Nearly everyone in Adelaide would be very familiar with the name Rinnai. Whether its hot water, heating or cooking Rinnai have been a house hold name for many years in South Australia. Particularly when it comes to the heating of hot water Rinnai have a variety of systems available today on the plumbing market.
The Popular Rinnai B16 Model
The Rinnai B16 model is the most popular brand of hot water heaters that Rinnai have on the Adelaide hot water market today. These units are from the same family as the Infinity range and Builders range of hot water systems so models such as the Infinity 16, Infinity 20, Infinity 26, B20 and B26 are all of the same nature just slightly different sizes and different warranties.
In the Infinity range the heat exchangers have a 12-year warranty and the B range which stands for Builders range has a 10-year warranty on its heat exchanger, that’s the only real difference and the Infinity units are all white, the builders range is grey.
These continuous flow hot water hot water services can be sensitive to high water pressure and it is recommended that if the water pressure on site is close to or above 800kpa that a pressure limiting valve be installed either at the water meter or at a minimum close to the cold water inlet to the hot water system and the pressure be limited back to 500kpa. What this is doing is protecting the “water flow sensor” a very integral part of the operations of this hot water service. When the water flow sensor fails you will notice the water coming out of the hot taps slows down to a trickle only. This problem with the water flow sensor can be intermittent and play up only during times of high water pressure being delivered to the hot water service if there are no pressure limiting devices installed.
Water Flow Sensor
The water flow sensor controls the flow rate in which the water runs through the hot water service allowing the correct amount of gas to be consumed by the unit and deliver the right amount of hot water to the taps. When this part fails it is recommended (as mentioned previously) to have a pressure limiting device installed also along with a non-return valve on the hot water outlet to protect the new part from spikes of high pressure in the future.
The cost of having this part replaced along with the pressure limiting device and non-return valve is a quarter of the price of having a whole new unit supplied and installed so a repair is definitely worth the investment. From our experience at Mayfair Plumbing and Gasfitting these problems tend to happen around the half way mark of the hot water services life and therefore the cost of repairs is justified, if how-ever this problem with the water flow sensor was to occur at the other end of the heaters life a replacement would most likely be the recommended option.
The Rinnai B16 is being manufactured today so a relatively easy swap over could be achieved. The Rinnai B16 superseded models such as the Rinnai V1200 and the B24 superseded the Rinnai V1500 all of which can experience similar issues with their water flow sensors.
If you are experiencing problems with your Rinnai hot water call experts not just an everyday run of the mill plumbing company, speak with Adelaide’s most respected and trusted plumbing company who know what they are doing and who can successfully fix your hot water problems without having to upgrade to a new unit until the time is right, speak with Mayfair Plumbing today on 0429 361 819
