Warren I will talk to some burner poeple I know. Plus visit the supply house to get more info on your boiler
Did the manufactures tag get damaged? Couple of other questions, I believe there are more than one hot water
coil available for your burner. Chances are you have the norm 3gpms coil there are 3.5 and 3.75 coils that Burnhan has used
I will also try to get a cost of a coil and replacement labor for your refference. Actually I have to get educated about repair cost as I have done all my own repairs. I do not know what others charge.
We just moved from a house with high mineral municipal water and no softener to a house with a well and a softener. There are no deposits now on the shower, tub, etc. I’ve gotta believe that if you’re running softened water internal deposit buildup is not the problem. Then again, I’m no expert for sure.
We just moved from a house with high mineral municipal water and no softener to a house with a well and a softener. There are no deposits now on the shower, tub, etc. I’ve gotta believe that if you’re running softened water internal deposit buildup is not the problem. Then again, I’m no expert for sure.
Hmmm. Like you all said, more investigation needed, cause there are other factors.
1. We’re not really good about keeping up on the salt in the softener
2. We had a serious iron bacteria problem (now solved) that used to cause some pretty nasty build up in the toilets.
3. We’ve owned the house for 3.5 years...It’s 19 years old, so who knows what happened before we came along.
We just moved from a house with high mineral municipal water and no softener to a house with a well and a softener. There are no deposits now on the shower, tub, etc. I’ve gotta believe that if you’re running softened water internal deposit buildup is not the problem. Then again, I’m no expert for sure.
Hmmm. Like you all said, more investigation needed, cause there are other factors.
1. We’re not really good about keeping up on the salt in the softener
2. We had a serious iron bacteria problem (now solved) that used to cause some pretty nasty build up in the toilets.
3. We’ve owned the house for 3.5 years...It’s 19 years old, so who knows what happened before we came along.
During the first two years we owned our home, we had problems with rust-colored particulate forming in the hot water lines and clogging faucets/showerheads. This was not observed where we only used cold water. My understanding was this was a type of precipitate buildling up as water sat in the tankless hot water coil and it flaked off periodically from the flow. I also had a whole-house water filter installed at this time - that coupled with it not being in the cold water suggested to me that it had to do with the high furnace temperatures and not something incoming. I later read this is rather common. Had I left this alone, it would have likely rendered our hot water system useless in a few years.
I then installed a $350 GE water softener from Home Depot - the precipitate diminished steadily over the following month and we found much better hot water capacity with time - it seemed to actually reverse some of the damage. Makes sense since almost anything is soluble in water at 160-180 degrees given enough time…
The softener was worth every penny, and I am very careful to maintain salt based on this result. Also, keep in mind a really old softener may no longer be functioning properly - may want to get your current faucet water tested to see how it’s doing. We also found that we use a fraction of the dishwasher and washing machine soap that we used to use and no more spots on the glass shower.
I apologize to Warren for hijacking his thread, but you seem to know a lot more about the NY/US tax credits for solar hot water installations than I’ve been able to find out.
I’m seriously considering putting in a solar system this summer. As I understand it, the credits are for a two-year period, 2006 and 2007. If I decide to buy the solar panels from a commercial mfg. but want to do the installation and design the rest of the system myself, can I deduct the cost of off-the-shelf parts like circ pumps, aquastats, copper pipe, a tank, etc. as well? I know the credits only apply to hardware, but does it matter where you buy it?
Can I just save the receipts from Home Depot or Ebay for that stuff? Do I need to draw up a project description and parts list to prove that the parts I’m buying are for the solar system and not some other plumbing project?
Also, I’m in Central NYS (near Utica) where I’ve heard people say there’s not enough sun to do solar, but I don’t think that’s true. We get plenty of sunny days. Anyway, I’m thinking evacuated tubes might be better than a flat plate collectors, since the former will apparently work well even without direct sunlight. Any thoughts on that?
I apologize to Warren for hijacking his thread, but you seem to know a lot more about the NY/US tax credits for solar hot water installations than I’ve been able to find out.
I’m seriously considering putting in a solar system this summer. As I understand it, the credits are for a two-year period, 2006 and 2007. If I decide to buy the solar panels from a commercial mfg. but want to do the installation and design the rest of the system myself, can I deduct the cost of off-the-shelf parts like circ pumps, aquastats, copper pipe, a tank, etc. as well? I know the credits only apply to hardware, but does it matter where you buy it?
Can I just save the receipts from Home Depot or Ebay for that stuff? Do I need to draw up a project description and parts list to prove that the parts I’m buying are for the solar system and not some other plumbing project?
Also, I’m in Central NYS (near Utica) where I’ve heard people say there’s not enough sun to do solar, but I don’t think that’s true. We get plenty of sunny days. Anyway, I’m thinking evacuated tubes might be better than a flat plate collectors, since the former will apparently work well even without direct sunlight. Any thoughts on that?
Hijack away (but I did start a thread on this already) since I’m interested in this too.
I apologize to Warren for hijacking his thread, but you seem to know a lot more about the NY/US tax credits for solar hot water installations than I’ve been able to find out.
I’m seriously considering putting in a solar system this summer. As I understand it, the credits are for a two-year period, 2006 and 2007. If I decide to buy the solar panels from a commercial mfg. but want to do the installation and design the rest of the system myself, can I deduct the cost of off-the-shelf parts like circ pumps, aquastats, copper pipe, a tank, etc. as well? I know the credits only apply to hardware, but does it matter where you buy it?
Can I just save the receipts from Home Depot or Ebay for that stuff? Do I need to draw up a project description and parts list to prove that the parts I’m buying are for the solar system and not some other plumbing project?
Also, I’m in Central NYS (near Utica) where I’ve heard people say there’s not enough sun to do solar, but I don’t think that’s true. We get plenty of sunny days. Anyway, I’m thinking evacuated tubes might be better than a flat plate collectors, since the former will apparently work well even without direct sunlight. Any thoughts on that?
There is no explicit statement that you need to have it installed, although I think I will go that route because you are effectively paying half price for the installation too when you go through this program. I would check with one of the online vendors you may be looking to buy from to make sure you won’t have any issues.
I have read the same thing regarding the evacuated collectors - more up front investment, but smaller area taken up on your roof and possibly more effective in cloudier climates. We might go that route because my wife is concerned about how giant flat plate collectors may look.
One other thing that might be useful is the following website:
According to this site, “The sunlight intensity in your area is rated: Very Good” Of course keep in mind they want to sell you a solar system - might be good to pick a really cloudy area and make sure they don’t say that for everything
I think for electric systems, you have to be a lot more cautious because even with generous NYS tax credits, it is still very hard to make an economically driven argument - sun load is critical. Everything I’ve read says you get way more bang for the buck by first doing solar hot water. In some parts of the world this is standard practice in every home even without tax incentives. Solar electric on the other hand is not yet at that point.
If anyone on here does get a system installed, tell us about it! I’m still trying to finish up my woodshed
Yesterday we had the coil cleaned. Ahhhh...Lots of hot water. The gumk from the iron bacteria was amazing, and promptly clogged my kitchen faucet. So, I go to take the faucet apart, (an 18 year old delta), and broke the supply lines cause THEY WERE THE ONLY THING HOLDING IT IN PLACE!!!!. “Oh shucks” I said. well, maybe not, the word did start with “S” and another with “F” and a few not invented yet. So, in the amazing department, I went to the BORG and came home with a new faucet and a few other new parts to install a new faucet, supply lines, adapters for the drinking water, etc… and it all went together without a single hitch. Happy happy happy!!!!
In my situation my burner is 30 years old Utica and I’m at the cross roads of what to do. Milk it for some more time or replace it
I’m on a well and know I have minerals in my water, though it tested well. I am pondering a clean out option but worry if I do so the process will develope holes if my coil is worn thin in places. Congrate it worked out well for you
In my situation my burner is 30 years old Utica and I’m at the cross roads of what to do. Milk it for some more time or replace it
I’m on a well and know I have minerals in my water, though it tested well. I am pondering a clean out option but worry if I do so the process will develope holes if my coil is worn thin in places. Congrate it worked out well for you
Do you have a water softener? We were actually able to reverse the first year and a half of damage/build up to ours after putting it in. After a year or so, we were having a lot of problems with crud in the hot water line building up and sometimes flaking off and plugging our shower head and faucets. About 6 months after using the water softener, the problem was completely eradicated and hot water delivery was back to normal.
Even the nastiest scale build up is soluble in soft water to some degree… even if at a very slow rate. With a tankless coil, you are regularly refreshing soft mineral free water into your heating coil and letting it sit for hours at a time at high temperature. (heck almost anything is soluble in water to some degree given enough time!) This might be a gentle approach to slowly reversing the damage. Not to mention many other benefits like using a fraction of the detergents you used to use, glass that stays really clean, etc… That was one of the best benefits - we had to use really nasty glass cleaning solution once a month or so to get the mineral buildup off our shower glass. Haven’t used it since.
Yes, we love the softener too - used to have to clean showers well with corrosive Tilex, etc - Now, no need.
Question though: How salty is that, and how bad/good to drink? We’re not sensitive to salt, and don’t taste it. Heard it’s not good for the house plants. Don’t have a separate faucet in the house for untreated water: needed/recommended???
I’m not entirely clear on the chemistry involved, but my understanding is that the salt never actually contacts potable water. Somehow the salt extracts the minerals and the whole works is washed into the sewer. If you have any concerns about a water softener, it ought to be that they increase your water usage and put salt into the environment.
You could probably argue that you use less soft water than hard water (fewer re-washes with the dishwasher, more efficient showers, etc.), so maybe it cancels out. I don’t know if municipal water treatment plants and systems can separate the salt from the waste water before it is returned to the environment or not. It definitely goes back into the environment if you have a septic tank.
I’m not entirely clear on the chemistry involved, but my understanding is that the salt never actually contacts potable water. Somehow the salt extracts the minerals and the whole works is washed into the sewer. If you have any concerns about a water softener, it ought to be that they increase your water usage and put salt into the environment.
You could probably argue that you use less soft water than hard water (fewer re-washes with the dishwasher, more efficient showers, etc.), so maybe it cancels out. I don’t know if municipal water treatment plants and systems can separate the salt from the waste water before it is returned to the environment or not. It definitely goes back into the environment if you have a septic tank.
Eric’s description is correct. There is a matrix in the unit that extracts minerals out of water as it flows through it. This is a reversible process - to reverse it, saltwater is flushed backwards across it and discharged down the drain, and it is then rinsed. This is usually done in the middle of the night and during this 1-2 hour period, any demand for water automatically bypasses the softener. So once the matrix “fills up” with minerals, it cleans it using salt. Modern softeners will monitor the number of gallons that flow through the matrix, and you teach it what the hardness level is in your well water. This enables a simple calculation to determine when the matrix will “fill up” and then when that is reached, the next night it will do this saltwater cleaning process. It is very infrequent - with our settings, we need to run it after every ~3000 gallons of water that flows through based on our hardness settings. Older units were not this sophisitcated and “cleaned” it more than necessary. I suspect they may also have not done a good job of rinsing salt after the cleaning process.
For the environmental impact, there are indeed tradeoffs - you eliminate some harsher chemical usage in favor of salt. For our two person household, we use about 2 bags of salt per year.
