Rheem rte13 electric on demand flow switch is not working. Rheem has no no parts, since they haven't made that unit for 3 yrs. I bought a in line 1/2 inch flow switch off ebay to try. The original had 2 wires, but the universal one has 3. Red, black and yellow (signal) wires. Any thoughts on how to hook it up ?
I could guess if I knew what you had.
I would like to see a picture of the inside of your unit, a pic of the original flow sensor and the new one. How to insert pictures.
Are you SURE the old sensor switch is bad ?
It's two parts.... a rotary vane with magnet on the inside and the reed switch on the outside.
Those reed switches are very reliable and durable.
So you left the old sensor in place and added a new sensor assembly to the water heater.... is that correct ?
Just so you understand.... the old sensor used a basic reed switch. As the water vane turned inside a magnet traveled with it and that reed switch kept opening and closing. That's it. circuit open.... circuit closed. The faster the water flow.... the faster the open and closing. This is a non powered device. Typically the vane gets stuck with minerals.
Now you've connected a hall magnetic sensing transistor to it that needs power. Water movement will now create a short to either hot or ground. That is not the way the system is designed to work.
First thing I would try to do is to use the old reed with the two wires. You could just connect an ohmmeter to it and sit in place of the other switch to see if the internal magnet is strong enough to activate it.
If you want to get the new one to work you need to use a meter and make some tests. I need to know what you measure from A to ground, B to ground with no connections.
Hello, doityourself forums! My tankless heater (RUR-199e, as in the subject header) is about two and a half years old. Thanks to some miscommunication on install, it was running its recirc pump for a lot more than it was supposed to for a big chunk of that. We have very hard water, so any problems I've run into before this have mostly been scale-related--now that the recirc pump runs at a sane schedule and we've had a softener system installed, those issues seem to have calmed down, but I have a new one. About eight weeks ago, I was getting code 11 on demand (the ignition code). The flame rod assembly was highly corroded, so I bought a new one and replaced it (I also went ahead and did a vinegar flush, which I'd been doing about every two months or so while we were dealing with scale issues). About three weeks ago, I got code 11 again, and noticed that there was already some pretty significant corrosion on the all-new flame rod assembly. I sanded some carbon off the rod and igniter and used a scrub pad to clean up around the assembly, and it went back into service. Now, today, I got another code 11 and noticed the entire assembly was, again, deeply corroded.
As far as I can tell, there's no infiltration coming from outside the unit--the area around the assembly was relatively dry, but the felt gasket it comes with was soaked, and there appears to be some scale on the inside of the heat exchanger, visible from the assembly mounting point. This tells me that there might be a small leak inside the heat exchanger that is letting some water collect in there. Does this seem like a reasonable diagnosis, or is there some other (cheaper-to-fix) problem that it might be?
Another thing I'm noticing is that sometimes, when I turn off the demand, something will rattle somewhere in the unit. I can't tell where, there's too much noise and it's too sporadic, but what it sounds like is a chunk of something that's being held in position while the water is flowing that then settles down somewhere after the water stops. My guess is that it's a big chunk of scale and I just need to run a few flushes to get it out, but are there other things it could be?
Thanks in advance! I have bunches of photos to share:
[img]https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.doityourselft.com-vbulletin/2000x1504/pxl_20221203_170714702_mp_ef6518f40114dba39f63e410c9ba2ee32e216e83.jpg[/img]
[i]When I first opened the unit. No visible condensation anywhere, but tons of corrosion. I don't really have any clue what the yellow chunks are.[/i]
[img]https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.doityourselft.com-vbulletin/2000x1504/pxl_20221203_170817962_352d5fb9b7d7a81be64972db0e77f88e10672b17.jpg[/img]
[i]Focus on ground screw[/i]
[img]https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.doityourselft.com-vbulletin/2000x1504/pxl_20221203_170822907_fb3f633660a8d9c23d1d5786de68025872548368.jpg[/img]
[i]Focus on flame rod and the ceramic thing in the middle (a thermistor maybe, for safety cutoff?)[/i]
[img]https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.doityourselft.com-vbulletin/2000x1504/pxl_20221203_173026054_mp_a2f0c65795bce9f75d7b26624e0febc5ed0953e3.jpg[/img]
[i]Notice the buildup inside the exchanger (the little white crystals), seems like scale from evaporating water.[/i]
[img]https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.doityourselft.com-vbulletin/2000x1504/pxl_20221203_171136782_96cc0dcaa4c9bf6e9915be851c776558a8002070.jpg[/img]
[i]Tons of corrosion in the interface between the gasket and the assembly plate.[/i]
[img]https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.doityourselft.com-vbulletin/2000x1504/pxl_20221203_170934812_bd87740a2bf4ceaf63093240365d89f224dbe5f4.jpg[/img]
[i]View of the flame rod and ignition, some carbon build-up, I don't really have a sense for how normal this is for eight weeks of life[/i]
[img]https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.doityourselft.com-vbulletin/2000x1504/pxl_20221203_170940828_5bf72cf977e32621d058627ab11f78b83c5b1027.jpg[/img]
[i]Side view with more consistent background[/i]
[img]https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.doityourselft.com-vbulletin/2000x1504/pxl_20221203_170945677_3f3f8475d1fa9691b7012735ff5fb2e939bfc3a2.jpg[/img]
[i]Back of the removed assembly[/i]
[img]https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.doityourselft.com-vbulletin/2000x1504/pxl_20221203_170948520_3c0c7418d7710033ff5cb78dd2bafa9a1f590dd0.jpg[/img]
[i]Front of the removed assembly[/i]
[img]https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.doityourselft.com-vbulletin/2000x1504/pxl_20221203_173618969_mp_6a50f313492529649c8eed8276ea8d225fef096d.jpg[/img]
[i]Replacement assembly in place.[/i]
Hot water was frozen and just started running 4 or 5 hours ago. Although t have a good steady flow the water is room temperature at best. My water is electric and sounds as though it is heating. Could I have an issue with my element or should I just give it time to warm up?
12-08-22, 04:28 PM
