Descale Procedure

Note this video recommends vinegar, and while that is still a useful descaling agent, you may need to swap out the solution halfway through the descale procedure. You can otherwise use a 50/50 mixture of water and a calcium-lime-rust removing agent for the full hour cleaning.

Descale is a common maintenance procedure for heater installations in hard water areas. Ultimately, testing and treating the water quality will increase the longevity of the heater, beyond that, periodic descaling of the heater will be necessary to remove scale build-up in your heater. Infrequent service can decrease the performance of the unit by overheating water or in severe cases create a leak. Also, too frequent servicing, more than 2x a year, can create pinhole leaks from the aggressive nature of the descale agent. Generally, Noritz recommends testing and treating the water quality and if treating the water quality is not done, then Noritz recommends descaling the heater every 2 years if you’re on a municipal water supply, or descale once a year if you’re on well water or a commercial application at high temperature settings.