Hi!

I met one of my favorite plumbers, Fred Burnside, at a job site yesterday. We had a chat about undersized instantaneous tankless water heaters.

This particular site has two 3/4" units servicing the entire house except the master bath, which has its own 3/4" unit. The house has 1" service lines which reduce to 3/4" at the inlets to the water heaters. The master bath unit exits to a T and serves a 3/4" thermostatic valve, a pressure balanced shower valve, and a 3/4" line to the master soaking tub. As long as all of the fixtures are not turned on at the same time ...

There is no water heater tank.

In order to serve this large house properly, my plumber recommends a water heater with a tank in combination with the tankless heaters. A loop should be installed so that unused hot water recirculates back to the hot water tank. The tankless heaters should be 1" instead of 3/4". The same plumbing supply company that sold the client the fixtures for the master bath specified and sold them the tankless heaters.

In addition, a treatment system needs to be installed to reduce the buildup of calcium and minerals in the water lines. These minerals build up like plaque in a blood vessel, reducing the volume of water able to move through the units.

I know what he means. I've gone through three Instant Hots in my home - only realizing with the now dead third unit, that the tank is completely clogged with minerals. I'm planning a little kitchen remodel soon -- and an Everpure unit is going under that sink to purify the water before it reaches the heating unit.

I'll write more about filtering systems in a future blog.

I'm headed to KBIS and HD next week in Las Vegas. I'll get caught up on what's new and share it with you in the coming weeks.

Have a blessed day!

Kaitlyn

713-961-1324

Kaitlyn@CustomPlumbingAndHardware.com