Company: Upright Plumbing
Industry: Tankless Water Heather
Location: Chula Vista, California, USA
Case Study
Overview
The partner in a San Diego, California based plumbing company has seen an increase in the use of tankless water heaters in residential and commercial applications. Having installed a tankless water heater himself at his home six years ago he readily admits the irony that, as a plumber, he was then guilty of not following the maintenance schedule to regularly flush and descale his own system!
He lives in an area where the water hardness is approximately 280 ppm/16.3 gpg. After researching and seeing the results from using the Sidon IntegroTM technology, he decided to install a system at his home in order to remove existing scale build up in his tankless water heater and throughout his cold water system and also to prevent any future build up.
Key Issues
The primary areas of concern as expressed by the owner were:
- Scale build up on plumbing fixtures in his residence
- Preventing failure of the tankless water heaters
- Two tankless water heaters that had never been serviced since installation
Our Solution
We advised the owner it would be preferable to install an IntegroTM 2 v3
system on the main water line coming into the home. This water line fed
directly to two tankless water heaters.
The older unit was a Rheem tankless heater which was installed about 6 years (2015) earlier and the other was a Navien MPE 210A tankless heater which was approximately 3 years old (2019). Neither tankless heater had ever been flushed or descaled since their installation.
This picture, taken at the time of installation, clearly shows a hard water problem as seen in the visible build up of scale on the pipework caused by a small amount of water leakage over time.
Environmental Benefits
Several environmental benefits were achieved through the installation and use of the Sidon lntegro™ technology:
- Reduced energy consumption: 1 millimeter of scale can increase energy costs by approximately 6%
- Extended useful life of the tankless heaters and improved efficiency
- Reduction in the use of chemicals which are flushed into the community water system
Summary & Results
Since installation in March of 2021, the Sidon lntegro™ has removed all existing scale which had accumulated within the heating coils of both the Rheem and Navien tankless water heaters and kept them free of scale build-up. It is reasonable to
ascertain thatthe lifeofthetankless water heaters will be extended and performance of the units improved.
In December 2021, nine months after the installation of the IntegroTM, the Rheem tankless water heater was flushed with the descaling chemical prescribed by the manufacturer. Since the tankless water heater had never been descaled or flushed since its installation over 6 years ago, he expected to see a large amount of hard water scale debris flushed out of the coils of the water heater. Both the initial chemical flush and the subsequent flush with water were clear and had almost no debris or residue. In his words, “It is awesome!”
What the customer had to say?
“This is awesome! Since I had not flushed either of my tankless water heaters after they were installed, I was completely surprised when there was no evidence of scale debris when the units were flushed. We have very hard water here in this area and these tankless heaters surely were being compromised by scale forming inside the coils. I don’t know what to say, but it is obvious to me that any scale which was inside my tankless water heaters was dissolved away over the past year and now they are clear. I believe the Sidon system has made my tankless heaters basically maintenance free.”
Contact Details
- 11777 Bernardo Plaza Ct, Suite 208, San Diego, CA, 92128
- 858-324-2700
- info@sidonwater.com
