On 2008-04-18, Dan Musicant wrote:

I shut off the water at the cold water shutoff, remove the stem from
the hot water valve at the kitchen sink and see one, two or three
tiny grains of sand, flaked iron, who knows what it is, but it's
very tiny.

There's a screen on the water inlet on your tankless hot water heater.
You may wish to shut off the water supply to your tankless, remove the
screen and check it. If you see the same particles there, you know
they are not from your water heater but probably from your old water
piping. Obviously the particles at the sink would be from piping
after the water heater, since the particles can't make it past the
screen.

Another thing you may try is to flush the hot water line, although you
may have done this after installing the new water heater and/or
faucet. You remove the aerator from the kitchen faucet, turn the
faucet to full on, and let it turn for a couple minutes. Without the
aerator the flow is a bit chaotic, so expect water to splash around a
bit. After flushing you could clean the valve seat as you have been
doing, and then see if the problem still recurs.

Good luck.

Cheers, Wayne

On Fri, 18 Apr 2008 22:58:52 GMT, Wayne Whitney
wrote:

:On 2008-04-18, Dan Musicant wrote:
:
: I shut off the water at the cold water shutoff, remove the stem from
: the hot water valve at the kitchen sink and see one, two or three
: tiny grains of sand, flaked iron, who knows what it is, but it's
: very tiny.
:
:There's a screen on the water inlet on your tankless hot water heater.
:You may wish to shut off the water supply to your tankless, remove the
:screen and check it. If you see the same particles there, you know
:they are not from your water heater but probably from your old water
iping. Obviously the particles at the sink would be from piping
:after the water heater, since the particles can't make it past the
:screen.
:
:Another thing you may try is to flush the hot water line, although you
:may have done this after installing the new water heater and/or
:faucet. You remove the aerator from the kitchen faucet, turn the
:faucet to full on, and let it turn for a couple minutes. Without the
:aerator the flow is a bit chaotic, so expect water to splash around a
:bit. After flushing you could clean the valve seat as you have been
:doing, and then see if the problem still recurs.
:
:Good luck.
:
:Cheers, Wayne

I've never flushed the pipes, IIRC. Noone suggested it to me, and it
never occurred to me until a few days ago when I started this thread.
Still haven't done it but I definitely will try that and see how it
goes. I don't think I even keep the aerator on there. Is there a good
reason to do so? I thought it was more or less a flow restriction device
(which I don't need since I self-regulate that!), or a means of
filtering (post stem!), and since I don't cook with or drink hot water I
figure why bother?

Thanks for the info on PEX. Actually, I hadn't thought about the codes.
So, if I do decide to replace the old galvanized I'm restricted to more
galvanized or copper?

Dan

On 2008-04-21, Dan Musicant ) Dan wrote:

I don't think I even keep the aerator on there. Is there a good
reason to do so? I thought it was more or less a flow restriction
device (which I don't need since I self-regulate that!), or a means
of filtering (post stem!), and since I don't cook with or drink hot
water I figure why bother?

Without an aerator, the flow will be very chaotic if you ever open it
up all the way. An aerator can and will limit flow, but that
shouldn't be a problem for you.

So, if I do decide to replace the old galvanized I'm restricted to more
galvanized or copper?

Any water supply pipes you replace should be copper--it doesn't make
sense to install galvanized given its performance, and PEX is not
approved here, as previously mentioned. To connect the new copper to
your existing galvanized, the best solution is to use a 6" brass
nipple (or stainless steel? not sure if stainless is OK) with a female
threaded galvanized fitting on one side, and a copper sweat to female
threaded adapter on the other end. A "nipple" is just a short section
of (threaded) pipe.

Cheers, Wayne

On Tue, 22 Apr 2008 03:00:56 GMT, Wayne Whitney
wrote:

:On 2008-04-21, Dan Musicant ) Dan wrote:
:
: I don't think I even keep the aerator on there. Is there a good
: reason to do so? I thought it was more or less a flow restriction
: device (which I don't need since I self-regulate that!), or a means
: of filtering (post stem!), and since I don't cook with or drink hot
: water I figure why bother?
:
:Without an aerator, the flow will be very chaotic if you ever open it
:up all the way. An aerator can and will limit flow, but that
:shouldn't be a problem for you.

I thought I might not be using an aerator, but it turned out I am. When
I removed it actually, the full flow didn't seem chaotic at all. I'd
already put a full flow through the pipe with the aerator on, and maybe
because of that there was quite a bit of a variety of sized particles on
the screen. So far, there's no dripping, so I'm hopeful that flushing
like this resolves the problem for the time being. If I do decide to
replace the galvanized, I'll do copper and as you describe with the
brass fitting.

Thanks...

Dan
:
: So, if I do decide to replace the old galvanized I'm restricted to more
: galvanized or copper?
:
:Any water supply pipes you replace should be copper--it doesn't make
:sense to install galvanized given its performance, and PEX is not
:approved here, as previously mentioned. To connect the new copper to
:your existing galvanized, the best solution is to use a 6" brass
:nipple (or stainless steel? not sure if stainless is OK) with a female
:threaded galvanized fitting on one side, and a copper sweat to female
:threaded adapter on the other end. A "nipple" is just a short section
f (threaded) pipe.
:
:Cheers, Wayne