Our new'ish Whirlpool water heater started to leak over the weekend and I saw that the water was coming out from the bottom, but not from any fittings from what I could tell, so a plumber was called the next morning. The tank seems to have ruptured. New Bradford-White was brought in and installed.

This is what it looked like when the guy drained the old one. The pic was taken near the end of draining, and there was far more of it when the tank was still full.
This stuff looked just like hail stones, but was like jelly and about the consistency of tapioca.
What exactly is this stuff?



This heater was maybe 5-6 years old and I never drained, or did any work to it since it was installed.

Question:
Do you drain your water heater tank as regular maintenance?

Choices:
Yes, annually
No, never
every couple/few years
several times a year
Tankless FTW

 

Install and forget it.

I have a water softener so I don't need to as much. That stuff is mineral content of your water.

I'm tankless now so it doesn't matter.

When I lived in Alaska, the water heater was in my heated garage and I walked past it several times a day. Twice per year I turned on every hot water faucet in the house, turned off the cold water inlet to the water heater, and opened the drain on the bottom. Some crap came out, but I was always nervous that some crap would get in the ball valve (i.e. the drain valve) and the damn thing wouldn't seal. It never happened, but would've been a PITA. The house and water softener were 6 years old when I bought it (6 year warranty too) and 11 years old when I sold it. BTW, I did not have a water softener.

The first time I lived in Houston I had a water softener and the water heater was in the attic so I never bothered.

Maybe insulation or something that got in the tank through the rupture?

Nasty looking ain't it? According to a rep it is the result of the minerals in the water reacting with the aluminum anode rod.

Nobody flushes their water heater... well, in ~18 years in the Construction / Plumbing / Electrical business during which we replaced on average one water heater per week I only met a couple of people that did, they both had extremely hard well water that filled the heater with scale to the point it would cover the lower heating element if not flushed out.

I flush mine. My first house, the calcium content in the water was so bad (How bad was it?), I had calcium deposits completely above the lower heating element when I first had to work on the water heater :0 That water heater was subsequently drained every 30 days (after the rebuild). Next house, no where near as bad, every six months for draining just to check. Current house, virtually no calcium or other deposits, but the upper heating element is rusted in place, lower element was easy to replace. I check it every 6 months looking for rust.

Rusted shut heating element worries me, so I am going to buy the Rheem Performance Platinum.

quote:

Originally posted by tatortodd:
I'm tankless now so it doesn't matter.

Most tankless manufactures recommend cleaning every six months.

How does one flush a hot water tank?

Only way I can seem to get water out of mine is with the inlet water valve open.

Just hook up a hose to the outlet on the bottom (mine is deep in the garage), and open its valve?

quote:

Originally posted by LS1 GTO:
How does one flush a hot water tank?

Only way I can seem to get water out of mine is with the inlet water valve open.

Just hook up a hose to the outlet on the bottom (mine is deep in the garage), and open its valve?

From what I learned, one way is to close the water inlet valve on the top, then either open the pressure valve or turn on a faucet on the hot water setting to allow air to enter the tank to equalize the pressure as you open the bottom drain valve, and let the tank drain. You then open and close the water inlet valve to get some flushing action to agitate the stuff to help it out.

Make sure the thermostat is set to pilot or vacation mode so you don't cook an empty tank

In my case, the crud was so dense, that it already clogged the drain valve and nothing came out of the hose, thats why the plumber unscrewed the entire thing.

There are high flow drain valves you can install that doesn't get clogged. I might have to look into one of them as it seems my water is full of funky stuff.

We did my BIL's at the house he just bought...ended up removing about 5 gallons of what looked like grit and sand. Water wouldn't flow...had to shove a coat hanger in there and scrape it out. Took hours. Once we finally got it cleaned out, dang thing still wouldn't heat, had to replace it anyway.

I've drained mine a couple times, but it's been a few years.

quote:

Originally posted by Excam_Man:

quote:

Originally posted by tatortodd:
I'm tankless now so it doesn't matter.

Most tankless manufactures recommend cleaning every six months.

Thanks! Learn something new every day. I've lived here 2 years and never done it. Based on this video, the tankless flush seems a heck of a lot more effective than draining a regular water heater tank:

Link to original video: https://youtu.be/T4FaqGod3VU

Once the thunder and lightning stop, I'm going to check to see if the builder put in the flushing connections.

I had a plumbing company installer tell me with a newly installed water heater to drain off one gallon every month and completely drain it every two years. We have rather hard water here.

There’s a faucet on the bottom of the water heater. I hook up a garden hose to it and open the faucet and let out a couple of gallons or until the water is clear. I do it during the summer once a year.

Otherwise, the sediments build up on the bottom and makes for inefficient heating.

So, I've been living in an RV for about 10 years off and on, mostly on. In New Mexico where I was at, the water had a lot of minerals in it. So every year, I cleaned it out. I had to drain it then I used a 6AWG solid copper wire bent to scrape it out while I flushed it. I got a butt-load of that white stuff out each time.

So, depending on how mineral-laden your water is, this is to be expected.

yup,
turn off the power
attatch hose to connection
turn off inlet
open fitting at the bottom of tank
crack the valve on the top to allow it to drain
when empty, open the inlet and flush it a few

close bottom fitting
close valve on top
open inlet
ocassionally vent the tank by cracking the valve on top
then turn on the power

these things are a consumable item, but taking care of them will make them last the ten or so years the manf expect....

also check the big hex head bolt on top-its really an anode designed to sacrifice itself before the heating elements get ruined.

you will need TWO people
one big socket (IIRC it's 1 1/4")
piece of pipe to use as a cheater (the longer the better)
biggest guy bear hugs the tank
other guy unscrews the anode
pay attention to the top of the anode (a welded blob means one thing, and a color means another...the anode varies by region)

I never drain ours-there's no place to drain it to in our basement.

We have exceedingly hard water here. I replaced the factory supplied elements with "sand hog" elements back when we installed the new water heater 20 years ago. So far, so good. Knocks on wood.

quote:

Originally posted by MikeinNC:

ocassionally vent the tank by cracking the valve on top

you will need TWO people

Plan on changing the tp valve, if you decide to open it, as many will not seal after opening.

Cordless impact.

I do not intentionally drain it but I use the drain as a water source through a hose to wash the winter salt out of my garage a few times on warmer winter days each year. The one that came with the house made it 18 years. We have good water I guess.

No its 17 and still going, but needs replaced