electric water heater question

[jaye944]

ok; So I've googled and youtubed stuff on this...

SO.. can I ask

1> How often should "you" clean the water system
2> (in my house cold water is fed to ALL taps at the same time, hot water through the tank; obviosuly!)

3> should I simply drain? or drain and flush through and if so should I use a chemical

4> What the differance between; Draining the tank as opposed to just running the tank empty from the taps? (obviously with water heater switched off)

5> Am I allowed to do this? not certified (ontario)

thakxs all

 

[markdtn]

I don't know how you can practically clean a home water heater. In some cases you could replace the anode in it, but I've never met anyone who actually did. You could drain it periodically, that would get some of the mud out of the bottom. You can't drain it through the top because of how it is constructed. You should test the pressure relief periodically.

 

[TAMPAGT07]

I want to say mine is like 16 years old, and I have never done anything to it....

 

[SARG]

In our case we have crappy water and associated deposits that necessitates our cleaning the tank every six months.

We use a wet vac with a rubber hose to remove the crud and change the rods every six months also.

 

[jaye944]

ahh ok that explains question 4 !

thanks

I don't know how you can practically clean a home water heater. In some cases you could replace the anode in it, but I've never met anyone who actually did. You could drain it periodically, that would get some of the mud out of the bottom. You can't drain it through the top because of how it is constructed. You should test the pressure relief periodically.

 

[signcrafter]

ok; So I've googled and youtubed stuff on this...

SO.. can I ask

1> How often should "you" clean the water system
2> (in my house cold water is fed to ALL taps at the same time, hot water through the tank; obviosuly!)

3> should I simply drain? or drain and flush through and if so should I use a chemical

4> What the differance between; Draining the tank as opposed to just running the tank empty from the taps? (obviously with water heater switched off)

5> Am I allowed to do this? not certified (ontario)

thakxs all

I clean ours once a year. There is a lot of calcium and other **** in there each time I do it. Drain it and then flush some water through it. You can take the bottom element out and use a flashlight to see if there is crud on the bottom. No chemicals needed. Like another poster I use my shop vac with a rubber plug that I drilled a hole in and inserted a barbed fitting and use a 1/2" rubber hose to go in through the lower element hole and **** the **** out. I turn the water on a little bit to help with the vacuuming. You can't "run the tank empty from the taps". If you turn off the water supply and then open the hot water taps very little will come out. And what will come out won't "flush" the water heater since it won't drain the bottom. You need to use the water heater drain at the bottom. I'm not sure if you are or aren't allowed to do it up there where you're from but I don't see any reason why a home owner can't do it themselves. Down here in the US it's not an issue doing it yourself.

I want to say mine is like 16 years old, and I have never done anything to it....

I see another thread in the near future about water leaks!

 

[G_P]

Put a garden hose on the drain on the bottom of the heater, run it outside or into a drain. Shut off the incoming cold water and open a hot water tap to allow air back in so you dont just pull a vacuum. Then open the valve on the bottom of the heater and drain it.

You can repeat this a few times to get most all of the crud out of the bottom of the tank.

 

[rvr6000]

FWIW....first thing I do when replacing a water heater is remove the factory drain on the new heater and replace it with a quarter turn valve and a garden hose fitting. Makes it much easier to drain later and it won't leak.

 

[Major Ramifications]

I drain mine with a garden hose every once in a while (every few years or so). I know I should do it more often, but life gets in the way.
I get quite a bit of gravel each time, and the last time I got some rust.

 

[JF5000]

I want to say mine is like 16 years old, and I have never done anything to it....

JC said that is because some people don't take baths...

 

[G McKay]

I want to say mine is like 16 years old, and I have never done anything to it....

Same here. Mine is probably close to ten years old and I have never drained it. If you have a water softener, you should never have to drain it. The last one I had lasted about 20 years (maybe more) without draining it. It had a water softener right next to it that kept it clean.

 

[jaye944]

many thankxs to all the great replies !

 

[TAMPAGT07]

JC said that is because some people don't take baths...

Baths? You guys take baths?

 

[TAMPAGT07]

I see another thread in the near future about water leaks!

Does not cleaning it cause water leaks? Could explain why I have had two water leaks in the last couple years....

 

[SARG]

FWIW....first thing I do when replacing a water heater is remove the factory drain on the new heater and replace it with a quarter turn valve and a garden hose fitting. Makes it much easier to drain later and it won't leak.

Putting in a ball valve is an excellent idea. I have a heater and tank in queue waiting to replace the ones that are in place now ......... preventative replacement every ten years ...... and I'll be stealing that idea before the install. Just last year I had an issue with the factory drain and spent a half a day getting it to stop leaking.

The **** in the tank will get into the standard turn off and foul it up. The washers also wear out.

Thanks

 

[kenfath]

Never really had a WH drain valve crud-up, but could see that happening. (Many, many) Years ago there was a child that was severely burned while playing with the WH drain valve. This was when they had handles on them. The suggestion was to get a cap for that valve as part of child-proofing the house. We bought a cap and have remembered to remove it and place on the new WH's. Realize newer WH don't have handles but the drip cap makes it safer and eliminates the possibility of a leak.

 

[browntown]

Old thread I know, but I was going to do my annual maintenance, and saw this and thought I'd share my non-professional experience with keeping the hot water heater (mine is nat gas) going.

Ditto on putting on a brass lever valve and a garden fitting. The plastic drains break easy after years of brittleness.

When we moved into this house, about a month in I pulled into the garage and there was water everywhere. It was the safety purge valve, and since I gave it a purge test a few days prior it decided to fail. Easy replacement, if not using copper, make sure to use yellow cpvc (hot water rated) for the purge escape piping. (Said the dude at homedepot)

I pulled the anode out of the 9 year water heater. It had so much calcium buildup, that I couldn't pull it out of the hole on top of the water heater. Large chunks broke off pulling it out. I replaced the anode, and thought I should replace the intake hose too for good measure, pulled the plastic dip tube out and it was cracked lengthwise. With a cracked diptube, the guy at the plumbing supply store said I was leaking cold water into the hot water and ruining my chances of any kind of efficiency. Another cheap fix. I also fitted new ******* with the plastic liners to avoid the dissimilar metal corrosion problem.

Now I drain it and check the anode annually, hoping to make the thing last a couple more years. There's still some big chunks of calcium at the bottom that can't fit through the valve hole from that anode pulling. Every drain I try to break them up a little with a flashlight and a chopstick when it is dry.

Make sure to turn off the heating system before you drain, don't want that thing kicking on with an empty tank.

All those maintenance items can be found at the hardware store for pretty cheap. My diptube was special, so I had to go to a plumbing supply store, but it was only 10$ once I found it.

 

[alfredeneuman]

It really should go without saying, but be sure to shut the power of to the heater before you drain it, or you could end up with burnt out elements.

 

[LifeLongWNYer]

Each fall, at about this time, I bring in my garden hose and hook it to my water heater drain. ( I have the 1/4 turn valve and hose adapter installed ) I hook on the hose, and, with the free end on the yard, open the valve quickly and let it run for about 5 minutes. then I shut it off and I'm done with the tank.

Opening it fast and fully creates turbulence in the tank that flushes out the crud laying on the bottom. Running the hot water through the hose softens it so that I can coil it up neatly and tightly for storage until spring.

I'm on 22 years for my Mom's tank and 15 years for mine.



.

 

[CNGsaves]

^ ^ This . . . very street-smart guy and creative as it makes sense as he will always put away garden hoses for winter . . . AND . . . flush out hot water to prolong it's life.

Lots of YouTubes on this.

I'm putting together stub pipe and ball valve to replace the cheezy plastic drain on my HWH. Hopefully I'll get into habit of LifeLongWNYer !!