[dropcap]A[/dropcap] tankless water heater will serve you for long unless you do not care for it. There are some things that you can do to make sure that it lasts longer. That is what we are going to look at here. Optimal performance will increase efficiency and make it easier for you to have a better experience. Most of the time, we ignore the heaters because we just assume that they will be fine or that they just transport water into the house, what could go wrong? Even the best tankless water heaters get problems when you do not care about them.
1. Turn Off The Power Source
You will need to do this from the main gas. This will turn off the circuit breaker that controls the electrical devices. The power source is always and should always be, off before anything happens. This is to prevent flow that could hurt you because sometimes hot water might shoot out.
2. Turn Off Water Valves
There are three water valves that are attached to the tankless water heaters. This prevents cold water from flowing into the water heater and hot water from flowing out when you are cleaning. The red valve means hot, the blue one means cold and there is another that runs water into the house.
3. Remove Purge Port Valve Caps
The purge valves have small handles that look like the letter T. This reduces the pressure built up in the valves. It will make sure hot water doesn’t shoot out and burn you. Shut off the hot water tap before you do any of this to make sure that no accidents happen that could cause you pain.
4. Connect The Hosing Lines To Each Valve
If you were not given any hosing lines when you bought the water heater, but some from the store and connect them to the valves. There are exact instructions that may vary depending on where you got the water heater that you are using. Consult the manual to see how you do it with the one that you have.
5. Purge
This will be done by opening the port valves so that they are perpendicular in relation to the cold and hot valves. When you do this the tankless water heater will be open for you to get in there and get some cleaning done.
6. Use Vinegar Instead of Chemicals
This is a tankless water heater and you probably use some of the water for drinking and cooking purposes. That means, if you use chemicals, there is a chance that some of them could get into the water supply and be bad for your health. For this reason, you will need to use vinegar as it will not poison the water and the cleaning it does is so efficient.
7. Flushing and Draining
This process comes next. You will need about 10 liters of vinegar to make sure that you get the whole system. There are instructions which are specific for each tankless water heater. You will need the manual book to explain the exact details of what you need to do to make sure that this happens exactly as it is supposed to. Just so you know, this procedure could take up to 45-50 minutes from start to finish.
8. Ports and Hoses
After you have done the flushing and the draining, you will need to go ahead and close the purge port valves. You will do this by twisting the T shaped handles. Always do this after you have completed the flushing process in all its entirety.
9. Remove Hoses and Put Back The Port Purge Valve Caps
The hosing lines need to be removed from each water valve. Make sure that all the lines do not have any hoses attached to them. Make sure that the caps are tightened very well and that they are firmly in place. Make sure that you do not break the sealing rubber in the disks.
