Do I need to descale it...ever?
Can I do it or do I need a plumber/electrician?
Do I pay or the landlord?
Poking my head in the cupboard it looks like a sealed unit anyway. If it helps I attached a pic of the label on the unit.
I rent a small apartment which has an electric water heater. I realised today as I was descaling my electric kettle that I have never descaled the water heater in the 3 years I have been here. It just never occured to me...until now.
No.
You'd need to disconnect the feed pipe, fill with descaler, heat, empty. Then, if it has a sacrificial anode inside, you'd probably need to replace that...
Move to Ticino, we have soft water (except for those living in Stabio).
Tom
Eeek... definitely not something I fancy attempting and I am not refering to Ticino :-)
I think I'll leave it until it breaks then plead total ignorance and hope the Landlord is understanding
Do you have a water softener?
No idea... I can't see anything "obvious" on the inlet pipe.
It could be there is one to the building inlet (it's a block of 8 flats) but given the heavy scaling of my other appliances I doubt that.
Check your rental contract, it could mention how often this needs to be done (2-3 years perhaps) and by whom.
EE, the former landlady/janitor to the rescue.
First what bowlie says in his/her post.
Then check with landlord or agency if and when this has been done.
We set in our appt.block a timespan of five years, had a list and as it was cheaper for us, ordered the plumber to descale all of the heaters that were due in that year in one go.
Often when a heater is descaled you need to replace the anode as well as the sealing gasket/rubber seal (Dichtung in German in case I used the wrong word), I think it's better to get a professional in to do it.
BUT , unless it is stated in the contract, this is something the agency/landlord should pay for!
To me it looks, from that plaquette, that the heater is new-ish from 2011, and is in use for 7 years, so it might be high time to descale it. It will cost less in leccy to heat up once it is done.
HTH
EE
I was a landlord for less than two years. We used the standard contract that the reĢgie proposed. It required the tenant to have the boiler cleaned every two years. But it was in a town with very high calcium levels.
Had we moved in, as was our original intention, we would have installed a water softner.
I looked through the contract (with the help of Google Translate) and there is nothing mentioned. I have contacted the Letting Agency...
Very curious to see what the answer is
I recently took my contract to the mieterverband and was told that unless this is mentioned on the first page of your contract it is not legally binding. There was mention of my descaling the water heater in the small sub sections listed in the small print.
The landlord can include whatever they like in the small print in the back of the document but these are not legally enforceable according to the law.
There are laws in Bern made to protect renters, anything which requires a specialist, including servicing a dishwasher, washing machine is not legal in the eyes of the courts.
I was really relieved that I took my contract to them and received this information. I would recommend everyone to join the mieterverband as the lawyer there told me that lots of expats who are unfamiliar with the law are often taken advantage of.
Thanks EE, I had confirmation back from my Letting Agency:
" Thank you for your message. The descaling of the water heater is not something that the tenant has to do. It is as you are writing, that these things usually are done in a block. "
They said every 5 years they will arrange for it by block, and it's not billable to me
I can go back to living in ignorance about hot water heater mechanics of descaling