Tankless Water Heater Flushed (how much, house, buy)

[panacea1982]

Is it necessary to get tankless water heater flushed every 6 months? I was told it was necessary but when I asked my friends about it, none of them has ever had that done. So just want to hear other people's opinions. Thanks!

[ChristieP]

Nope. We’ve had ours for 10 years and never did that, and it works fine.

[Katana49]

Eventually they can get clogged from the hard water buildup we have here. They sell a kit for $100 on amazon that lets you clean it yourself, it's basically a couple hose fittings, hoses, a submersible pump, and a bucket. If you know what fittings you need you could buy a pump and the pieces separately and save about half the cost.

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by panacea1982

Is it necessary to get tankless water heater flushed every 6 months? I was told it was necessary but when I asked my friends about it, none of them has ever had that done. So just want to hear other people's opinions. Thanks!

Every six months? Unless you are on extra hard well water - no way.

If you are on city water - maybe every 3rd or 4th year.

__________________

If you unit does not have isolation valves (oft. called flush kit valves) on the hot and cold side you can't descale/flush anyway without some plumbing skills. So if you don't have valves that look something like the below don't worry about it.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/BrassCra...E&gclsrc=aw.ds

If you do get on the net and find a step by step descale routine......you'll need hoses, a bucket, a lot of white vinegar or better yet a purpose made descale powder or liquid, and a little pump.

___________________

Our lake house came with a then 5yo electric tankless WH that didn't have isolation valves and the seller had obviously never descaled the unit.

The day after we closed I added isolation valves. The next day I descaled the unit..............you would not believe how much semi-dissolved garbage poured into the bucket. The unit instantly worked much better as well.


_________________

The moral is if you can do it easily do so every couple of years. If you water is hard then do so more like every year. The people recommending every 6 mos. are likely from Arizona or they've had well water in the past.

[Rakin]

I flush mine yearly. The kit and instructions are on Amazon. It takes about an hour and very simple.

Spend about $150 one time and it will save you about $250-300 a year.

Yes they should be flushed. 6 months is excessive.

[escanlan]

Originally Posted by panacea1982

Is it necessary to get tankless water heater flushed every 6 months? I was told it was necessary but when I asked my friends about it, none of them has ever had that done. So just want to hear other people's opinions. Thanks!

Do read your tankless WH manual and it will provide needed maintenance. One maintenance task is to at least annually clean a filter that is inline with the WH. That can give you an idea if the remainder of the system requires extended cleaning. If it was properly installed then it should be easy to access to use one of the flush kits available out there. The cost savings over a Plumber for of one self flush job would pay for the flush kit.