconds?
@@allenemiesforeignanddomest3320 I see. Mine is an older one from probably 2017. Maybe they’ve changed something since then.
Thank you, sir. You gave me the confidence to do this on my own and it was a success!
Bijan, congrats on taking on the task and succeeding. Thanks for watching.
Thank you for a great how-to video. After having my Rheem Tankless go into error 13 repeatedly making for cold showers. I watched this video. I had to add the bypass valves then cleaned my water heater the vinegar solution was full of sediment. today for the first time in months all of us in the house had a nice hot shower.
Hard to believe it not mandatory to include these valves during installation. Glad to hear the video contributed to getting your family in hot water. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you so much for your help! Your instructions were clear and easy to follow!
Good to hear this video helped you out. thanks for watching.
Great video, easier to understand than Rheem’s instructions!
Thank you for the feedback, we strive to make it useful.
You are awesome! Thank you so much!!! I so appreciate you and your detailed instructions!!
Thank you for taking the time to comment.
Great video! Use it every time I descale my water heater!
Thank you for the feedback.
I come here once every year!
Guess I'll see you next year. Glad you're staying with the maintenance routine.
@@cfldriven thanks for this clear video.
Outstanding, now time to complete job. Thank you
Thank you for watching and much success with the project. Don't forget to clean the tankless water filter ua-cam.com/video/22JQhH-hdv0/v-deo.html
Thank you so much. It was so useful and easy to follow.
Curious to know if you have a tankless in Chicago? How is it in the winter?
@@cfldriven I have not had any problems with my water heater. I always have good hot water, but I need to wait around 1 min to get the hot water from the faucet.
@@alitarokh1 I was initially concerned since the water in our area tends to be really cold, but the wait experience is close to what we had with warmer CA water. Thanks for the reply.
Excellent video. I added a step. After the vinegar process, I ran a bucket of clean water through to clean the vinegar out of the pump. Does that make sense?
Well it is extra work that is not necessary. When done with the cleaning solution, just open the cold inlet side to flush out the system into your bucket. When clean of vinegar restore system and you're done.
Completed project yesterday,used 12v boat bilge pump! No issues,ran an hour,did notice green tint to vinegar after finishing,thanks again. Concerning pressure drop,filter only had a few s specs on screen,not the reason for pressure drop!
Good to hear the system cleaning went well and great idea to use bilge pump. If you ever discover why there is a pressure change at low temp, I be interested in hearing about it.
Doing it today,thanks for outstanding video!
Thank you for the feed back and good look with the project.
Great review! Very very informative!
Appreciate you taking the time to comment and watch.
Best video out there!
Thanks for taking the time to watch and provide feedback.
Thank you. This video helped a lot.
Delighted to hear it was helpful to you. Thanks for watching.
Thanks so much for a clear, concise explanation of this process. It will come in handy once I take the plunge on buying a new tankless. I would love to get the non condensing unit, but unfortunately I don’t seem to have a viable option for the condensate line, at least as far as I can tell.
I do have one observation: I don’t see a drip line in your gas line connection. I understand it is recommended to prolong your appliance’s life (keeps particulate matter from entering the appliance). It would be an easy mod for you.
Depending on your local plumbing codes you can route the condensate line to external or to internal drain. Because the Rheem neutralizes the condensate there no danger of damaging your pipes. As to my gas line in CA you can put a loop and that handles any particulate matter. Thank you for the questions and for watching. I know you will be happy once you go tankless, just make sure they include the service valves.
Excellent tutorial video. Thank you much
Thank you, like these units so much, purchased another when we moved.
Thank you for the detailed video. Plumbers will hate you now.
Thank you for the feedback. I'm sure the bad ones will, the others will realize that at least this creates awareness this maintenance needs to be done which they can offer.
Can you flush the unit twice a year or too many flushing corrode the internal parts?
@@TojiZenin3956 If you have extra hard water then twice a year might be a good idea. For just hard water once a year is good enough. The solution is not corrosive, if there is no mineral deposits to dissolve it won't do any harm.
Thank you
Thank so much for your nicely details video
Great video and info! What size/flow rate pump are you using to flush with?
Thank you for the feed back. It is a Little Giant 20 GPM 1/6hp submersible water pump. It just happened to be a pump I had laying around. I imagine the gpm could be less and the results would be the same.
Nice presentation and confirms what I was going to do to clean my system. I wish the installer would have installed isolation valves on the hot and cold, but as time goes one sees which plumbers do it on the cheap and those that provide a more user friendly installation. Again, thank you.
It would be so much easier if isolation valves were included with all tankless units. I have had two of these installed and each time had to specify the valves. Strange as it such an easy up sell for the installer. Thanks for the feedback and sharing.
Hi. Do you drain the system of water first, or circulate the vinegar solution with the water that was in the unit at the time? Thanks for informative video.
Will flushing the system help w/error code 13 or should i get a professional come look at it?
Flushing will not help with error code 13. Depending on your diy level you could some or all of the following:
Check that the air intake and exhaust venting for obstructions.
Check the Flame Rod FL-24.
Check the Blower Motor.
Check gas valve assembly.
Or have a prof check these things for you.
Thanks for watching and I would be interested in learning the cause of your error message.
@@cfldriven thanks so much for the tip and awesome video.
Thank you for this very easy to follow video. Quick question, can you please link or recommend a submersible pump and its strength (GPH). Thank you.
What I have is a discarded submersible pump, nothing special about it except the house thread. Since it only pumping a few feet and being used once or twice a year, just about an UL rated submersible will do with a few gpm will do.
I used this one from ebay: www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Electric-Portable-Utility-Water-Transfer-Pump-Pony-Pump-115-120-v-1-imp/233550828263?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649
you would need 3 hoses, since it is not submersible. I only needed one gallon of 5% vinegar.
Great video. What pump are you using? I can’t seem to find a 5/8 connection pump anywhere.
Home Depot has the Everbilt 1/4 HP with 5/8 connection and Lowes has similar. Hope this helps.
Great video. Doing it as I type this. Where do you dispose of that much vinegar?
Thank you! Good question, I allocate some to each of the sinks and drains as it helps to breakdown grease and gunk in the pipes.
@@cfldriven Thanks for the quick reply. Was thinking of doing that, but didn't know how contaminated the vinegar would be after descaling. Appreciate it!
@@chapmanbuddies2388 No prob, the contaminates in the vinegar are the same ones that were deposited from the water. Okay for the drain but not on the salad.
@@cfldriven hahaha. Was wondering what that extra crunch was lol
@@cfldriven This is my instinct...BUT, I have a septic system and just read that large amounts of vinegar can be bad for the bacteria that works it's magic down in my tank. Any other ides?
How often is this procedure need to be done on these Rheem Tankless units ?
Rheem doesn't give a frequency because it depends on the hardness of your water supply. In Southern California 100-300 PPM, I would do it once a year. Where I live now it is 4 PPM, and therefore I can go much longer. Check with your water supplier for hardness level.
Hi sir, what to do when the unit is leaking water?
Shut off the water supply? Depending the location of the leak, service valve port, you may be able to tighten connections. If internal to unit, that is a call to Rheem.
My unit started leaking a few days after installation around the union and I had the plumber come back out and correct it.
Hope it gets resolved soon. Let us know what the solution was.
Thank you for replying sir. I did shut all the water lines but the leak still going inside the unit. I have to call the rheem. Thank you
@@rgmagz5719 I hope you are able to share how your experience with Rheem support goes. I lived in two homes that each had Rheem units and never had a reason to call them. Hope it is an easy fix.
Hi there, did you ever resolve the internal leaking issue? I just performed the descaling and now that everything is reconnected I notice a good amount of internal leaking. There’s a ton of salt or limescale or whatever on the inside of the unit, so this leaking might’ve been happening prior to the descale.
Aren’t we supposed to elevate the pump slightly so the pump does not suck the dirt back in the water heater?
There shouldn't be any dirt, all you are doing is dissolving the mineral deposits. Any particulate that gets sucked up the pump will be stopped by the built in filter on the cold water inlet. This filter should be cleaned after flushing to eliminate any particles trapped from the incoming cold water. Depending on your water supply check the filter one to two times a year. Thanks for the questions.
Wouldn't it be recommended that the system be backflushed from hot through cold? Also if a softener is used would it really be necessary to flush annually?
This is the Rheem recommended way of flushing the system. If you have soft water or water softener than flushing can done every few years.
Couldn't flushing the vinegar out of the system when done to the outside, couldn't you just run your the taps for 5 minutes? Same thing? Would it harm the existing pipe?
There is only a small amount of solution in the tankless unit, therefore running the tap will quickly remove it. It won't harm anything as it is fairly weak acid and staying in contact for long. If you system is outside or your temp & pressure valve vents to the outside you can use that to clear the last of the solution.
What is the significance of one of the hoses being a female to male? I never saw any distinct use of that male connection in the video. Thank you for the video.
As you know the average garden hose has a male and female connectors which works for most applications. However in this situation the output of the pump requires a female connection and since the other end needs to connect to the service valve it too needs to be a female connection. Of course the output from the Rheem will made to a female connector and the other end which is discharging into the bucket can be any connector or no connector. Sorry if it wasn't clear in the video.
Thanks for the feedback.
cfldriven ah ok makes sense. I ended up just using a bucket and discharging 5 gallons of the clean out water into a bucket so get rid of the strong vinegar. and then sent the rest to the outside via the relief valve. Thanks for the video. Procedure went much easier than I even anticipated.
I got a code 29 , will this take care of that code 29 ??
Here is what I found, hope it helps.
If you receive an error code 29 on a Mid-Efficiency or Condensing unit, it indicates that the heat exchanger temperature is too low. However, it could also indicate that the neutralizer is clogged on a condensing unit. Here's where to start when you see this error code:
Clean the air inlet screen.
Clean the fins on the heat exchanger.
If you're still seeing the error code after doing the above AND your Rheem tankless is a condensing model, check the following:
Check that the drain line isn't blocked and that the shipping cap has been removed.
Inside the unit, clear all of the neutralizer drainage ports.
Outside the unit, clear the neutralizer drainage line.
Hi I am not able to find the electric plug - So only option is to shut down circuit breaker for the entire master bath?
Me too....As long as the circuit turns power off then its all the same
Is your hot water intantaneous? Meaning you get hot water in a few seconds? Mine takes 3 minutes to get hot water out?
It is instantaneous from the unit. Of course it has to travel to the faucet thus the further away the longer it takes to arrive. Also if the existing water in the pipe has cooled off then the part of the heat energy is lost in heating up the pipe. Really no different then an old fashion water heater. There are re-circulation pumps that can mitigate this issue.
@@cfldriven Does the plumbing need to be on a "Loop" system to use the re-circ pump?
@@josemadrigal5918 If you don't have a loop system there is a device you can attach to a sink and it will provide the loop through. Check their website under accessories.
@@cfldriven All that Rheem has under accessories is a "water heater booster
", is that what you are referring too?
@@josemadrigal5918 No the booster is for boosting water temp, what you want is the Rhemm Cross over valve kit. Check out HD website www.homedepot.com/p/Rheem-PROTECH-Cross-Over-Valve-Kit-RTG20285/311689089
How can I close or openboth hot and cold water inlet valves if they are stuck real tight?
Hung, the first time I had a stuck valve, the plumber came over and just put a wrench to it. Of course if the valve were to snap he was there all the tools. Since that time I have been very careful not to apply too much pressure for fear of breaking something. My advise would be to be firm, but gentle enough not to do damage. If it won't budge open, get help.
Thanks! The plumber who installed it wanted $250 to do this. And I doubt he's gonna sit there for an hour while the pump runs.
Your welcome, glad to hear it saved you some money. In addition to the savings you know exactly how well the job was done.
Thanks for the comment.
In the beginning you said you need 4 gallons of vinegar. Then you put 3 gallons in the bucket. What about the 4th gallon?
Robert, very good catch. After three gallons I was concerned that adding another would cause spillage once the pump started running. But as you see in the video it still did the job. Next time if I can get a large enough container, I will go with the four gallons. Thanks for watching.
my pump stopped making the noise indication it was on after about 10min ... wondering what went wrong..
Even if you accidentally put Rheem in bypass mode fluid will still flow in and out. Service valve in correct position? Did pump overload circuit? Kink in hose? Does pump time out on its own when not connected to Rheem? Hope that helps.
@@alarce129That’s a negative. Water will not flow unless it’s in bypass mode.
Got to your video because a local plumber recommended I google this rather than pay him $250 (hell of a business model! Even offered to walk me through it over the phone for free if I had any issues!) After watching your video I guess he had better things to do than sit at my house for an hour watching vinegar flush.
He did mention a special procedure to flush an upper coil? Do you know anything about that?
I guess he figures he could make more money doing something else, still nice that he was willing to walk you through it. Never heard about flushing upper coil as a separate procedure. The incoming cold water gets preheated by the upper coil before entering the heating chamber so this flushing would take care of that. If you get more info please pass it on. Thanks for watching.
How often do you do this?
It all depends on the hardness of your water. When I lived in Southern California, where mineral deposits formed on fixtures, I did it once a year. If your water is softer or you use a water softener then once every other year should do. Thank you for watching.
Heres a question for you, I live in Ohio & when the weather goes above freezing I wash the car using water thru my Rheem(outside faucet) at lowest temp setting(think 85) i noticed the water pressure drops,but only at lowest temp,if i use water at 110 deg,no pressure drop,any ideas??
Never heard of water temperature changing pressure. Usually change in water pressure is scale build up or water filter clogging.
is that a sump pump you have? can you recommend a list of pumps? thanks.
use a pool cover pump
i would just pump the vinegar into the pipe system. lime and scale is probably in the home pipes.
Don't want to end up like Flint MI, leaching unwanted chemical into your drinking water. This is only recommended for the tankless system.
Great video I am going to do it but why no butt crack? Are you not a plumber?
Thank you for the laugh.
I think the mfg required 3/4" in diameter for natural gas line and not 1/2" ?
According to Rheem:
Will a tankless water heater work on a ½-inch gas line? Yes and No.
Apparently there are several variables that need to be factored in. In my situation we upgraded the meter, installed a one inch pipe and reduced to 3/4 inch for the final connection. The really scary part is most of plumbers bidding on the project did not check NG pressure, BTU being used by other devices, or size of existing pipes.
Rheem was a great source for info even though some got a little too techie for me.
Thanks for bringing up the issue.
Would this help code error 99?
No, instead check for blockages in the venting and exhaust flue.
I'm thinking after unit has 100% vinegar,just close both valves,shut off pump & let it sit!
I'm thinking there is a reason the manufacture tells you to circulate several gallons of cooking grade vinegar through the system. Using a stronger acidic level and letting it sit may not be good for the internal components.
Sitting or circulating,same solution!
@@pland99 Except in circulating you're moving a lot more volume of solution that can work on the lime and scale for a longer time. The limited static solution will become less effective as it dissolves the lime and scale.
Just use cheap washing machine hoses. I use the waste vinegar to clean my concrete driveway, that green coloration is copper that leached out into the vinegar.
Thank you for sharing. I too reuse the wasted vinegar by pouring it in drains and toilets. Gets them clean and removes any orders.
Why shut off to house f you already have isolation valves
In the video I did shut off the cold water valve before the isolation valve because it is part of the prescribed procedure from Rheem. It just a safety precaution, same as turning off the gas. You could decide not to turn off the water main or the gas, but if you turned the wrong service valve you could spray water out, or it the unit wasn't de energized and you left the gas on it could fire up. It a bit of extra safety and if the valves are there why not?
Great question, thanks for watching.