5-6 years ago I bought a new 50 gallon hot water heater. Paid the installer that Lowe's recommended/contracted with to install it. We have fairly hard water here in central Indiana. I knew to flush it 1-2x per year and would do so. However, i missed doing it for over a year, about 2 years ago. No appreciable difference in the lime scale that came out of the hose the next time.

Now, over the last 9-12 months, we've had ever decreasing hot water pressure throughout the house. No decrease in cold water pressure. I took some pics of the top of the hot water heater and showed them to a licensed plumber at a different Lowes. He indicated that from what he can see, the install was copper pipe straight to the hot water heater....no dialectric connections. He showed me a kit to install that would solve the problem, but only after I disconnected the existing pipes and scraped out the connections / unions with either a screw driver and/or a stiff wire brush.

Is this the answer? Should I go back to that Lowes and ask for a refund on the installation? I doubt I have the receipt still, for either the hot water heater or the install, but maybe. In my opinion, THAT is why I paid to have someone who is supposed to be professional and licensed, do the install! I could have made that mistake myself!

I've never used a torch or soldered, so I hesitate to cross that bridge, or am I making it out to be more complicated than it really is? I've done some light plumbing (replacing toilets, faucets, under-sink pipes, etc.,....but that's about it. I've replaced a few alternators and done some brake jobs on my cars and so forth over the years and enjoyed it, but that's about the extent of my 'handiness'. Is this something I can tackle? Is that the issue for the lack of flow?

Thoughts?

Thanks!