Tankless Water Heater Maintenance Tips for Contractors
Tankless water heaters have become popular with homeowners looking for an energy-efficient alternative to bulky storage tanks. If your customers are thinking of upgrading or already have, you can demonstrate your value by helping them protect their investment.
Scheduling routine maintenance is a great way to strengthen your relationship with customers and keep their water flowing hot all year long. Discover maintenance tips and shop the tankless water heater parts you need now.
Why professional tankless water heater maintenance is crucial
Your customers can take advantage of many benefits when they switch to a tankless water heater, including energy efficiency and longer lifespan. But the initial investment can be high, and without routine maintenance from a professional, those energy savings and expected life could dwindle over time.
In addition, proper servicing may be required to keep the manufacturer’s warranty active. As an authorized professional to conduct maintenance and service, you can help your customers protect their investment and keep utility bills lower. So, how often do your customers need service?
When to schedule routine maintenance with customers
Establishing a routine maintenance schedule from the start of installation can help ensure the tankless water heater always operates efficiently. Depending on the level of minerals in your customer’s water, a thorough descale and flush of a tankless water heater should occur at least once or twice per year.
If your customer has soft water, once a year is typically good for flushing and descaling. If they have hard water, every six months can better help prevent shortening the life of the unit.
However, other components need cleaning every six months or so, like water and air filters.
Some tankless water heaters come with filters in the line. The exact location can vary across manufacturers, but the filter is usually located near the cold water inlet. Your customer also may have a sediment filter on the water line, or you may recommend installing one. These water filters can be cleaned and/or replaced as needed when you’re conducting your regularly scheduled maintenance.
In addition, gas and some electric tankless water heaters have an air filter that needs occasional cleaning as well.
An ideal maintenance schedule for tankless water heaters would be every six months. If you offer service contracts or maintenance agreements as part of your plumbing and HVAC business, these checkups can align with servicing HVAC equipment before summer and winter.
Why it’s important to descale tankless water heaters
Descaling tankless water heaters is one of the most important aspects of routine maintenance. Over time, heavy minerals in water, like magnesium and can build up in the unit. This buildup restricts water flow and can lead to corrosion in the unit or cause the heat exchanger to overheat.
All of this not only reduces energy efficiency but also can ultimately shorten the life of the tankless water heater—and replacement is costly. Using descaler solutions properly can help you keep building customer trust and satisfaction to grow your business.
Preventive tankless water heater maintenance checklist
Before beginning, discuss the tankless water heater’s performance with the homeowner. Ask if they have noticed any issues with the on-demand hot water, leaks or flow so you can head off any problems early.
Below are the steps you can follow when performing preventive tankless water heater maintenance, including cleaning the air intake and water filters.
Note that descaling and flushing the unit could take up to an hour. You can put this time to good use by conducting routine maintenance on the HVAC systems in your customer’s home, if that’s a part of your service agreement.
Turn off the unit and the breaker (or unplug the unit) and shut off gas supply on gas units.
Close the inlet and outlet valves to isolate the water heater.
Release the pressure valve.
Attach hoses to the tankless water heater in accordance with the manufacturer’s guidelines and open the service port valves to drain the water.
Remove the water filter and rinse out debris or replace if necessary. You can also clean the air intake filter at this time if you haven’t already.
Connect the hose from the cold water inlet to the output of your circulator pump and place the other hose in the bucket containing your descaling solution.
Descale using solutions according to the manufacturer’s guidelines.
Close the cold water service port valve and move the hose connected to the hot water port to a drain.
Open the cold water inlet valve to flush out the tankless water heater with clean water and drain.
Reclose the valves, remove the hoses and replace the caps on the service ports.
Turn on inlet and outlet valves and follow the restarting process. Each manufacturer may have different guidelines.
Once you have power back on and have restarted the tankless water heater, check that water is heating and flowing well. Follow up with your customers to discuss any concerns they mentioned when you arrived.
What can your customers do themselves?
While cleaning the air intake filter or water filter is relatively straightforward, doing it incorrectly could possibly void any warranties on the unit. With regular tankless water heater maintenance every six months, there shouldn’t be a need for your customer to attempt to repair, clean or replace anything.
Ferguson is your source for tankless water heater maintenance parts
Whether you’re handling routine service or getting called out for a hot water emergency, being prepared makes you invaluable to your customers. Ferguson has the tankless water heater parts you need to keep your customers’ water heaters in top shape for years to come.