Water heaters have a way of breaking at the most inopportune moments, leaving you without a way to take a warm shower until you can get a plumber to come and replace it.
If you dread the idea of your water heater breaking – not to mention the expense involved in replacing it – you may want to consider flushing your water heater on a regular basis to help prevent unnecessary wear and erosion and keep it functioning efficiently for longer.
Here is a look at some of the top reasons you should flush your tank regularly.
It Cleans Out Sediment
One of the top reasons that water heaters fail is the buildup of sediment within the tank. This naturally occurs over time, and once the debris has built up, it makes it harder for your tank to function properly. Moreover, in an electric water heater, this buildup could take place on the electrodes, which can make things even more complicated.
It Can Help Your Water Heat Up Faster
Water heaters that are not functioning optimally will take longer to carry out their most important task: heating your water. If you are noticing that it is taking longer and longer for hot water to come out of your faucet, it could be that debris has built up within the tank and is complicating the heat transfer process.
This can also make your hot water turn cold faster. Flushing your tank can make a noticeable impact on how quickly the water in your home heats up.
It Can Decrease Your Energy Costs
The longer it takes to heat your water, the higher your energy bills are going to be. Heating calcified water tanks takes more energy than heating a clean tank to provide the same amount of hot water. Flushing your heating system can make a difference when you get your monthly energy bills.
It Can Make Your Water Heater Quieter
If you’ve ever been woken up in the middle of the night by the sound of your water heater, it could be a sign that the device is failing.
A water heater that makes a crackling, banging or popping sound could be experiencing scale buildup within the tank. This solidified buildup can eventually prevent your water heater from circulating water correctly.
If the noise ends up stopping on its own, that doesn’t mean the problem has gone away; it could indicate the scale has solidified to the point where water cannot percolate through it any more.
Flushing your water heater helps to prevent this by keeping water circulating freely, and it also has the effect of making that unpleasant noise go away.
It Can Help You Avoid Foul Odors
If you are noticing unpleasant odors coming from your water heater, it is possible that it is due to stagnant water within the tank due to sedimentary buildup. Flushing can eliminate this problem.
It Can Save You On Repair Bills
The corrosive scale deposits and clogging sediments that build up in your tank when you don’t flush it regularly can cause damage to its parts that can be rather expensive to fix. Therefore, flushing your water tank can help you keep repair bills down or avoid them entirely.
It Can Extend The Lifespan Of Your Water Heater
Scale buildup can cause your hot water heater to fail earlier than it otherwise would have in two ways. First, the scale can lead to premature electrode failure in an electric water heater, as we previously discussed, which means you will not be able to get any hot water from it.
In a gas water heater, this buildup can start to serve as an insulating layer between the water and the heat source. This can cause the metal at the bottom of your tank to get hotter than it should, which could eventually cause it to become so stressed that it fails or leaks.
How Often Do You Need To Flush Your Water Heater?
It can be tricky to determine how often you need to flush your water heater as the rate of scale buildup depends on the mineral content of the incoming water, how much water your household uses and how hot you keep it, among other factors.
Therefore, it is best to get in contact with the professional plumbers at Baumbach Plumbing & Remodeling for advice. Our experienced team of residential plumbers in the Northern Virginia area offers complete water heater flushing and scale removal services and can show you how to monitor buildup in your water heater so you can keep it in top shape for as long as possible.
