Water heaters typically need very little maintenance to provide good service year after year. Until it quits working or starts leaking, most homeowners don’t give much thought to their water heaters. However, regularly flushing your water heater can extend its life and improve its water heating efficiency.
Over time, dirt, rust, scale and other debris settles to the bottom of your water heater and creates a sediment layer. This sediment layer makes your heating element work hard to heat the water in your hot water storage tank. It also takes up some volume inside the tank and if the sediment layer gets deep enough, it can cause a noticeable reduction in the amount of hot water available for use by you and your family. In addition, bacteria can grow in the sediment layer and cause your hot water to be smelly.
Flushing your water heater involves draining the water out of the tank through the drain valve, refilling the tank, and repeating the process until all of the sediment has been flushed from the water heater. The process requires turning off the gas and electricity to the water heater, disconnecting and reconnecting the inlet line, and opening and closing the inlet water valve. Once the storage tank has been flushed, everything has to be re-connected, the tank filled, and the electricity and gas turned back on.
Unless you are very comfortable handling the job yourself, flushing your water heater is best done by your local plumber. They are the experts in water heater repairs and maintenance.
