Top 5 Reasons to Flush Your Water Heater Regularly
Remove scale deposits from the water heater tank regularly to ensure optimum performance.
Did you know most water heater manufacturers recommend flushing the tank to remove silt, sediment, and mineral scale buildup once per month? The vast majority of property owners do not flush their tanks this frequently, and some skip this vital maintenance step altogether. Don’t follow their example! Instead, invest in regular hot water heater flushes and reap the following 5 benefits.
Reduce Noise
Often, when water heaters start making popping, crackling, or banging sounds, the culprit is scale buildup. Don’t be fooled if the noises suddenly seem to go away on their own—what has happened is the layer of scale inside the tank has solidified so much that water can no longer percolate through it easily. Your best move is to flush and descale your water heater as soon as it becomes noisy.
Improve Heating Speed
The more foreign material has settled on the bottom of the water heater tank and/or built up on the electrodes of an electric water heater, the more difficult the heat transfer process becomes. In other words, it takes more time to heat water to the desired temperature. This can cause problems with running out of hot water. Fortunately, you can get your water heater back up to speed with a simple water heater flush.
Reduce Operational Costs
The tougher it is for the heating element to transfer heat to the water, the more energy will have to be consumed to heat your water. This means higher utility bills. You may also end up spending more on repairs as various parts fall victim to corrosive scale deposits or clogging sediments. Flushing your hot water tank can help cut costs significantly.
Extend Equipment Life
Scale buildup contributes to early water heater failure in two ways. First, in an electric water heater, the scale can cause the electrodes to fail prematurely, in which case you won’t have any hot water. In a gas water heater, scale buildup turns into a kind of insulating layer between the heat source and the water. This means the metal in the bottom of the tank gets hotter than it should, and may eventually become so stressed that the tank leaks or fails. Compared to the high cost of water heater replacement, routine flushes are a bargain.
Ensure Warranty Protection
One final benefit of flushing your water heater regularly is that it may help ensure the manufacturer honors the warranty if the tank should fail. Most warranties do not protect against scale failure, so you need to have proof that this cause can be ruled out if your tank fails for some other reason and you want coverage.
How Often Should You Flush Your Water Heater?
The frequency at which scale builds up in your water heater varies according to how high the mineral content of the incoming water is, how hot you keep your water, and how much water you use. This means it is very hard to make sweeping generalizations about how often to flush and descale your hot water heater. Your best bet is to contact the pros at The Stanley Louis Company for help. We can show you how to monitor the buildup in your water heater and provide complete water heater flushing and scale removal services as needed.
