I've always known draining periodically was recommended but never knew anyone who actually did it. Certainly not us over the years.

We replaced the tank with tankless several years ago. No draining needed, but there is some kind of filter to keep an eye on.

Good for you, Moni. Taking care of maintenance.

Socks, is the expense of the tank-less, and the expense of having it installed really worth the difference?

I was considering going tank-less at my last house, but the home owners warranty would not pay for it. The difference was HUGE!. I ended up with a "normal" water heater.

But I have always wondered about the expensive difference.

Moni

Moni just as important as cleaning is replacing the sacrificial rod that screws in . If you don't it will start to eat the inside of the tank and develop holes. Luckily they do make the rods jointed because it would be impossible to get one of the long rods in once the water heater is installed .

You may have a deep build up of sediment in the bottom of the tank . We have had to remove the element at the bottom of our electric one and use a long narrow tool to dig out the mineral sediment .

http://www.familyhandyman.com/plumbing/water-heater/extend-the-life-of-your-water-heater-by-replacing-the-anode-rod/view-all

The tankless might be worth it for some people, but not really for us. They do take up less space, so they can be helpful that way. We also had a problem with rats living in the outdoor water heater cabinet (could have been solved with a better cabinet.) We use natural gas to heat water, but gas is very inexpensive for us, so if we use less gas with the tankless, the savings are small. It seems to work fine.

In CA (probably OK too), the water in a water heater tank is considered emergency water for a home in case of earthquake or other disaster which shuts off the flow of water to a community. No tank = no emergency water. So now we store gallons of water in the garage for emergency supply.

So I think you are in good shape, especially since you are taking care of your heater.

We considered a tankless when we just replaced ours from the flood . After talking to several people including installers and other knowledgeable people we decided to stay with a traditional gas water heater. We did get a slightly bigger one and when they were repiping with pex we had them do a straight run to the master bathroom shower so we should get hot water faster , haven't been able to try that yet .

We do, and we try to scrape out as much of the calcium/lime as we can.

Ten years ago, I made the switch to tankless and couldn't be happier. I've noticed that my water bill is less as it took forever for water to heat up. Now no more worries about leaks, including gas leaks.

I sure do. Maybe not drain all the way, but at least 1/2 the tank goes down the drain every month. The sediment at the bottom is the first to go.

Mingo, how do you get in to scrape it?

I never have. DH may have at one time.

I've never drained a water heater tank in 50+ years. Maybe we just have 'calm' water? This house has two natural gas fired tanks with an electric circulator pump between them. I love having hot water at every tap in the house in seconds.

Changing to tankless here would mean changing the whole setup and exhaust. We might also need more than one unit to serve our one-floor home.

Woody removes the bottom element and uses a long bent copper tube to scrape the stuff to the hole. Then I use a long iced tea spoon to lift it out. Takes hours. Hurts the fingers.

I have only owned 2 houses since 1984 and I have never drained a hot water heater. I've been in this house for 18 years and have replaced the hot water heater twice. I was told they only have about a 5-8 year life span.

this is the second house I personally ever owned. The last one had an ancient water heater from the early 80's. This one, I can't tell, but I know it has lots of sediment. After all, it would not drain, till I used one of my washing machine hoses, and back filled... and then let it drain out.

but then this house has lived with lots of neglect... thus, I am not surprised...

The reason I decided to drain the wh was ice tea colored water came out of the hot water faucet at the bathtub.

Prior, I know, Jerry replaced the water heater while we lived in Ponca City twice. I wonder, if draining it to clean out sediment would have kept the first wh going years longer.

Now, having heard about the need to do so, I shall drain it about once a year. We will see, how that works out in the end. :)

Moni who still can't figure out how Mingo and Woody did it... Mingo, is your wh electric?

Ours have lasted 15/16 years. We replaced the electric one with a propane gas one when we bought the house in 1986. We then replaced that one in 2002. We have replaced the rods twice on the current one about every 6 years. We clean and drain it about every 2 years. I would love to go tankless but it would be very complicated and expensive.

Moni, off subject but hope your foot is healing and you are doing well.I have never drained a water heater and didn't know you were supposed to.

Moni is won't last that long unless you remove and replace the anode rod . If you do that and drain and remove sediment it should last 20 years or more depending on the quality of the heater. We did same process , drain , remove bottom element use long skinny tool to dig sediment out . If you had to back fill to drain you have a lot of sediment and probably not a piece of the anode rod is left

The gunk is mostly caused from hard water deposits. drain it every few months..from the bottom and you probably only need to drain a few gallons, or until the water runs clear.

If you have soft water you may have no problem.

Tankless water heaters are more expensive to buy, install, perform annual maintainance on (especially important if you have hard water), and may not save energy to operate. They also have some idiosyncrasies if sized improperly (the so-called cold water sandwich). They're not for everyone.

Brownish water can be caused by a water heater but frequently it's the result of rusty pipes, especially galvanized steel pipes. If you can see the plumbing under your house, if it seems like gray colored metal, that's what you have and that's where the rust comes from.

We have relatively hard water but I've stopped trying to periodically drain my two water heaters because they seem to not accumulate sediment. I also have never paid attention to the sacrificial anodes, if the ones we have have them. Our water heaters seem to last around 15 years (I just had one replaced that was from 2000) and I think that's enough. Different locations, different water, maybe different experiences.

Ok, guys and gals, I youtubed anode rod and know now. Guess, another trip to Home Depot... and I tackle that next. Thanks!

Moni

Yes, electric. We finally had to replace the original water heater, the bottom started to rust out. It was about 23-24 years old. Ours is in a crawl space under the house so I had to pick a new one based on the measurements of the door that we had to wiggle it through and the low ceiling in the crawl space. I know nothing about the rod that was mentioned.

In 25 years with a standard water heater we never drained it. We switched to tankless 8 years ago. Would never go back to a tank heater.

I do not drain my water heater, but once or twice a year, I do a bottom flush to remove any junk that has collected there. All gas water heaters that I have seen have a standard hose bib at the bottom of the tank. you can use a hose to direct the out flow or use a container under the hose bib.

There is one precaution that I advise: Prepare to handle a dripping valve if it should leak afterward. Have a hose cap handy. This a a cap with a seal and has threads that fit standard hose threads. (The seal may be a standard hose washer.) If after flushing and the valve does not completely shut off, the dripping can be stopped by screwing on the cap. These caps are available in hardware stores that sell hose and plumbing repair parts.

The main hazard is that the flush valve might not seal well after the flush. Contaminants can get caught on the seat and the elastomer valve seat might not be in good shape. Having a cap available will be handy if the valve leaks afterward.

If you had to use a cap, inspect the valve some time later, say an hour or more. As the pressure builds up behind the cap, water may begin to seep out around the valve stem. Usually, tightening the packing nut around the stem will stop the weeping. Do not overdo the tightening. Merely snug the packing nut enough to stop the leak. Usually, a 1/8 to 1/4 turn is enough. Support the valve with another tool to counteract the tightening torque. You do not wish to break off a valve that is pressurized with hot water.

Jemdandy, WOW!! You hit the nail on the head.

The plastic valve on my tank was so cheap. It broke when I was doing one of my monthly drains & hot water spraying everywhere. 40 gallons.

My neighbor is a plumber & replaced that plastic valve with a nice copper one with a proper metal handle.

That was a nightmare I don't want to repeat.

Just had a new one installed after 16-17 years. We don't drain as that water is precious here in CA. Plus we're too lazy. :) Sister has had a tankless for 10 years and it's horrible--water temp fluctuates a lot.

My husband does that but I don't remember how often.

I read with our first new house to open the bottom flush valve and empty out a bucket of water every month to keep ahead of any sludge build up. Told DH about it, and he did it a few times, but that was it. He is not good a doing chores.

My house inspector suggested I drain it yearly. I haven't so far, but I've only just now been there a year. Would I go tankless? Yes. In a heartbeat. We had in our last home and I loved it. It works for me since there's not a huge household (1-2 people, rather than 4 or 5), and I live in a fairly temperate place. I can't see it working a lot farther north, some place subject to really cold temps.

I used to flush the sediment after seeing the amount built up in the first one I replaced. However the one I have now supposedly doesn't need it and I haven't tried it to see if there's an issue or not. Been meaning to check it but it's on my to-do list. Been preoccupied with a lot of other things the last years.

It's especially important to flush electric heaters since they have the lower heating elements. They'll often fill with enough sediment to cover the element.

I had the issue with a few drips, and it was worse the first few times I flushed the heater. No big deal, just put a pail or coffee can under it and it'll stop before long.

Be sure to turn off the incoming water and turn the electricity off or gas thermostat way down when you do this. Turn it back on when you finish. It's a quick project and can extend the life of your heater significantly.