One thing you should probably think about after flushing a water heater is that it’s good idea to open a Hot side on a faucet and maybe remove the aerator and flushing the lines in the home. I flush heaters all the time and the worst thing that happens is you break up all that scale and blow it through the plumbing system. If your not careful you can plug up cartridges and or areators . Thanks for your videos. Keep up the good work
Noob here. Once I remove the aerator, would I need a pump to blow the water through the hot water heater, it would I just need to turn the hot water valve on?
@@christiandj50 Just open the hot water side of the bath tub - no pump needed. In the scerino he's showing (NOT turning off the water at the meter), there will be anywhere from 15 to 40 lbs of water pressure (in my area) coming from the street / thru the water lines / thru the water heater / thru the hot water faucet
Have always pretty much flushed my water heater as you describe every year, but not with a filter/bucket. Let me also mention that I have whole house filters (2 in series) and a water softener. After flushing for 10-15 minutes with the cold water supply on, most of the large sediment was gone, but there were some fine particles still coming out. However, today, after reading some other posts on this, I decided to just drain my water heater (opened the pressure relief valve to prevent a vacuum) after shutting off the cold water supply. I let it drain most of the way, closed the PRV/PSV, then turned the cold water supply back on. Surprisingly, a whole bunch more of larger white and brown 'rocks' came out again, which I did not expect. Apparently, the turbulence kicked up a bunch more sediment that had been missed in the initial two flushes. Might be worthwhile to flush in two steps - one with the cold water supply on and then again by draining the tank and then turning the cold water supply back on.
don't mess with the pressure relief valve. open a faucet on hot to prevent a vacuum. opening the relief valve makes it more prone to leaking later. it's like a fuse, it should only be used in the event of an emergency.
Thanks Roger. Just went through your steps with my water heater and got rid of 2 cups of sediments with no fuss. I've been putting it off for 3 years since draining the tank with cold inlet shut off just made so little sense, and that's all I was getting from web searches. Much appreciated!
Sir, wanted to give a big Texas thank for taking the time to making this plumbing videos. It helped me understand much better on how to maintain my water heater. God bless you sir.
Hey Roger, try opening and closing the water supply to the tank a few times while having the hose hooked up just like you did. I found it to be effective in agitating the sediment. ,:)
Mine was never flushed in the 5 years Ive had it. Last week I put a hose on it and flushed it out. The water came out thick black with chunks. I let it run for 45 minutes lol.
@@williamwiese9963 Mine beats all....... it's a millennial, no joke pushing a quarter of a century. I think it might start off with a few pounds of dust considering the 30 year old pressure tank was full of rust and sprung a leak at midnight a few weeks ago. AND the pilot keeps going out on the furnace that was already old when it was converted from an oil burner to a gas burner 50-60 years ago... RUSTIC..........
This! I watched a few of these but this one was most specific and gave the t-shirt idea, into bucket. I didn't expect to see much in newer Bradford water heater and if I just let drain, it looked pretty good. Putting it through a green t-shirt revealed my hard San Diego water residue. I did it in phases of filling up the bucket instead of one shot, to allow inlet water to come in and swirl around (and no holes in buck, and heater was deep in garage, so this was very clean.
In Phoenix, and Bullhead City, AZ you should flush your water heater, regardless if it is a tank, or tankless, once a year. The water there has so mush sediment in it, that I've seen tanks blow out after three years of not being cleaned. Even with the salt or RO systems, the tanks can hold sediment in the bottom, and those tanks need, I stress need to be done no less than 2 years. I used to be a Realtor in AZ, and was also a property manager, and now do flips in those areas so I have seen a lot of this first hand. It is such a simple thing to do, I'm surprised at how many people never flush their tanks, and then wonder why their systems perform like they do.
I start working for my brother in laws plumbing company here in Tennessee this August. Once I know enough I’ll definitely look into installing a filter.
Hi Roger, I just saw your video and I’m gonna flush my water heater tomorrow and just connect the hose and turn it on and flush it and that’s it. I thank you for your advice.
I just replaced my 20-year old Maytag electric water heater this week after it started leaking internally and shorting out the thermostat, leaving us with scalding hot water. I replaced it with an A.O. Smith 100 model,....it came with a plastic drain faucet at the bottom, however, it is a few inches higher than my old Maytag outlet. This allows me to connect a drain hose without interference from the sidewall of the drain pan. I hope to get at least 15-years out of the new water heater.
You deserve more likes. Thank you sir. I am rebuilding a double wide mobile home. One of my last tasks was a whole house filter. We have well water but it has rust and was fixin to ruin our beautiful brand new tubs, sinks, terlets, etc. Well sir, we have run a couple weeks without filter before I installed it. Needless to say (in hindsight) the water heater was still full of crud. So I ran all the faucets for wafts seemed like 30 minutes. Very small improvement. So I thought…let me see what UA-cam sez. Can I open the drain valve and run it while pressurized. I thought so…and YOU SIR confirmed it! 😊 I ran several hundred gallons through the water heater and it is crystal clear. I even closed and opened the drain valve several times while flushing it. Very RARELY will I give this much of a reply. But here ya go… you deserve many more likes! Thanks from Suwannee Homestead! 🎉 2:11
Thank you for the video Roger. Water coming out of my hot faucets is slightly brown and clear out of the cold water faucets so I read that it could be from rust in my hot water heater. I will flush it tomorrow and see what happens.
Sometimes you will get a weird blue jelly. A couple times the sediment was so bad on a water heater that I've drained the entire heater, removed the brass drain, and vacummed out the bottom of the heater with a shop vac and a rubber hose.
Thanks for the video Roger. I'm going to flush mine for the first time. I moved into this home two years ago and I don't know if the water heater has ever been flushed. It might be pretty nasty.
I'm going to show this to my husband. I only looked up 'hot water heater noises' because I thought ours was 'knocking'. Who knew you have to do this every year? I know ours hasn't been done, Ever, yikes!😮 Thanks Roger!
Anytime I have DIY plumbing questions I refer to UA-cam first because I'm always on a budget. And of course anytime I see your contributions I absolutely must watch them. You, sir, are indeed an expert! And your badass mustache only adds to your credibility. Haha
I've been told before to open hot faucets and drain the tank down. Question 1: Is that necessary? So, you just put the drain hose on, open the valve, and let the cold water pressure flush it? Question 2: what if sediment plugs the drain spigot? Can you put a screwdriver in there to try and break it up? Q3: Should you turn the gas off before you drain it?
Really appreciate your videos. I have a question. If there are large amounts of sediment that do not break up, is there anything that can be added to the tank to break down that sediment so you can get a better flush of the tank?
Question, do you need to shut the power off first? I’m assuming the cold water coming into the tank and the water leaving via the hose is the same. If the hose is letting more water out than is coming in and the tank level drops below the upper heating element wouldn’t you risk burning out the element..
Yes. To avoid dry firing the heating elements, turn off the power to the tank many minutes before you start draining. Then, don't turn it back on until the tank is filled again. And to get it filled all the way, you should open a faucet somewhere to let the air out of the top of the tank. (I've watched a few of these videos).
I finally replaced my plastic spigot with a metal one after 10 years. I just take a pail and open it up until it runs clean once or twice a year. My last water heater the rod never wore out and never needed replacement in the heater lasted over 30 years doing this. I set to 125degrees at kitchen sink as the gas unit at the tank will kill germs 132 at tank and less than 135 to scale tank. If I had hammer arrestors on my washing machine (easy to install and helps whole house) my first water heater would probably made it longer.
Thank you so much for this video! I am in the process of flushing a leaking water heater right now, and I was surprised I wasn't seeing a lot of water come out the opposite end. I kept screwing more thinking that it was a screw that should come loose, then when I noticed it wasn't I thought it should be inline with the hose. Checked this video to confirm. Unfortunately the water must have leaked out already, the water was pretty soaked on the floor coming back from a vacation so pretty sure there wasn't much remaining to drain =(
So just flushed the water heater. The water clear after 20 minutes, all good! Then I shut off the drain valve and disconnected the hose. The valve did not completely shut off. So now I have a leaking drain valve. Awesome!! Guess I’m gonna learn to replace the drain valve. So I assume I’ll need to shut everything down, drain and repair. My shower pressure is still bad after flush. Again, Awesome!!!
I had a brass valve on mine, but the opening was not very large. I am surprised that you dont recommend switching the valve with a ball valve. MUCH larger opening, and I had found that more sediment was flushed due to the higher volume through the unrestricted orifice.
Fantastic video. It makes so much sense to let the water pressure flush out the sediment but at what stage would you open the hot water taps in the house and isolate the cold water supply to the tank to basically drain it fully (dead volume still left in the tank)? If I got this correctly you said 10-15 min. Also, I have a HTP tank with a relief valve. When should it be opened during the flushing process? Thank you
My parents 5 year old water heater sounds like someone is tossing rocks inside it lol....we live in a neighborhood that has the worst calcium deposits ever...everything turns white powder if water is left to dry. I wish i had seen this or known this 4 years ago it desperately needs cleaned. I sent Roger a FB message and within a couple days they responded. If i do clean it it may cause fractures since its never been cleaned sooo im kinda worried. But i cant leave it like this. Thank you for the response Roger great vids.
That method you showed will work fine, if home owners flush their tanks at least every two years. If a tank has not been flushed in ten years, the flush method needs to be different. Step 1- shut off the power. Step 2- drain the tank Step 3- remove anode rod Step 4- use a spray nozzle on a water hose to spray water through Anode rod opening. Move spray around. I have gotten a bucket full of sand-like sediment out of tanks using this method, when simply draining the tanks produced only a quart or two of sediment. Step 5- install new Anode rod. Close drain valve. Step 6- fill tank and run water in House until all air is out of the system. Step 7- turn power back on. I get eighteen to twenty years minimum service from from my hot water tanks. I currently have four hot water tanks. AO Smith - 18 years so far and still going. Bradford-White 19 years so far and still going Whirlpool- 19 years and started leaking. I never drained it. It was at our cabin. AO Smith refunded my total purchase price plus tax paid. It had a lifetime warranty. The tank was built by AO Smith for Whirlpool. I replaced it with an AO Smith tank. You can replace the anode rod, both electric elements, and both thermostats in an electric water heater for less than $80.00 in parts, if you do it yourself. I had to do that at year 16 on one of my AO Smith tanks. This stuff is not rocket science.
I have a recirculating pump at the top of the water heater to send water to the far side of the house. I forgot to turn the pump off and it wasn't working following my flush. I didn't do it your way, but turned off the water supply and completely drained the heater. Luckily, the recirculating pump worked the following day.
My wife has lived in our current house since 2008. Never been flushed. 15 minutes in and I’m still getting bursts of yellow orange colored water. Letting the water fill up and get warm again and I’ll continue to flush
I let the system pull a vacuum on itself then turn the water supply back on to give me a good surge. I’ll let it run for 30 seconds to a minute. I’ll do this about 5 times. I flush every 2 to 3 years and replace the anode rod every 5 or 6. I put a camera in the tank when I change the rod.
Very helpful. Got a roughly, probably older, 41 year old Kenmore (guessing based on searching the model number). I knew I had to flush it 'cause I had to shut my gas off and upon turnining it back on the hot water was more like black water.
Are usually do mine every few months. I live in an area with very high dissolvable solids. We’re like it 150 or 200 ppm which is really high so that builds up. The water quality out here also sucks. It will go stagnant or sour in a few days. And this is treated city water.
I have an electric water heater and hard water... I usually drain the heater and change the elements every 6 months. I also have to use a vac to get out all the calcium because it will not come through the drain.
I’m gonna flush mine when I get home. It’s been in the house for 6 years before I bought it. Probably never been flushed out. Supplied by well water without a filtration system. This outta be fun!
I tried to send a photo to show the indescribable buildup. Background, I live in Florida no water softener, electro heater, brass valve, extremely hard water. I flush about every two years. My kids have noticed a decrease in the longevity of the hot water they’re getting so I decided to flush a year early I accumulated 3 pounds of built-up sediment. In 15 years that is the most that I’ve ever had come out when flushing. Needless to say, I need to clean out all my water appliances now. Matt Miller Jacksonville Florida
I’ve had my water heater for 10 years and nobody’s ever told me to flush my water heater. I didn’t know that was a thing. Now that I came across this video, I am going to flush all that settlement that you said that coats the inside of the water heater, hopefully get them walls and the bottom cleaned after never flushing it before, is there a trick to cleaning that stuff you can’t see? Ty
Great video. I live in the south where we are approaching stage 4 water restrictions. Could plz do videos where you repurpose the water. You can put that bucket over your grass or is that a bad idea? Thank You .
Hose hooked up, drained the water heater, turned on cold, flushed it multiple times, closed the valve, when up to turn the hot water off and it was super hot, like it never drained
Just flushed mine. Some black sediment but mostly small calcium particulate. It's been at least 5 years since mine was last done....I know I am a professional homeowner failure lol. I honestly expect there's a decent amount that didn't come out of mine since I waited so long and we have very hard water here.
With THIS particular method the cold water supply MUST be kept on since your BURNER remains on. If you were to shut off the cold water supply with the burner still on while draining out the water in your tank, the tank will subsequently heat up and its lining will quickly be destroyed rendering your water heater useless.😮💨😮💨😮💨
Two days ago I flushed my hot water heater and I had to completely remove the valve because the white chunks were too big to come through I had to shove a screwdriver in there to let the water out
I have an 50 gallon natural gas AO Smith power vent that had the anode rode disintegrate 3 years into its life. Cottage cheese like sediment was plugging up fixtures. Had to drain, flush and install a powered anode rode system. Problem solved. Was this from too soft water eating the magnesium anode rod, up here in western PA?
@RogerWakefield thank you for an awesome video sir. I flushed my water heater today. Maybe you can help with a couple questions though.. firstly, while draining my heater it seemed to glug glug glug along the whole way slowly despite having faucets open, unless I opened the pressure vent, it took forever. Second and more importantly, my gas water heater seems to only put out lukewarm water now. It used to get scalding, and now it doesn’t, weird. Any ideas? It’s a 4 year old gas Rheem 40 gal water heater and has never been flushed till yesterday. Hope you can help. I’m a first time homeowner in the Texas panhandle and your videos have been a God send.
i get little white grains/chunks. perform flush every year. after emptying tank, i pour in 3 gallons of white vinegar through anode mounting port, let sit for hours to dissolve scale, then turn on supply and heater. the vinegar odor quickly dissipates and might even clean shower heads and faucets.
I do the same, but only every 4 years when replacing the anode. Other years, just flush with water. I flush the vinegar out the drain, rather than through the house plumbing.
Moved into a new build in Killeen 2 years ago to the day. Drained it last year, about to do it again at the end of this year. When I did it last year, a bunch of snot looking clearish marbles came out, like it was soaked wet silicone beads or something. Any idea what that is? Also had the usual yellowish chunks of calcium as well, but there was more of that snot than anything else.
Yeah, my water heater just did something like that tonight (it's why I'm watching this video I suppose) Not as bad as what you had but it had all that and it was naaaaaasty!
You let the heat on and valves open while flushing?I flushed my water heater after 6 years I got half a bucket of calcium cant remember but it was filthy few calls still works!
I just learned today that water tanks have to be flushed out. I live in an apartment all my life and no one told us to flush out the tank. It's been way over 5 years and never flushed out our tank. 😬
I'm on well water. I have an ozone air tank with a media filter and a water softener. I just flushed mine for the first time in a brand new water heater after 2 and 1/2 years and barely got out any sediment. Do you think it's because my water is just free of all of the junk, or it's actually already started to harden? I flushed it the exact same way you did. For reference my tap water does taste very clean almost like bottled water.
Pipes burst this weekend... TL:DR I had to cap off water from everything but cold for 1 sink and toilet cause my aunt's husband did us a favor 15 years ago... Every time I take something down to find the leak I'm shocked plumbing this bad didn't break the laws of physics and burst into flames. Advice... Never try to be nice and help fix something if you dont know excactly what you're doing... and if you do have a friend helping you watch youtube tutorials behind him/her while they work :D
Time to go drain my water heater cause a CPVC fitting was used to replace the valve between the main shutoff and the outdoor tap... leading to a slow leak under the bathtub... that rotted out the beam under my water heater. Thank UA-cam I watch these videos all the time. Only thing I wont mess with is high voltage and sewage.
If it makes you feel any better, we never flushed ours in 20 years of its life and we had hard water. We replaced it when it was still working but making lots of noise.
I saw another video where someone replaced the valve from the factory with a short pipe nipple and a larger valve (e.g. with a 3/4 female thread instead of a male.) Have you done this and do you recommend it, or why not? Thanks.
This is a fantastic idea. I’ve done it years ago and I love it. A three-quarter inch ball valve allows a half inch vinyl tube to be placed through through the valve and into the tank you can then attach it to a wet dry vacuum and suck out all of this debris. I did it yesterday and it worked great. Drain the tank completely which let’s a little bit of the debris come out and then when it empties completely stick, the vinyl hose through the valve and a series of flushing and vacuuming, and inserting the vinyl tube various depths into the tank. You will get out a lot of the stuff that would never come out by just flushing it. It worked really well for me. The vinyl tube attaches to the vacuum hose with some duct tape. Give it a try.!
My local plumbing store told me to pour in a cup of bleach and let it sit overnight. And my engineer friend said at the university they Did the same thing for a water system that is sat for a long time and had bacteria in it. Filled the water system with bleach. Just be sure to flush it out. Good before you use the water again.
I used to flush my water heater, but the last water heater we had had a plastic connector that wouldn't fully shut off. This was a nightmare because our water heater is in a closet inside the house with no floor drain near it. There was a floor drain across the hall for the evaporator condensate to drain into. The pressure relief valve was originally connected to a pipe that went up into the attic, over the hall, and down into the furnace floor drain. In the '90s, the stopped using it because it was out of code. The pressure relief valve now just goes into a pipe down to the floor and is just open ended like that. I would REALLY like to have a branch drain put in for the water heater to drain into the furnace drain. We don't have a garage, by the way. Just a carport. No basement either.
Roger my hot water heater is a gas power vent/flue style with a 12 year warranty. It’s about seven years old and has never been flushed. I was thinking of flushing and replacing the anode rod. Do you think it would be worthwhile to do so on a hot water heater that is 7 years old or am I asking for trouble??? Thanks for your time and for all the great videos! I always learn something! Ron
My tank was only 1 1/2 yrs old, bottom element went out. When I replaced it, I did a flush....over 2 gals of sediment and mineral deposits. It's all due to very hard well water, i will be flushing more often. Is that brass valve water heater specific? I need to change out my plastic one to a metal one
That scares me... We have some of the hardest water in the country here and it's been like 4 years atleast since it was installed and has never been flushed....
@@Zalagar619 My is 13 years old and NEVER flushed. It still seems to work fine but we hear the rumbling sound whenever we first turn on any hotwater in house. I'm pretty sure it would be a very bad idea to try and flush it now according to this video. My fear would be that I would open the drain valve and never be able to close it due to hard sediment getting stuck in the drain valve
Gurning off the electricity for a couple of hours will prevent a scalding burn ! I always see (once a week ) a hot water tank on the road edge near the condos near me. They never flush them. Then a new one has to be installed. Such a waste. But most condo owners don't even own a screwdriver !
Is it really just as easy as hooking a hose up and turning the PRV? I need to do this like yesterday...my water heating has started popping pretty loud over the past few weeks. I just wasn't sure if I needed to turn other valves on /off on the water heater...?
Actually it’s best to sell a short brass nipple and a threaded full port ball valve with garden hose thread adapter when you sell the water heater. The brass drains that come on water Heaters are way to small to flush adequately. They have an opening about the size of a pencil. Also the dip tunes in Bradford White and most other brands are designed to swirl the incoming water to stir up the sediment so it all does not flush out like you may think. Flushing with pressure then draining completely with no pressure gets a lot more out.
Thanks for helping me understand the last part. I have a HTP tank and the manufacturer makes a reference to this. Do you know at what stage the relief valve should be flipped open during the flushing process? I'm presuming only after the tank is isolated and being drained.
@@debbiedebbie9473 I was speaking from a plumbers perspective. Typically you purchase a water heater and install from a service plumber/ company. The plumber should offer the better drain than what comes originally so the customer/ home owner can fully flush the heater.
I have had a tankless hot water system for 10yrs now. It has never been flushed. I have two bathrooms at one end of the house. One shower regularly turns cold after about 2mins the other adjacent shower turns cold occaisionally. Both the sink taps and the kitchen taps and half bath taps at the other end of the house work great with no fluctuating problems. What do you think?
My problem with leaving the pressure on is my fill port is the same as the drain. I have flushed mine about 6 times. Clear water but still have flakes that plug up the kitchen sink sometimes in the matter of a few minutes. I don't know how it's designed but I'm definitely not getting it all out.
Hello guys I want to share something with you guys ..Iv been Plumbing for 14years and never encounter what I did today. I had a call for a shower stoppage , so i got my machine out and starting running the shower to get it to backup which it never did... so I still ran my snake down the drain... went in like 20ft in, so I started bringing the snake in... what I pull out was crazy. I pulled back a small (mause/rat)it was Dismember but can see tail,leg,feet and What appears to be its ribs cage... I have a picture
No reason to shut anything off. You're really just pushing water through the tank directly, not much different than turning on a faucet. You should pick up a hose bib cap before doing this. Unless your water heater has a ball valve like this one, I guarantee it will leak after. You'll use the cap to stop the leaks. If your valve leaks at the handle after, and that is common, you can try adjusting the nut or just replace the valve.
Hey Roger, I have a gas water heater, I'm in California, it's 10 years old. I haven't flushed it in about 3-4 years...we are getting rusty/ yellow water in the bathroom, that clears after 15 sec, most of the time.I'm debating whether to do a 10 minute flush, to see if I see obvious rust. What do you think? I know it could be some of the galvanized pipes. Unit was built in 1959. Thank you.
So, is he stating that you just up the hose, open the drain valve and allow a good amount of water to flow out until clean water and then just shut the drain off and that's it? The heater does not get shut off during this process??
Long story short. I live in Pocatello, Idaho and we have very hard water I found out. I just installed my new water heater 20 months ago. It's a A.O. Smith Signature 50 gal. 4500W tank. My bottom element explored more or less. My question is what do I do? This is a new water heater and I can afford a filtration set up. How do I get all that sediment out? I can't attach photos. I have calcium build up to where it touches bottom element.
I know this is an old video but I hope someone sees this. Our hot water heater has stopped heating very well, even though it's only 2 years old, after a main line in our neighborhood burst. Our water was brown for 3-4 days. I'm thinking I need to flush the tank.
Random question I live in Texas I have gas water heater in attic can I just install a ball valve and terminate it into the tpr line instead of having to deal with long hose?
So, we are struggling with low hot water pressure, and before a plumber even looked at replacing water lines he noticed our WH is 25 years old and told us that's the problem he guaranteed it and wanted 4K. I am skeptical as it heats up just water pressure sucks and I've recently noticed cold water is not at full pressure but much better than the hot. Do you recommend flushing?
Hi roger, I have a water softener in my home and the water heater has always had soft water in it. Do i still need to flush it? Thankyou for your answer.
While replacing the lower heating element on an electric water heater, we used a shop vac and duct taped piece of rubber hose that fit inside the water. Here opening pull out gallon or more of mineral deposits!
i used your method and almost no sediment would come out. Then i found another method and i tried that way and more debrus would come out. the other method was turn the gas off and water off to water heater. Fully drain tank then open valve and run water into tank for 30 second then shut off then wait a minute let water drain out of tank again and repeat process at least 4 times or until you see little or no debris coming out of the water and alot more debris other stuff was coming out. The guy explained that the cold water tube runs to the bottom of the tank and when the tank is empty and water is turned on full pressure the water blasts the bottom of the tank like a pressure washer loosening sediment lime etc etc off the bottom of the tank and then gets pushed out the drain. my theory is maybe i didn't have so much sediment but maybe lime or something that was stuck on the tank so the other method was more effective in loosening that which was stuck on floor of tank? i have not flushed in 2 yrs as well. heater was installed in 2018. thanx for your wonderful videos
Roger stated in a different video that this is not his prefer method because completely emptying the tank and refilling causes stresses on the tank due to the expanding and contracting leading to possible weakening of the tank. His method is just trying to prevent problems like that from occurring.
My water heater’s sediment looks like small orbees. It’s like dirty gelatin balls. I have to do this every year now or my water heater rumbles everytime someone showers. Thanks for the video!
One thing you should probably think about after flushing a water heater is that it’s good idea to open a Hot side on a faucet and maybe remove the aerator and flushing the lines in the home. I flush heaters all the time and the worst thing that happens is you break up all that scale and blow it through the plumbing system. If your not careful you can plug up cartridges and or areators .
Thanks for your videos. Keep up the good work
Noob here. Once I remove the aerator, would I need a pump to blow the water through the hot water heater, it would I just need to turn the hot water valve on?
@@christiandj50 Just open the hot water side of the bath tub - no pump needed. In the scerino he's showing (NOT turning off the water at the meter), there will be anywhere from 15 to 40 lbs of water pressure (in my area) coming from the street / thru the water lines / thru the water heater / thru the hot water faucet
Have always pretty much flushed my water heater as you describe every year, but not with a filter/bucket. Let me also mention that I have whole house filters (2 in series) and a water softener. After flushing for 10-15 minutes with the cold water supply on, most of the large sediment was gone, but there were some fine particles still coming out. However, today, after reading some other posts on this, I decided to just drain my water heater (opened the pressure relief valve to prevent a vacuum) after shutting off the cold water supply. I let it drain most of the way, closed the PRV/PSV, then turned the cold water supply back on. Surprisingly, a whole bunch more of larger white and brown 'rocks' came out again, which I did not expect. Apparently, the turbulence kicked up a bunch more sediment that had been missed in the initial two flushes. Might be worthwhile to flush in two steps - one with the cold water supply on and then again by draining the tank and then turning the cold water supply back on.
This is a great idea, I just had to do the exact same with mine
Did turn the heater off ? You don't say.
Absolutely!@@anotherdamnyankee3805
@@anotherdamnyankee3805 switch it to Pilot or Vacation mode, not Off.
don't mess with the pressure relief valve. open a faucet on hot to prevent a vacuum. opening the relief valve makes it more prone to leaking later. it's like a fuse, it should only be used in the event of an emergency.
Thanks Roger. Just went through your steps with my water heater and got rid of 2 cups of sediments with no fuss. I've been putting it off for 3 years since draining the tank with cold inlet shut off just made so little sense, and that's all I was getting from web searches. Much appreciated!
Hi Roger. I am a plumber in New York and this is the first plumbing tutorial on youtube i have learned something from. Good Job. Love your videos!
Sir, wanted to give a big Texas thank for taking the time to making this plumbing videos. It helped me understand much better on how to maintain my water heater. God bless you sir.
Hey Roger, try opening and closing the water supply to the tank a few times while having the hose hooked up just like you did. I found it to be effective in agitating the sediment. ,:)
Mine was never flushed in the 5 years Ive had it. Last week I put a hose on it and flushed it out. The water came out thick black with chunks. I let it run for 45 minutes lol.
I see your 5 years and raise you to 10. I'm kinda scared to see lol
@@williamwiese9963 Mine beats all....... it's a millennial, no joke pushing a quarter of a century.
I think it might start off with a few pounds of dust considering the 30 year old pressure tank was full of rust and sprung a leak at midnight a few weeks ago.
AND the pilot keeps going out on the furnace that was already old when it was converted from an oil burner to a gas burner 50-60 years ago...
RUSTIC..........
My heater is from the 80’s and I highly doubt the previous owners ever flushed it. I’m about to attempt it 😂
@@AliHasSpoken I got a reply on a different comment of mine saying if it ain't broke, don't break it.
If you try, good luck.
This! I watched a few of these but this one was most specific and gave the t-shirt idea, into bucket. I didn't expect to see much in newer Bradford water heater and if I just let drain, it looked pretty good. Putting it through a green t-shirt revealed my hard San Diego water residue. I did it in phases of filling up the bucket instead of one shot, to allow inlet water to come in and swirl around (and no holes in buck, and heater was deep in garage, so this was very clean.
In Phoenix, and Bullhead City, AZ you should flush your water heater, regardless if it is a tank, or tankless, once a year. The water there has so mush sediment in it, that I've seen tanks blow out after three years of not being cleaned. Even with the salt or RO systems, the tanks can hold sediment in the bottom, and those tanks need, I stress need to be done no less than 2 years. I used to be a Realtor in AZ, and was also a property manager, and now do flips in those areas so I have seen a lot of this first hand. It is such a simple thing to do, I'm surprised at how many people never flush their tanks, and then wonder why their systems perform like they do.
I start working for my brother in laws plumbing company here in Tennessee this August. Once I know enough I’ll definitely look into installing a filter.
Hi Roger, I just saw your video and I’m gonna flush my water heater tomorrow and just connect the hose and turn it on and flush it and that’s it. I thank you for your advice.
I just replaced my 20-year old Maytag electric water heater this week after it started leaking internally and shorting out the thermostat, leaving us with scalding hot water. I replaced it with an A.O. Smith 100 model,....it came with a plastic drain faucet at the bottom, however, it is a few inches higher than my old Maytag outlet. This allows me to connect a drain hose without interference from the sidewall of the drain pan. I hope to get at least 15-years out of the new water heater.
You deserve more likes. Thank you sir. I am rebuilding a double wide mobile home. One of my last tasks was a whole house filter. We have well water but it has rust and was fixin to ruin our beautiful brand new tubs, sinks, terlets, etc.
Well sir, we have run a couple weeks without filter before I installed it.
Needless to say (in hindsight) the water heater was still full of crud. So I ran all the faucets for wafts seemed like 30 minutes. Very small improvement.
So I thought…let me see what UA-cam sez. Can I open the drain valve and run it while pressurized. I thought so…and YOU SIR confirmed it! 😊
I ran several hundred gallons through the water heater and it is crystal clear. I even closed and opened the drain valve several times while flushing it.
Very RARELY will I give this much of a reply. But here ya go… you deserve many more likes!
Thanks from Suwannee Homestead! 🎉 2:11
Well you sure sound like a pro at flushing a water heater! That is awesome! So glad it worked out for you
Thank you for the video Roger. Water coming out of my hot faucets is slightly brown and clear out of the cold water faucets so I read that it could be from rust in my hot water heater. I will flush it tomorrow and see what happens.
Sometimes you will get a weird blue jelly. A couple times the sediment was so bad on a water heater that I've drained the entire heater, removed the brass drain, and vacummed out the bottom of the heater with a shop vac and a rubber hose.
I duck tape an old sock to the end of the hose, it lets trap and see all the sediment/debris from my H2o tank. Awesome video sir!
Thanks for the video Roger. I'm going to flush mine for the first time. I moved into this home two years ago and I don't know if the water heater has ever been flushed. It might be pretty nasty.
I'm going to show this to my husband. I only looked up 'hot water heater noises' because I thought ours was 'knocking'. Who knew you have to do this every year? I know ours hasn't been done, Ever, yikes!😮
Thanks Roger!
Anytime I have DIY plumbing questions I refer to UA-cam first because I'm always on a budget. And of course anytime I see your contributions I absolutely must watch them. You, sir, are indeed an expert! And your badass mustache only adds to your credibility. Haha
I've been told before to open hot faucets and drain the tank down. Question 1: Is that necessary? So, you just put the drain hose on, open the valve, and let the cold water pressure flush it? Question 2: what if sediment plugs the drain spigot? Can you put a screwdriver in there to try and break it up? Q3: Should you turn the gas off before you drain it?
Really appreciate your videos. I have a question. If there are large amounts of sediment that do not break up, is there anything that can be added to the tank to break down that sediment so you can get a better flush of the tank?
nothing added, but you can try sticking a clothes hanger or a rod into the flush valve to try and break up that sediment
Question, do you need to shut the power off first? I’m assuming the cold water coming into the tank and the water leaving via the hose is the same. If the hose is letting more water out than is coming in and the tank level drops below the upper heating element wouldn’t you risk burning out the element..
Yes. To avoid dry firing the heating elements, turn off the power to the tank many minutes before you start draining. Then, don't turn it back on until the tank is filled again. And to get it filled all the way, you should open a faucet somewhere to let the air out of the top of the tank. (I've watched a few of these videos).
I finally replaced my plastic spigot with a metal one after 10 years. I just take a pail and open it up until it runs clean once or twice a year. My last water heater the rod never wore out and never needed replacement in the heater lasted over 30 years doing this. I set to 125degrees at kitchen sink as the gas unit at the tank will kill germs 132 at tank and less than 135 to scale tank. If I had hammer arrestors on my washing machine (easy to install and helps whole house) my first water heater would probably made it longer.
Thank you so much for this video! I am in the process of flushing a leaking water heater right now, and I was surprised I wasn't seeing a lot of water come out the opposite end. I kept screwing more thinking that it was a screw that should come loose, then when I noticed it wasn't I thought it should be inline with the hose. Checked this video to confirm. Unfortunately the water must have leaked out already, the water was pretty soaked on the floor coming back from a vacation so pretty sure there wasn't much remaining to drain =(
So just flushed the water heater. The water clear after 20 minutes, all good! Then I shut off the drain valve and disconnected the hose. The valve did not completely shut off. So now I have a leaking drain valve. Awesome!! Guess I’m gonna learn to replace the drain valve. So I assume I’ll need to shut everything down, drain and repair. My shower pressure is still bad after flush. Again, Awesome!!!
I'm in the same position
I had a brass valve on mine, but the opening was not very large. I am surprised that you dont recommend switching the valve with a ball valve. MUCH larger opening, and I had found that more sediment was flushed due to the higher volume through the unrestricted orifice.
I did that and was pissed the brand new ball valve leaked. but the gate valve that came on the heater was too dang small and plugged up
We didn't know this has to be done. Thank you!
You just saved me hundreds of dollars & a lot of frustration, thanks a ton!
Just recently replaced my 32 year old 80 gallon water heater and it was about 3/4 full of lime and rust
Depending on how old water heater is when Flushing it would be a good idea to replace the anode rod if possible to extend the life of water heater
Fantastic video. It makes so much sense to let the water pressure flush out the sediment but at what stage would you open the hot water taps in the house and isolate the cold water supply to the tank to basically drain it fully (dead volume still left in the tank)? If I got this correctly you said 10-15 min. Also, I have a HTP tank with a relief valve. When should it be opened during the flushing process?
Thank you
My parents 5 year old water heater sounds like someone is tossing rocks inside it lol....we live in a neighborhood that has the worst calcium deposits ever...everything turns white powder if water is left to dry. I wish i had seen this or known this 4 years ago it desperately needs cleaned. I sent Roger a FB message and within a couple days they responded. If i do clean it it may cause fractures since its never been cleaned sooo im kinda worried. But i cant leave it like this. Thank you for the response Roger great vids.
That method you showed will work fine, if home owners flush their tanks at least every two years. If a tank has not been flushed in ten years, the flush method needs to be different.
Step 1- shut off the power.
Step 2- drain the tank
Step 3- remove anode rod
Step 4- use a spray nozzle on a water hose to spray water through Anode rod opening. Move spray around. I have gotten a bucket full of sand-like sediment out of tanks using this method, when simply draining the tanks produced only a quart or two of sediment.
Step 5- install new Anode rod. Close drain valve.
Step 6- fill tank and run water in House until all air is out of the system.
Step 7- turn power back on.
I get eighteen to twenty years minimum service from from my hot water tanks. I currently have four hot water tanks.
AO Smith - 18 years so far and still going.
Bradford-White 19 years so far and still going
Whirlpool- 19 years and started leaking. I never drained it. It was at our cabin. AO Smith refunded my total purchase price plus tax paid. It had a lifetime warranty. The tank was built by AO Smith for Whirlpool. I replaced it with an AO Smith tank.
You can replace the anode rod, both electric elements, and both thermostats in an electric water heater for less than $80.00 in parts, if you do it yourself. I had to do that at year 16 on one of my AO Smith tanks.
This stuff is not rocket science.
I have a recirculating pump at the top of the water heater to send water to the far side of the house. I forgot to turn the pump off and it wasn't working following my flush. I didn't do it your way, but turned off the water supply and completely drained the heater. Luckily, the recirculating pump worked the following day.
My wife has lived in our current house since 2008. Never been flushed. 15 minutes in and I’m still getting bursts of yellow orange colored water. Letting the water fill up and get warm again and I’ll continue to flush
I let the system pull a vacuum on itself then turn the water supply back on to give me a good surge. I’ll let it run for 30 seconds to a minute. I’ll do this about 5 times. I flush every 2 to 3 years and replace the anode rod every 5 or 6. I put a camera in the tank when I change the rod.
Very helpful. Got a roughly, probably older, 41 year old Kenmore (guessing based on searching the model number). I knew I had to flush it 'cause I had to shut my gas off and upon turnining it back on the hot water was more like black water.
Are usually do mine every few months. I live in an area with very high dissolvable solids. We’re like it 150 or 200 ppm which is really high so that builds up. The water quality out here also sucks. It will go stagnant or sour in a few days. And this is treated city water.
I like this guy's, he's like the uncle that I never knew I wanted.
I'm the fun uncle
I agree with your flushing method 100% !
Well thank God for that
Do you have a pressure relief valve and do you need to do anything else if you do?
I have an electric water heater and hard water...
I usually drain the heater and change the elements every 6 months.
I also have to use a vac to get out all the calcium because it will not come through the drain.
Get a descaler. Wraps the incoming water line. $200. Really helps. I have on both my houses.
I’m gonna flush mine when I get home. It’s been in the house for 6 years before I bought it. Probably never been flushed out. Supplied by well water without a filtration system. This outta be fun!
Good luck!
I tried to send a photo to show the indescribable buildup. Background, I live in Florida no water softener, electro heater, brass valve, extremely hard water. I flush about every two years. My kids have noticed a decrease in the longevity of the hot water they’re getting so I decided to flush a year early I accumulated 3 pounds of built-up sediment. In 15 years that is the most that I’ve ever had come out when flushing. Needless to say, I need to clean out all my water appliances now.
Matt Miller
Jacksonville Florida
Did you ever make the video on the Flush with a flite system? If so, I can't seem to find the video on your channel.
I’ve had my water heater for 10 years and nobody’s ever told me to flush my water heater. I didn’t know that was a thing.
Now that I came across this video, I am going to flush all that settlement that you said that coats the inside of the water heater, hopefully get them walls and the bottom cleaned after never flushing it before, is there a trick to cleaning that stuff you can’t see?
Ty
Great video. I live in the south where we are approaching stage 4 water restrictions. Could plz do videos where you repurpose the water. You can put that bucket over your grass or is that a bad idea? Thank You .
Hose hooked up, drained the water heater, turned on cold, flushed it multiple times, closed the valve, when up to turn the hot water off and it was super hot, like it never drained
In Colorado we are on water restrictions so maybe flush out over grass…use water fir something
Just flushed mine. Some black sediment but mostly small calcium particulate. It's been at least 5 years since mine was last done....I know I am a professional homeowner failure lol. I honestly expect there's a decent amount that didn't come out of mine since I waited so long and we have very hard water here.
Is it really safe to do this without turning off the cold water supply valve?
With THIS particular method the cold water supply MUST be kept on since your BURNER remains on. If you were to shut off the cold water supply with the burner still on while draining out the water in your tank, the tank will subsequently heat up and its lining will quickly be destroyed rendering your water heater useless.😮💨😮💨😮💨
Two days ago I flushed my hot water heater and I had to completely remove the valve because the white chunks were too big to come through I had to shove a screwdriver in there to let the water out
I have an 50 gallon natural gas AO Smith power vent that had the anode rode disintegrate 3 years into its life. Cottage cheese like sediment was plugging up fixtures. Had to drain, flush and install a powered anode rode system. Problem solved.
Was this from too soft water eating the magnesium anode rod, up here in western PA?
I had a bunch of soft white/clear chunks in my water heater when I flushed it last year.
Wish me luck Roger. I have to do this for the first time by my self.
How was it?
@@Aagggyy pretty easy to be honest. However all the build up made my water rust colored for a day. I watched this a few times before attempting.
@RogerWakefield thank you for an awesome video sir. I flushed my water heater today. Maybe you can help with a couple questions though.. firstly, while draining my heater it seemed to glug glug glug along the whole way slowly despite having faucets open, unless I opened the pressure vent, it took forever. Second and more importantly, my gas water heater seems to only put out lukewarm water now. It used to get scalding, and now it doesn’t, weird. Any ideas? It’s a 4 year old gas Rheem 40 gal water heater and has never been flushed till yesterday. Hope you can help. I’m a first time homeowner in the Texas panhandle and your videos have been a God send.
i get little white grains/chunks. perform flush every year. after emptying tank, i pour in 3 gallons of white vinegar through anode mounting port, let sit for hours to dissolve scale, then turn on supply and heater. the vinegar odor quickly dissipates and might even clean shower heads and faucets.
I do the same, but only every 4 years when replacing the anode. Other years, just flush with water. I flush the vinegar out the drain, rather than through the house plumbing.
REMEMBER TO TURN OFF THE ELECTRICITY FROM THE WATER HEATER TO PROTECT YOUR HEATING ELEMENTS!
Mine is gas
@@noworriesmate5903 Then no worries about turning off the electricity
Pretty sure my heating elements are already shot, that’s why I want to flush it 😂
Only if you empty it
turn it off before you shower, then you'll be wasting less hot water when you dump it
Moved into a new build in Killeen 2 years ago to the day. Drained it last year, about to do it again at the end of this year. When I did it last year, a bunch of snot looking clearish marbles came out, like it was soaked wet silicone beads or something. Any idea what that is? Also had the usual yellowish chunks of calcium as well, but there was more of that snot than anything else.
Yeah, my water heater just did something like that tonight (it's why I'm watching this video I suppose) Not as bad as what you had but it had all that and it was naaaaaasty!
You let the heat on and valves open while flushing?I flushed my water heater after 6 years I got half a bucket of calcium cant remember but it was filthy few calls still works!
Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge about this important home maintenance project. God Bless you.
On YT search for a completely different subject, but saw your thumbnail pop up and had to click lol Great video!
I just learned today that water tanks have to be flushed out. I live in an apartment all my life and no one told us to flush out the tank. It's been way over 5 years and never flushed out our tank. 😬
I'm on well water. I have an ozone air tank with a media filter and a water softener. I just flushed mine for the first time in a brand new water heater after 2 and 1/2 years and barely got out any sediment. Do you think it's because my water is just free of all of the junk, or it's actually already started to harden? I flushed it the exact same way you did. For reference my tap water does taste very clean almost like bottled water.
Are you using a special hose, or can a regular garden hose handle the hot water coming out?
a regular garden hose will work
Pipes burst this weekend... TL:DR I had to cap off water from everything but cold for 1 sink and toilet cause my aunt's husband did us a favor 15 years ago...
Every time I take something down to find the leak I'm shocked plumbing this bad didn't break the laws of physics and burst into flames.
Advice... Never try to be nice and help fix something if you dont know excactly what you're doing... and if you do have a friend helping you watch youtube tutorials behind him/her while they work :D
Time to go drain my water heater cause a CPVC fitting was used to replace the valve between the main shutoff and the outdoor tap... leading to a slow leak under the bathtub... that rotted out the beam under my water heater.
Thank UA-cam I watch these videos all the time. Only thing I wont mess with is high voltage and sewage.
uggg i never get around to flushing my water heater... guess ill should do it this week
If it makes you feel any better, we never flushed ours in 20 years of its life and we had hard water. We replaced it when it was still working but making lots of noise.
Thank you for the video, do I need to cut off the water heater so it doesn't keep heating while I do the flush?
I saw another video where someone replaced the valve from the factory with a short pipe nipple and a larger valve (e.g. with a 3/4 female thread instead of a male.) Have you done this and do you recommend it, or why not? Thanks.
This is a fantastic idea. I’ve done it years ago and I love it. A three-quarter inch ball valve allows a half inch vinyl tube to be placed through through the valve and into the tank you can then attach it to a wet dry vacuum and suck out all of this debris. I did it yesterday and it worked great. Drain the tank completely which let’s a little bit of the debris come out and then when it empties completely stick, the vinyl hose through the valve and a series of flushing and vacuuming, and inserting the vinyl tube various depths into the tank. You will get out a lot of the stuff that would never come out by just flushing it. It worked really well for me. The vinyl tube attaches to the vacuum hose with some duct tape. Give it a try.!
Can you use citric acid to clean the system before a flush?
My local plumbing store told me to pour in a cup of bleach and let it sit overnight. And my engineer friend said at the university they Did the same thing for a water system that is sat for a long time and had bacteria in it. Filled the water system with bleach. Just be sure to flush it out. Good before you use the water again.
I used to flush my water heater, but the last water heater we had had a plastic connector that wouldn't fully shut off. This was a nightmare because our water heater is in a closet inside the house with no floor drain near it. There was a floor drain across the hall for the evaporator condensate to drain into. The pressure relief valve was originally connected to a pipe that went up into the attic, over the hall, and down into the furnace floor drain. In the '90s, the stopped using it because it was out of code. The pressure relief valve now just goes into a pipe down to the floor and is just open ended like that. I would REALLY like to have a branch drain put in for the water heater to drain into the furnace drain. We don't have a garage, by the way. Just a carport. No basement either.
Thank you for the help! You are a great speaker!
Happy to help!
@FaithfulComet neither…
Roger my hot water heater is a gas power vent/flue style with a 12 year warranty. It’s about seven years old and has never been flushed. I was thinking of flushing and replacing the anode rod. Do you think it would be worthwhile to do so on a hot water heater that is 7 years old or am I asking for trouble??? Thanks for your time and for all the great videos! I always learn something!
Ron
My tank was only 1 1/2 yrs old, bottom element went out. When I replaced it, I did a flush....over 2 gals of sediment and mineral deposits. It's all due to very hard well water, i will be flushing more often.
Is that brass valve water heater specific? I need to change out my plastic one to a metal one
That scares me... We have some of the hardest water in the country here and it's been like 4 years atleast since it was installed and has never been flushed....
@@Zalagar619 My is 13 years old and NEVER flushed. It still seems to work fine but we hear the rumbling sound whenever we first turn on any hotwater in house. I'm pretty sure it would be a very bad idea to try and flush it now according to this video. My fear would be that I would open the drain valve and never be able to close it due to hard sediment getting stuck in the drain valve
I recommend getting a 2-3" x 3/4" Brass Nipple and a 3/4" Full Port Threaded Ball Valve then a 3/4" male pipe threaded x Hose Bib thread brass Adapter
Why would you need a replacement valve anyway? What hoses do you need? I feel like some steps were missed here 😂
Gurning off the electricity for a couple of hours will prevent a scalding burn ! I always see (once a week ) a hot water tank on the road edge near the condos near me. They never flush them. Then a new one has to be installed. Such a waste. But most condo owners don't even own a screwdriver !
Is it really just as easy as hooking a hose up and turning the PRV? I need to do this like yesterday...my water heating has started popping pretty loud over the past few weeks. I just wasn't sure if I needed to turn other valves on /off on the water heater...?
It’s that easy
Actually it’s best to sell a short brass nipple and a threaded full port ball valve with garden hose thread adapter when you sell the water heater. The brass drains that come on water Heaters are way to small to flush adequately. They have an opening about the size of a pencil. Also the dip tunes in Bradford White and most other brands are designed to swirl the incoming water to stir up the sediment so it all does not flush out like you may think. Flushing with pressure then draining completely with no pressure gets a lot more out.
Thanks for helping me understand the last part. I have a HTP tank and the manufacturer makes a reference to this. Do you know at what stage the relief valve should be flipped open during the flushing process? I'm presuming only after the tank is isolated and being drained.
What do you mean by "sell"
@@debbiedebbie9473 I was speaking from a plumbers perspective. Typically you purchase a water heater and install from a service plumber/ company. The plumber should offer the better drain than what comes originally so the customer/ home owner can fully flush the heater.
I have had a tankless hot water system for 10yrs now. It has never been flushed. I have two bathrooms at one end of the house. One shower regularly turns cold after about 2mins the other adjacent shower turns cold occaisionally. Both the sink taps and the kitchen taps and half bath taps at the other end of the house work great with no fluctuating problems. What do you think?
Ooooo mine hasn’t ever been flushed. Wonder what’s in it. Haha
When it's time to replace your water heater let's cut open the old one and see!
Roger Wakefield I am allllll for that! Woo! Yeah! 💪
I’ve never done mine either yikes 😳
Should you turn off the power on the heater?
@@srichard217 I'd say you should turn off the heat or you'd be running hot water over your hose and may scald yourself.
My problem with leaving the pressure on is my fill port is the same as the drain. I have flushed mine about 6 times. Clear water but still have flakes that plug up the kitchen sink sometimes in the matter of a few minutes. I don't know how it's designed but I'm definitely not getting it all out.
Hello guys I want to share something with you guys ..Iv been Plumbing for 14years and never encounter what I did today. I had a call for a shower stoppage , so i got my machine out and starting running the shower to get it to backup which it never did... so I still ran my snake down the drain... went in like 20ft in, so I started bringing the snake in... what I pull out was crazy. I pulled back a small (mause/rat)it was Dismember but can see tail,leg,feet and What appears to be its ribs cage...
I have a picture
Wait so you dont turn off any valves then just start draining it for 10 to 15 mins?
No reason to shut anything off. You're really just pushing water through the tank directly, not much different than turning on a faucet.
You should pick up a hose bib cap before doing this. Unless your water heater has a ball valve like this one, I guarantee it will leak after. You'll use the cap to stop the leaks.
If your valve leaks at the handle after, and that is common, you can try adjusting the nut or just replace the valve.
Hey Roger, I have a gas water heater, I'm in California, it's 10 years old. I haven't flushed it in about 3-4 years...we are getting rusty/ yellow water in the bathroom, that clears after 15 sec, most of the time.I'm debating whether to do a 10 minute flush, to see if I see obvious rust. What do you think? I know it could be some of the galvanized pipes. Unit was built in 1959. Thank you.
Hey Roger---good video...but why didn't you shut off the breakers that supply electricity to the calrods?????
So, is he stating that you just up the hose, open the drain valve and allow a good amount of water to flow out until clean water and then just shut the drain off and that's it?
The heater does not get shut off during this process??
Long story short. I live in Pocatello, Idaho and we have very hard water I found out. I just installed my new water heater 20 months ago. It's a A.O. Smith Signature 50 gal. 4500W tank. My bottom element explored more or less. My question is what do I do? This is a new water heater and I can afford a filtration set up. How do I get all that sediment out? I can't attach photos. I have calcium build up to where it touches bottom element.
I know this is an old video but I hope someone sees this. Our hot water heater has stopped heating very well, even though it's only 2 years old, after a main line in our neighborhood burst. Our water was brown for 3-4 days. I'm thinking I need to flush the tank.
100% easy fix. Move
@@Herbie11 genius! Why didn't think of that?
@@MSANTHR0P3
😉
Sounds like a great idea. I would try that! Did it solve your problem?
Random question I live in Texas I have gas water heater in attic can I just install a ball valve and terminate it into the tpr line instead of having to deal with long hose?
Do you turn off the heat before you begin thr drain process?
I was wondering the same thing about turning off the gas
@@chrishoel6954 I don't think his method requires you to turn off heat because its constantly being filled with water as its draining.
So, we are struggling with low hot water pressure, and before a plumber even looked at replacing water lines he noticed our WH is 25 years old and told us that's the problem he guaranteed it and wanted 4K. I am skeptical as it heats up just water pressure sucks and I've recently noticed cold water is not at full pressure but much better than the hot. Do you recommend flushing?
Hi roger, I have a water softener in my home and the water heater has always had soft water in it. Do i still need to flush it? Thankyou for your answer.
Yes I have water softener also and a plumber told me to flush once a year and change Anode rod every 4 years give or take
What about turning your burner valve to vacation or pilot ? Isn’t this the very first step to be done ?
Would you recommend using a wet shop vac so pull water out faster and perhaps pull more sediment out as well?
While replacing the lower heating element on an electric water heater, we used a shop vac and duct taped piece of rubber hose that fit inside the water. Here opening pull out gallon or more of mineral deposits!
In Arizona we have crazy hard water so I got a couple pounds of sediment!
Do I need to shut off the power to the water heater to do this method?
i used your method and almost no sediment would come out. Then i found another method and i tried that way and more debrus would come out. the other method was turn the gas off and water off to water heater. Fully drain tank then open valve and run water into tank for 30 second then shut off then wait a minute let water drain out of tank again and repeat process at least 4 times or until you see little or no debris coming out of the water and alot more debris other stuff was coming out. The guy explained that the cold water tube runs to the bottom of the tank and when the tank is empty and water is turned on full pressure the water blasts the bottom of the tank like a pressure washer loosening sediment lime etc etc off the bottom of the tank and then gets pushed out the drain.
my theory is maybe i didn't have so much sediment but maybe lime or something that was stuck on the tank so the other method was more effective in loosening that which was stuck on floor of tank? i have not flushed in 2 yrs as well. heater was installed in 2018. thanx for your wonderful videos
Roger stated in a different video that this is not his prefer method because completely emptying the tank and refilling causes stresses on the tank due to the expanding and contracting leading to possible weakening of the tank. His method is just trying to prevent problems like that from occurring.
My water heater’s sediment looks like small orbees. It’s like dirty gelatin balls. I have to do this every year now or my water heater rumbles everytime someone showers. Thanks for the video!
Interesting! Might look into a water filtration system to help get rid of most of the debris and minteral build up
Been flushing it for an hour still getting crud. The prior owners didn't do anything to help the house
dude, this video was awesome! you're a great host
I appreciate that!
The valve shut off at the top of my water heater is seized. Would I be able to use my main water shut off valve instead?
Yes