# Tankless and ProPress



## smellslike$tome (Jun 16, 2008)

My opinion of ProPress has officially turned from basic ambivalence and slight suspicion to negative "do not use" product.

I went on a Noritz 69-M service call about a week or so ago that yielded the following error codes from most recent to oldest: (2) 11's, (2) 16's, and (2) 760's. After viewing the codes, I went into the attic where the unit was located. The 11's were immediately obvious as this was supplied by a 2# ng system with a 1/2" regulator. I replaced the regulator. The 16's seemed obvious at first as a scale issue since this is a 5 year old heater that appears to have never received any maintenance. I ran a descaling flush of 1 part CLR to 3 parts water for one hour. After these two corrections, the unit fired and remained lit. Although I did not receive any additional 16's, the unit was far exceeding it's set temp of 110 to as much as 138. Even at minimum btu input of 25K and an incoming water temp of 77, I should not have come anywhere near 138. The excessive temps were only at low flow rates. I wasn't sure about the next step so I called Noritz. To try and shorten this up a little bit I'll skip our conversation and simply say that they sent me a bypass valve which I installed. When I examined the old bypass valve I was able to see some debris trapped in the inlet. It was bits of rubber that sort of resembled an o-ring but no piece was large enough to really make out exactly what it was. After installing the bypass valve I still had high temps but not quite as bad but still too high. I started looking at fixtures (which I should have already done) and discovered I was only getting .7 gpm through the shower head, one of the lav faucets, and .8 through the other lav faucet. Pulled and cleaned the shower head which really wasn't bad and turned out to be more of a spray pattern adjustment issue more than anything else. This took me to about 1.2 gpm for the shower and I was now hitting target temp. I cleaned the aerators, which were fouled, on both lav faucets and although I still didn't get set temp of 110 I was able to bring them down to 118 and 120 respectively. So I'm feeling pretty good about it and was sure no one would get burned so I announced it "good" and left. It was good for about a day. Got the call this morning that it shut off after about 5 minutes, wouldn't restart and was throwing a 16. Rats!!! I call Noritz to go over everything with them before I go back out there (there so hard to get hold of and I didn't want to be sitting in a 120 degree attic for 30 minutes just waiting for someone to pick up the phone). Before I called I disassembled the old bypass valve took pictures of the debris still in place, then I removed the debris and took more pictures then I e-mailed it to them. He wanted me to check the rubber gasket in the union of the iso valve. I said ok but I know that's not it because those gaskets are flat and the bits I pulled out of the bypass valve are neither flat nor round but rather have a sort of football shaped cross section strongly resembling something like an o-ring. I ask him if there is anything matching that description in this water heater and he says no. Ok so I go back to the ho this afternoon, kill the power, drain the unit, pull the filter only to discover that there is none, only the plug without a screen (which is something I should have discovered previously), pull the cover, pull the circuit board, and I'm just about to pull the bypass valve and the water flow control valve to check for more little pieces of black rubber something or other when it finally dawns on me.

These are pieces of o-ring from pro press fitting(s)!!![/SIZE=4"]

When this realization hits me, having just discovered that the strainer screen was missing, I just stopped and packed up because I didn't have another strainer (I'm not yet stocking these parts because I rarely get calls to work on them, this was the 4th or 5th in 2 years and until now it has always simply been maintenance issues), and since I didn't have a strainer, it was pointless to remove the valves and flush the system. My supplier has the strainers and I will pick one up (plus a spare) in the a.m. Once the strainer is in place I can try and flush this thing out of any remaining bits of Pro Press fitting o-ring!!!


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## SewerRatz (Apr 25, 2009)

If the ProPress o rings are in the water system then that means the person installing them did not ream the outer edge of the pipe and shaved parts of the o-ring off. Otherwise there is no other way for the o-rings to get into the system.


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## Plumber Jim (Jun 19, 2008)

So the next problem they will have will be the strainer will get plugged up. If the whole house is propressed then maybe a cartridge filter before the tankless may be a good idea, It will take awhile before that starts to plug up and they can change that easy enough.


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## ROCKSTARPLUMBER (Dec 14, 2008)

So after the first trip out, i assume that the rest of the time you have spent there is warranty work? If it is bits of oring material from pro-press fittings as you claim, then where is the leaking pro-press fitting at? Surely there has to be a leak somewhere in that failed piping system?


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