I'm sure many of you know what it's like to wake up in the morning and find that there's no hot water, or worse yet, some part of your house is flooded. Why do these thing always happen while you're sleeping or on vacation???
You can extend the life of your water heater by up to 7 years by simply maintaining it twice a year. Following these simple directions will help get rid of the scale and mineral deposits which cause the tank to rot out and not heat as quick as it used to.
1] Turn the knob to "pilot" on a gas hot water tank. Shut off power to an electric tank.
2] Turn off the water supply to the hot water tank.
3] Hook up a garden hose to the valve on the bottom of the tank.
4] Run the hose to the lowest possible drain source (i.e. laundry sink)
5] Open the valve on the bottom of the tank and open a hot water faucet somewhere else in the house to let air into the system.
6] Let the tank drain. This may take up to an hour or more depending upon the size of the tank.
7] Once the tank is empty, turn the water supply to the tank on for 10 seconds, let it drain, then repeat this as many times as it takes to get the water coming from the hose to run clean. You can take samples in a glass jar to see if the mineral deposits are still coming out. Sometimes they're hard to see otherwise. Essentially what you are doing is washing away the sediment which collects on the bottom of the tank. This can sometimes reach 2-3 inches thick, so it may take a while to flush out.
8] When you feel it is clean, turn off the valve on the bottom of the tank and disconnect the garden hose.
9] Turn the water supply back on and let the tank refill.
10] Check the hot water faucet you turned on earlier, when water starts coming out full force the tank is full. (this can take from 5-30 minutes depending on your water pressure).
11] Go to each of the hot water faucets in the house from lowest to highest and let them each run about 2 minutes to bleed off any air trapped in the lines and hot water tank.
12] Turn the gas valve from "pilot" back to "on". OR turn the power back on if your tank is electric. The water will take an hour or more to heat back up to normal temperature. |
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