Definitely something to add to the "Homeowner flow chart" for when I finally secure my first home. Thanks for taking the time to illustrate your method and show the results. It's much appreciated.
If you are a home owner you need to do this once a year or every 6 months especially if you have hard water in your area . Get rid of that plastic valve at the bottom of the tank they are bad about cracking & leaking , remember that tank heats up several times a day doing laundry , bath dishes etc. And if your water heater is in the attic then it heats up every single day . Replace it with a brass nipple & brass ball valve that way you can check it every couple of months with a 5 gallon bucket . I just went through this back in September when I converted my all elect water heater over to natural gas .
First, thanks for making this video! It was very helpful. Second, I have a question for you. Since you had to scrape around and then re-insert the lower heating element so you could turn the water on to help flush the sediment, could you have just used the lower heating element opening and took your garden hose and inserted it there so that you could get the water to flush through the debris out easily turning the hose on and off? Or am I missing something?
Well tell you the truth hadn't thought of it but also was more afraid that doing something like that was going to make a huge mess. I thought of just turning on the water to the water heater and let it flush but was afraid that water was going to rush out the element opening and make a huge mess. Cuz at first the debris was at the top of the element opening to start. Thanks for watching.
I'm not sure of the process name, but heating the water causes naturally occurring minerals to precipitate out. That's where the "sludge" comes from. The minerals are calcium, iron, etc. that precipitate onto and around the heater elements. Electric heaters usually have two elements, one toward the bottom and one just above the middle to upper portion of the tank. In heavily mineralized water, precipitates can quickly bury your bottom element and reduce the efficiency of the water heater. Gas water heaters still accumulate precipitates but the central heat transfer tube runs all the way up the middle of the tank to the exhaust vent. Accumulated precipitate sediment at the bottom of the tank still leaves the rest of the exchange tube to heat water. I enjoyed your video, but would hate to think of the cost of having a plumber come out and perform the same maintenance.
Glad you enjoyed the video. Just got a comment from a plumber and he said he charges $2000 to install a new water heater along so yes it would have been quite expensive I'm guessing. Thanks for watching.
We have hard water and I pulled out our hot water heater after 34 years without being serviced. It was installed before I was born and went through a flood that fully submerged it. Where do you live where the water will destroy your water heater in less than 5 years?
Have you had to flush your water heater?
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Definitely something to add to the "Homeowner flow chart" for when I finally secure my first home. Thanks for taking the time to illustrate your method and show the results. It's much appreciated.
Glad you liked it and was able to help you out. Thanks for watcing
If you are a home owner you need to do this once a year or every 6 months especially if you have hard water in your area . Get rid of that plastic valve at the bottom of the tank they are bad about cracking & leaking , remember that tank heats up several times a day doing laundry , bath dishes etc. And if your water heater is in the attic then it heats up every single day . Replace it with a brass nipple & brass ball valve that way you can check it every couple of months with a 5 gallon bucket . I just went through this back in September when I converted my all elect water heater over to natural gas .
First, thanks for making this video! It was very helpful. Second, I have a question for you. Since you had to scrape around and then re-insert the lower heating element so you could turn the water on to help flush the sediment, could you have just used the lower heating element opening and took your garden hose and inserted it there so that you could get the water to flush through the debris out easily turning the hose on and off? Or am I missing something?
Well tell you the truth hadn't thought of it but also was more afraid that doing something like that was going to make a huge mess. I thought of just turning on the water to the water heater and let it flush but was afraid that water was going to rush out the element opening and make a huge mess. Cuz at first the debris was at the top of the element opening to start. Thanks for watching.
I'm not sure of the process name, but heating the water causes naturally occurring minerals to precipitate out. That's where the "sludge" comes from. The minerals are calcium, iron, etc. that precipitate onto and around the heater elements. Electric heaters usually have two elements, one toward the bottom and one just above the middle to upper portion of the tank. In heavily mineralized water, precipitates can quickly bury your bottom element and reduce the efficiency of the water heater.
Gas water heaters still accumulate precipitates but the central heat transfer tube runs all the way up the middle of the tank to the exhaust vent. Accumulated precipitate sediment at the bottom of the tank still leaves the rest of the exchange tube to heat water.
I enjoyed your video, but would hate to think of the cost of having a plumber come out and perform the same maintenance.
Glad you enjoyed the video. Just got a comment from a plumber and he said he charges $2000 to install a new water heater along so yes it would have been quite expensive I'm guessing. Thanks for watching.
Plumber here new water heater install is around $2,000 in my area
Holy crap. Well then this was definitely worth doing myself. Thanks for watching.
We have hard water and I pulled out our hot water heater after 34 years without being serviced. It was installed before I was born and went through a flood that fully submerged it.
Where do you live where the water will destroy your water heater in less than 5 years?
Texas! Thanks for watching.
Not sure how much a plumber would charge to do that.