Good to hear things are improving. Don't leave that straight hose water in the system for too long. Replace it with demineralized water at some point to minimize chemical deposition. You don't want a nice fresh core getting caked up with carbonates. I used to work at a place that had large demin tanks so bringing home a 5 gallon jog of Demin water whenever it was needed was a snap. Maybe you know a friend who works at a company that purifies the incoming city/well water (power plants, boiler houses, waste to energy plants, etc.)

RR69s