Acidizing a water heater?

[DeathGrip]

Softeners are pretty cheap. My last one was under $400 and they go for a long time. My wife has skin problems but clothes last longer, food tastes better and your car has less spots when washed with soft water.

You can put vinegar your brine tank to keep your valve clean. Maybe a couple of cups when you add salt.

If you want to sanitize your pipes load it up with a gallon or two and put it in draw and open the valves in your house until you smell it then let it sit for a while and flush it starting with the softener.

 

[DWalt]

Our well water is very hard, but tastes great. I burn out a bottom element about once a year. The "seashells" get so packed in the bottom that it takes about 6 hours to drain the tank. Elements are cheap. I rigged up a piece of garden hose that attaches to my shop vac and I get in there through the bottom element hole and can suck out most of the scale, but not all. You can't flush it out the drain valve as it's too small. A fellow once suggested I take the original drain valve off and replace it with a brass ball valve, but when I look at that original valve it's made of cheap, fairly soft plastic and I'm not sure I could even get it unscrewed without potential damage, so I haven't done that yet. It's like a permanent 'to-do' item.

Seems that's very close to what I described in posting #1. That one had the tank at least 2/3rds full of the little seashells, and the acid got them all. My neighbor was initially trying to remove them mechanically, but it appeared that was going to be a non-starter, so we went the acid route.

My current water heater has a brass drain valve which appears to be the ball type, opens and closes with a quarter turn, uses a blade screwdriver, no handle on it. My previous old heater had a drain valve attached using standard 1/2" pipe threads. I replaced it once. I don't know how the new heater's drain valve is affixed to the tank.

 

[amazingflapjack]

I change the elements-especially the bottom one-whenever I hear those noises loud enough, and I drain the tank at that time, of course.

 

[DWalt]

I change the elements-especially the bottom one-whenever I hear those noises loud enough, and I drain the tank at that time, of course.

Are the electric resistance heating elements bad? If they are still heating, what's the reason for changing them? Every water heater I have had was gas, either natural or Propane. No electric heaters that I can remember, but perhaps once in a rental house. While I was growing up, my parents had a very old electric heater, from the 1930s, I don't remember that there were ever any problems with it.

 

[CoMF]

Hey, if acid flushes work for boilers, why not water heaters. Right?

I'm lazy. I just flush the sediment out annually. Checking the anode on my new HPWH is going to be a pain though; it's buried in the mechanical compartment with the compressor.

To each his own, but I'm not a fan of lower tank temps due to the risk of Legionnaires' Disease. Tank t-stat is set to 130°. Gets the dishes nice and clean, also.

 

[mjdinsa]

HOT WATER HEATER

Living in one of the hardest water areas in the country I can attest to the calcium deposits. Either get a water softener or do monthly maintenance on your heater. If you have a softener change the anode frequently and if you do not every 3 years are recommended.