Need help to correct water issue

[mvman]

Hello, If this is not the right area for this post please direct me to the best area.
We are getting white flakes in our hot water aerators only, and to the point that I have to clean them out every three days or it restricts the water severely. We have a tank-less water heater.....I have attached a picture of the flakes for reference.
Our house is setup as follows:

- All new cpvc plumbing installed about 5 years ago (and most of the fixtures)
- We have very soft well water, but a little on the acidic side.
- Installed an acid neutralizer to counter-balance the acidity.
- The water comes in the house to the well tank, goes to the acid neutralizer, then through a filter, then to the tank-less water heater, then to the fixtures throughout the house.

We just bought a new dishwasher, but I don't want to install it an possibly have it damaged by what is going on with the water.
If anyone can help with this, I would appreciate the feedback.

Thanks.

Here is the pic:
/IMG_0413.jpghttp://i488.photobucket.com/albums/rr247/mvman/water%20pics/IMG_0413.jpg

 

[Another-Plumber]

that is coming from your hot water heater

 

[mvman]

Ok, is there anything that can be done to stop it from happening?

 

[LiQuId]

installation of a water softener.

what you have is calcium carbonate there, it is harmless ( other than it clogs airators ) it occurs because you are heating the water very fast and having lots going through the TWH, this causes the menerals to drop out of the water and appear downstream and often times this will lead to premature failure of the tankless water heaters due to mineral buildup in the internal lines, they can be flushed with vinegar to remove.

 

[mvman]

Thanks for the information, it makes sense. I pulled apart the pipes and found more of the deposits on the out going side only. The pipe has been cleaned, I have a couple of other questions:

1- would a filter downstream of the water heater catch the flakes?
2- how would a water softener help with this? I thought softeners were for conditioning hard water, are there other uses for these units?

Thanks

 

[LiQuId]

a filter may...

2. A water softener decreasers the amout of suspended solids and would capture the minerals before they are present in your water. usually only for very hard water though some people install them for purely asthetic water reasons ( dont like the appearance of the flakes )

i am not the best person to go into detail about softeners with, I have installed only a few.

 

[plumbingjim17]

Worried about the dishwasher but not the tankless water heater? seams kinda silly install yourself a softener and make sure you flush the tankless once a year.


Ben Franklin Plumbing Of Alpine
304 Meadowlark Drive, Alpine, UT 84004
(801) 960-1567 ‎
www.benfranklinplumbingalpine.com

 

[mvman]

I'm going to do that, what can I use to flush the water heater? Would vinegar work ok?

 

[mvman]

Does anyone have any experience/ knowledge using a tankless water softener? Can anyone recommend a brand to look at?

Thanks

 

[speedbump]

Does anyone have any experience/ knowledge using a tankless water softener?

I don't think there is such a thing. A water softener usually consists of two tanks. One to house the media that does the work of softening and the other tank contains the salt brine that is used in the ion exchange process that softens the water. It would have to go before the water heater and would remove the calcium that your heater is collecting.

 

[chaseme5]

Tankless water softeners are know as a electro-magnetic device that attaches to some sort of metal piping. Gavanized steel, copper, brass that sort of set up.

This type of water softening device only removes scale buildup. This technology is subjective at best. There is no real case studies that prove their effectiveness.

I do not recommend them. I would go with a ionic exchange water softening system.

If you have a really bad situation, which it seems that you do, a tankless water conditioner will do nothing for you. They are simply not powerful enough.

The first thing you need to do is get a full water test. If this white flakes you are talking about is caused by silica, a water softener will not remove that.

Silica creates havac on any heat based water supply line. Causes damage to water heaters, dishwahers, washing machines, ect.