Clogged Faucets and Low pressure

[AndrewS]

I have 2 issues/questions. To start from the beginning, we just purchased and moved into a home at the beginning of November that has a private well, once we moved in I noticed we had water pressure issues. Upon investigation I found that all the faucets/fixtures with pressure issues were clogged with white chunks, some pure white and some white on once side and black on the other (photo's attached - what is shown in my hand is what I could get out of the faucet after 1 day). When we first moved in, there was only a sediment filter installed after the pressure tank, which I installed a carbon filter in. After seeing all the build up in the aerators I looked into a water softener but I do not have a drain near by so I thought I would try this AO Smith Descaler (also shown in photo). To no avail, I am still getting a lot of these white flakes/chunks in all the faucets and they build up rather quickly. I am cleaning shower heads and faucets at LEAST once a week if not twice. My question is, is this hard water or do I have another issue? It looks like photos I've found of disintegrating dip tubes but I have a tankless water heater and the house is only 6 years old and has PEX and CPVC pipe.
My second question, in the master bath I have a garden tub with Moen Chateau faucet (with 1222 cartridge) the cold water pressure is great but the hot water pressure is very week, would probably take at least 45 minutes to fill up the tub. So my first move was to get a new cartridge at a big box store, got a Danco brand and installed it, after installed issue persisted. So I thought I may need to go with the name brand Moen cartridge, still have the problem so I cleaned up the old one and cleaned out the valve body and reinstalled. I have 3 tubs in the house with the same Moen faucets and this is the only one with an issue. This is very aggravating. Any ideas?

 

[johnjh2o]

The dip tube in the water heater is breaking down. It was a problem some manufacturers had at one time. The water heater must be an old one.

 

[AndrewS]

The dip tube in the water heater is breaking down. It was a problem some manufacturers had at one time. The water heater must be an old one.

The house was just built 6 years ago and it has a tankless Rinnai LP water heater. Do tankless waters have dip tubes?

 

[Jeff Handy]

Your “whole house filter” unit looks very under-sized.

Also, have you tried flushing your well tank and draining your entire plumbing system?

And the tub with weak hot flow might have a hot shutoff valve that is partially closed.
There could be a separate shutoff under the tub or nearby somewhere, or it could be built into the hot side of the valve body.
It would look like a flat screwdriver slot, which should be parallel to the hot pipe, in line with it if fully open.

Post some pics of that tub faucet, with the trims off, showing the main guts inside.

 

[AndrewS]

The black "whole house filter" is an AO Smith Whole House Salt Free Descaler, and the info with it says its perfect for a house with 1-5 people, which its just my wife and I and a 1 year old.

No, I haven't tried draining the pressure tank, when you say drain the entire plumbing system - what would that involve? I have flushed my Rinnai tankless water heater by pumping vinegar through it for an hour. As for everything else, I've removed all the cartridges in the faucets and turned the water on for a minute to try to push the debris out. I took the handle and face plate off again in hopes there were shutoff valves on the valve body but I didn't see any. And I've tried tracing the pipes and I haven't found any shut off's for that faucet yet.

Here are photos of the faucet with the face plate off, also included a couple more photos of 2 bathroom aerators that I cleaned out Sunday and today this is how much debris has already collected. Also photos of the water flow from the faucet, the single stream is the hot water and the other is the cold water.

 

[Jeff Handy]

I was referring to the plastic filter housing mounted on the wood, to the right of the A O Smith filter.
It seems pretty puny.

 

[Jeff Handy]

I don’t see any built-in shut-offs in your Moen Positemp valve.

To drain the whole plumbing system and flush the well tank, turn off the well pump when it reaches its highest pressure, usually 60 psi.

Attach a hose to the drain valve at the bottom of the well tank, and drain all the water out until the pressure gets to zero.
Run the hose to a floor drain or sump pump if possible.

It won’t drain as well if the hose has to go up to a sink.

Turn the pump back on, let about twenty or thirty more gallons out of the drain hose.
Turn off the pump, open your faucets so air can be sucked into them, and let water run til pressure is zero again.
Close the tank drain.
Turn pump back on.
Run your faucets for awhile, then clean the aerators.

Also drain the water heater at least once or twice a year.

And maybe these chunks are from the sacrificial anode in the heater, it could be breaking down?

 

[Jeff Handy]

The carbon filter is usually pretty tight, try putting a sediment filter back in there.

 

[Jeff Handy]

You can pull out the Moen shower valve cartridge, and see if crud is sitting in the valve or if the cartridge is clogged.
It should be easy to change, being so new.
Lots of videos on Youtube, or on Moen’s site, for how to change it.

Moen will send you a new cartridge, you may as well call them and get one, you will need it eventually, even if changing it now does not help.

 

[AndrewS]

I've pulled the cartridge several times now and cleaned the crud out, just never get any better hot water pressure on that particular faucet.

Upon further research, it seems that tankless water heaters are bad for precipitating debris due to heating the water up so hot and so quickly. I had to clean out my washing machine screens and found that there was only debris on the hot water line. My thinking is to install a post water heater high temp filter, and flush the tankless water heater and well tank. Do you have an opinion on hot water filters? This is what I'm looking at... https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00LPNWYHI/ref=ox_sc_act_title_5?smid=AXIP0A1I8BZRS&psc=1

 

[AndrewS]

An update for anyone with a similar issue, after installing the water filter after the water heater my debris issue is resolved.