Outdoor Wood Furnace Info
All-Purpose OWF Discussions => Plumbing => Topic started by: d conover on February 25, 2014, 07:35:40 AM
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I have asked this before I think..
Anyway, I have an H4 Hardy and the domestic hot water coil is almost completely stopped up with lime.
I ordered a Grundos circulating pump off Amazon and 3/4" flanges so I can adapt it to garden hose fittings.
I also installed tankless water heater cleaning isolation valves so I can flush just the 100' coil of copper inside the boiler.
What I still haven't figured out is what to use to clean it with. White vinegar? CLR? On my old Hardy I used diluted muratic acid, but not going to do that again. My brother in law ate a hole in his coil using muratic acid. Of course knowing him it is hard telling how strong he had it.
I need to fix up some sort of tank to pump the solution back into also, or maybe just a five gallon bucket.
Any ideas would be appreciated.
I was going to wait til spring but my wife broke her ankle, required a plate and screws and in the process has her back messed up and she needs to use the jetted tub and my electric water heater can't seem to handle that load like the boiler did before it got stopped up.
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I never used the coil on my H2. Would it be easier to just hook up a plate exchanger in your house? The reason I didn't hook mine up is because it just never seemed practical to send the water all the way out to the boiler and then all the way back in. I know it would be an added cost but just a thought. I would be easier to clean in the future as well.
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Buy the same stuff they use for de-scaling tankless water heaters. Some of the big box stores sell it as well as most plumbing supply houses.
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My Hardy is only 35' from the water heater and when the line is clean it is great. The water going in the water heater is hotter than the water in the water heater, and my wife has never been able to run out, although she gives it a valiant try :)
When it is stopped up, not so good. We have a serious calcium, lime or whatever it is problem here.
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HD5 I had rust, calcium, sulfur, lime and whatever else in mine. I also HAD galvanized pipes. That said, I put in an electronic whole house filter by Morton, purchased at Menards for $350. We can now drink the water, make ice and don't have to soak screens in CLR anymore. Not positive if getting rid of the galv. pipe or adding the filter did the most good, but it made a HUGE difference. I put it before my softener and faucets, but after my outside faucets. We still see rust and smell sulfur outside in the hose, but nothing inside the house. That and a 30 plate w2w exchanger and neverending hot water. I have not had to clean anything in more than a year. Washer and DW runs better too.
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They are building a Menards near where I work, getting close to being done. I will have to check into a filter. I didn't think a filter worked on lime, but I don't know a lot of stuff....
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HD5 I had rust, calcium, sulfur, lime and whatever else in mine. I also HAD galvanized pipes. That said, I put in an electronic whole house filter by Morton, purchased at Menards for $350. We can now drink the water, make ice and don't have to soak screens in CLR anymore. Not positive if getting rid of the galv. pipe or adding the filter did the most good, but it made a HUGE difference. I put it before my softener and faucets, but after my outside faucets. We still see rust and smell sulfur outside in the hose, but nothing inside the house. That and a 30 plate w2w exchanger and neverending hot water. I have not had to clean anything in more than a year. Washer and DW runs better too.
I might have to look into that, we have a softener but still get rust stains if anything drips. Water is perfectly fine to drink though. I have the softener after the outside faucets but have a second tap at the kitchen sink just for unsoftened water, also have the fridge and ice maker hooked to unsoftened. Change the fridge filter once a year and no problems in 3 years so far.
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I'd try the CLR if you can't get the on tankless water heater stuff.
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I think I am going to try cleaning strength vinegar first.
If I figured right 100' feet of 3/4" copper will hold about 3 gallons.
That tankless cleaner stuff is about 15.00 quart.
Does anyone see any reason I can't do it hot????
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Hot vinegar won't cause a catastrophic nuclear explosion will it?
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lol i really dont know. I have thought about adding a few gallons of vinegar to my system to try and clean the exchangers out before I install my new boiler. I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet.
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All of the tankless water heater manufacturers spec white virgin vinegar. Hydrochloric acid works much faster and won't eat a hole in your copper, but it can react with minerals to start attacking the copper in rare circumstances. Unfortunately if your coil is almost closed up, you will probably clean away the minerals and leaks will appear. Calcium , lime itself will eat copper and many times seal itself. We just use any cheap pump in a 5 gallon bucket with a couple washing machine hoses.
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So, how big a problem is this lets say if the plate exchanger is after a water softener? No problem or will it eventually still have to be cleaned?
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So, how big a problem is this lets say if the plate exchanger is after a water softener? No problem or will it eventually still have to be cleaned?
Hard to say, in Columbiaville there is a big problem with a clearish white crust closing drains , water pipes Everything. And NOTHING I have used even touches it. Sent it to several softner guys and some had it tested. Other than chipping it out or replacing, no acid,lye, CLR has done anything to it. It's much more on the hot water side than cold. If it was just lime/calcium vinegar cleans it up real good. I think its from salt but it's not really that salty, and all the softner guys say it has nothing to do with the softner. Its flaky. In the drains but pretty solid in the pipes.
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I got my pump and lines all fixed up, I plumbed it to a square five gallon bucket courtesy of Dairy Queen.
I used 4 gallons of Heinz cleaning strength vinegar, it chugged a while, I guess boiling in the lines until it finally settled down.
It probably took me 2 hours, but I shut it off and let it sit for a lot of that time. The vinegar turned a pale green for some reason.
I am back to full strength water flow now.
I probably had a 1/2 inch or so of sediments in the bottom of the bucket. That after only 1 and 1/2 years of running.