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Irish Gal

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We're looking for a plumber who is familiar with instant-on hot water heaters used in conjuction with solar hot water system.  Sometimes in the colder, cloudy weather, the solar system does not provide hot water.  We've had an instant-on hot water heater which used to work as a back-up to the solar system but isn't working now.   

Thanks in advance.

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I had the same situation.  Old backup water heater sprung a leak and had to be replaced.  I hadn't used it in years anyway because it was electric.  Abraham Dorado put in a propane on demand type that works perfectly with the solar.  If you are interested, his contact info is 331 480 6028.  He is also on WhatsApp so I just send him a message.

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A water softener is very helpful with most tankless instant on hot water heaters. The high mineral content of non-softened water fouls the components and needs to be serviced a lot more to remove the deposits. 

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The problem of living in a far away town is that many times you have no competent plumber or electrician available and  it ca be expensive to bring one over. IWe found tat the hard way when we lived way up on a mountain.. and had top of the line appliances.. we could not gt a decent repairman to fx them..

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8 hours ago, twistedD said:

Do you think he would be willing to come to the south side of the lake? Any idea what he might charge?

I can’t speak for Arturo whether he’d be willing to go over to the south side of the Lake but it would be worth a call to him to enquire.   Good luck, twistedD!    I hope it works out for you.

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On 12/8/2020 at 5:06 PM, Irish Gal said:

We're looking for a plumber who is familiar with instant-on hot water heaters used in conjuction with solar hot water system.  Sometimes in the colder, cloudy weather, the solar system does not provide hot water.  We've had an instant-on hot water heater which used to work as a back-up to the solar system but isn't working now.   

Thanks in advance.

We had solar hot water installed in the spring of 2012 and included an on  demand hot water heater.   We only turn it on several times a year.

it works fine when we need it and never had it serviced.

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On 12/13/2020 at 9:27 AM, twistedD said:

This is a solar water heater not on-demand. Although I do agree it would need servicing every now & then. Which has not happened since it was bought 2 maybe 3 years ago. No one told me anything about that. Now that I know. I simply dont know how too service the darn thing.

The main thing with solar water heaters is to change the sacrificial anode (magnesium rod) every 1 to 2 years.    This helps to protect the system somewhat from the mineral effects.     The tank does need to be drained to do this.       Some pressure systems, the kind with "wet tubes" also have a float valve canister on the top or the side of the tank, about the size of a 1 gal paint can,  that keeps the working tank full.     If yours does, it should also be cleaned inside.     Any decent plumber can handle both of these.    You may just need to get the right size and thread of magnesium rod or they can also arrange that.

Apart from that and keeping the solar tubes clean on the outside, that's about it.    

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On 12/13/2020 at 11:11 AM, twistedD said:

Being told to do this & that; like I should know what I'm suppose to do.

If people thought you knew what you were supposed to do, they wouldn't be offering the advice. They are just trying to be helpful, to save you from having the same issue in the future by doing whatever regular maintenance is required. 

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