Alkaline Water after new Indirect

heretic

I'm posting this before knowing the exact brand and model involved(not the best form), but I figured someone might be aware of this problem in general;

I was at my parent's (nearly new) house a few weeks back, and noticed that their 3-year-old indirect tank was leaking. Short life, but that is another matter...

Builder replaced indirect under his warranty, but with a different (not yet known) brand.

Parents reported Hot water as feeling 'slimy'. Parents are scientists, and suspected Alkaline.
Bingo! pH of Hot is between 10-11. pH of cold is 7.

Well water coming into house is acidic, and is being balanced (before tank) with an injection device. Not sure if that is relevant.

Anyone seen this problem before? Found nothing on the web...

Unknown

Indirect Issues

This has and probably will continue to be an issue and is occuring with stainless steel indirect tanks. We have been advising not to operate these types of heaters where the PH may be over 8 and below 6 and in areas where chloride concentrations are in excess of 80 ppm. These warnings are both in the Installation manual and on the tank itself. We have just recently introduced an additional line of indirect heaters with glass linings to be able to deal with this issue. There have been pockets in various parts of the country where high chloride levels are affecting the tanks. See the new Alliance-G heaters at www.burnham.com . Hope this helps.

Glenn Stanton

Burnham Hydronics

heretic

Soda Ash?

Thanks Glenn,

The pH of the incoming cold water at the tank is 7 (neutral) because it is chemically balanced. It comes out of the ground at 5.8-5.9;

I do not know much about pH balancing systems.
I believe this balancing system injects soda ash (sodium carbonate (Na2CO3)). Can that react badly with stainless?

hot_rod

I'd have them

do some more testing of their water. Ph is, of course, important but other factors play in. Chlorides are the other big one to watch with stainless indirects, as Glenn wisely mentioned.

Do they have a water softner. If so measure for this (chlorides)down stream of the softner, especially right after a backwash cycle.

A water treatment pro recently told me improperly adjusted ion exchange softners are an often over looked cause of stainless steel pipe and tanks failures. Rarely do plumbers check and adjust the backwash salt (sodium chloride) intake on softners. I never did Cheaper softners may not have enough of a final rince cycle to completely wash 'em out.

Most of the indirect manufactures are adding glass lined tanks. Bradford White has a new one. HTP offers glass lined. Now Burnham. Seems to be a trend. Probably going broke warranting stainless tanks??

I still feel a better fix would be to "adjust" the water, as it could be causing other problems. Like inside the homeowners

Treat the problem, not the symptom!

hot rod

heretic

More info on tank

Turns out it is a Vaughn 'stone-lined' tank.
Model S70TP. Copper Hx.
How unusual. Thought stone-lined tanks were no longer made.
My grandmother has an electric one from 1955 that is still working.
I wonder if it is reacting badly with the Soda Ash from the balancer, or if it just takes more than a week to stabilize.
http://www.vaughncorp.com/waterhtr.html