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How To Clean Your Hot Water Heater

16 April 2017

Hunter Ford

A hot water heater helps provide you with those warm baths for your little ones, hot showers to help you relax and warm water to help wash your hands. Without your hot water heater, those baths and showers probably wouldn't feel all that great. You need to maintain your hot water heater in order to keep it working as it should without fail, although this is one appliance that most homeowners don't pay enough attention to until it's too late. See below for tips on how to clean your hot water heater.

Here's What You Need:

• Garden hose
• Bucket
• Screwdriver

Instructions:

1. Start by turning the water off to your hot water heater. You should see a shut-off valve directly above your water heater.
2. Next, turn the power off to your hot water heater. You can do so by turning it off at the breaker box. If your water heater isn't electric, shut off the gas valve to the water heater.
3. Attach the garden hose to the drain valve. Drag the garden hose to either a floor drain, or outside of your home so it can drain. The water coming out of the hose will be extremely hot, so be careful not to touch the water when it begins to drain.
4. Then go to a faucet in your home and turn the hot water on to help begin draining the water. 
5. Open up the drain valve to begin draining the water out of the tank.
6. The tank may be have a lot of sediment caused from a build up of calcium and rust from inside your water tank. This sediment can block the heating element at the bottom of the tank and cause your water heater to work overtime to try and heat up your water. This over-time work can shorten the life of your water heater, so cleaning out this sediment is important.  The sediment may come out with the water, and could potentially clog your hose, so be sure to have a helper keep an eye on the hose to be sure water is still draining out. If the hose doesn't clog, the valve itself could clog with the sediment. If this happens, contact a professional for help.
7. Once the water has drained out, you can take off the hose and close the drain valve.
8. Then begin filling the tank back up by turning the water supply back on. Then turn the power or gas back on (depending on the type of water heater you have). 
9. Keep an eye on the drain valve to be sure it isn't leaking once the tank begins filling up.

Draining your water heater is important to help prevent sediment from building up in your tank and shortening the life of your hot water heater. Contact heating or cooling services for more information.

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