The water heater is one of those plumbing appliances we have in our house until there is a problem, that we never think of. As long as it keeps doing its own job, giving us lots of warm water for the dishes, laundry, and showers, we guess everything is going fine. When our energy bills go up, we figure it’s the gas or electrical companies raising their costs, not our water heater with an increasing amount of energy to heat our water.
In reality, your home’s water heater endures more wear and tear compared to any other pipes appliance in your home. “How’s that?” you ask. It is because it’s running all of the time. Day and night that the alloy within your water heater’s tank soaks in a hot water bath that, unless you filter your home’s water, comes loaded that accelerate rust. Chemicals that settle on the interior of the water heater’s tank in a thick coating of mud and rust that reduces your furnace‘s efficiency and eats off the metal catastrophically fail all over carpeting and your hardwood floors.
Compared to many other family chores, water heater maintenance is actually pretty easy, and yet a surprising amount of people do not know how to do it. By simply flushing the tank of sediment once a homeowner may add years of life to their own water heater.
To flush your heater hot water tank, you will need:
Eye protection (warm water and/or sand in your eyes is not any fun, believe me)
A set of pliers
Possibly a screwdriver
A nozzle
It’s possible to use a normal garden hose. You might wish to consider purchasing a hose that you can leave attached to the water heater and simply unroll every time it drains. In addition to saving you the trouble of lugging a hose in your house every six months, this may also reduce the wear on the drain valve’s threads. Most modern heaters have nylon (plastic) spigots for their own drain. If your hose gets metal threads taking it off and on will eventually strip the plastic threads and you’ll be calling a plumber to come before you want to replace the device to replace them long.
Step 1 – Cut the power for your own water heater
Visit your electrical service panel. Find and turn off the breaker for your water heater. If you don’t, your furnace will keep running, trying as you flush it down the drain to warm water. Just don’t forget to turn it back on when you are done.
Step 2 – Locate the water heater drain
The drain to your water heater will be close to the base of the tank and ought to seem like a garden hose spigot.
Step 3 – Attach the hose to the water heater
Make certain to screw the hose all the way on to the drain. The water will be filled with sand and rust and it will be under stress. You will have one big mess to clean up use pliers if the hose comes loose. By the same token, don’t over tighten or you’ll be phoning your plumber to replace the drain spigot long until you’ll require a heater.
Step 4 – Stick the hose outside the window
. . .or out the doorway or in a slop sink. Make certain that doesn’t wind up creating a mess someplace else. Remember, you are currently removing months or even years of vitamins and sediment. This is not. It is going to also be coming out of the hose under full pressure, so be sure to anchor down it and take action to prevent splashing.
Step 5 – Open the drain
To start the drain valve on Whirlpool water heaters, such as this one, you will need a screwdriver. Other brands might have handled in their valves or require a different tool. Until you’ve got a flow that is complete, open the drain valve.
Step 6 – Allow it to drain
Depending on how long you have waited to flush the system, you might need to allow your water heater drain for anywhere from five to twenty minutes. The water might be brown and you’ll notice flakes of sand, scale, and small stones made up of mineral deposits. You will know you’re done when the water runs clear. Do not worry if you run out of time before the water is 100% clear. The sediment will resettle in the bottom of the tank along with your water will be as clean as it was, just come back in a month or two and drain the water heater.
Step 7 – Close the valve and put away your hose
This measure does not need a lot of clarification.
Step 8 – Switch your water heater back on
Do not forget this step or your own shower in the morning will be a good deal colder than you would prefer. While most of the water that you emptied out of the tank of the heater came straight from the source line at the bottom, a fantastic section of the hot water that was in the top of the tank got flushed out. Depending upon the dimensions and type of heater that you have, it will take an hour or two for the water to go back to normal temperature.
Regularly Maintaining Your Water Heater Could Save You Thousands
Request ten plumbers how long the average water heater will survive and you will get ten distinct answers. Part of the reason behind that is water mineral and content are determined by you to receive your own water and where you live. (The EPA requires municipalities to present annual reports to residents. Click here to discover the report on your region.) The answers will fall in a particular range. At a home without water filtration or softening, and with no flushing of sediment, a water heater would be expected by most plumbers to last between five to seven decades.
With regular flushing, many plumbers would concur, you may easily extend the life span of a water heater up to eight to twelve decades. Add entire house water filtration to the equation, and your water heater could endure up to 15 decades.
For queries on flushing your water heater, contact the manufacturer or your regional plumber in Brantford.
Prevent Damage to Your Own Water Heater
First I like to begin with, what does home repair prevention actually means. When there could be an issue, it is having the ability to comprehend basic home building principles and knowledge. Some of the home problems, especially, water damage issues, may result in expensive repair bills in the future.
A little while ago, I moved to repair a rental home where the water heater had been leaking for quite a while and had ruined the stage that it sat and the wall which it was now leaning against. One of those garage walls was now helping to support this water heater.
Your water heater is something that needs to be visually inspected on a regular basis. This is something that you’ll definitely be interested in, Should you have the home. You may take a look over your water heater especially in the event that you’ve had to replace one.
Now, this is logical, to some homeowner. However, if you are renting your home, this could be a totally different mindset to your renters, who do not care much about the home that they are currently paying too much money to live in.
I’ve discovered that most renters rarely look after the property because they view your home like that, it is not theirs and they’re already paying an excessive amount of cash to reside there. However much money your tenants are charging, it is going to be too much and with that said, they normally have no interest in keeping your property.
If you don’t need to pay for absurd home repair costs, you’re likely to need to inspect your premises on a regular basis. You are the only one that’s considering saving you money. I would advise that you check your houses each month.
The water heater and water damage that I replaced cost the homeowner around $1500 and it could have been prevented, if the leak could have been repaired for under $100 and if you did it for under $20. There’s more to learn in this HVAC FAQ page.