Water Heater Maintenance

[560Dennis]

Bradford White recommends drain a gallon of water once a month from the lower tank valve .to clear sediments from tank . I haven’t done it , once in February first time and today got a new 25 foot hose for else of dong the job . Short hose I will do it more often cause what I saw come out of it.
Photo shows the sediment settling out of to bottom of ten quart pail . I think a five gallon bucket would be a better choice .. I didn’t catch most ,some of the big chunks ,hose blow out of the little bucket.

 

[1948CaseVAI]

Bradford White is the best water heater you can get. Congratulations. And it is iportant to keep up with draining off the sediment from time to tieme else it will degrade your heater into eary retirement. The sediment in your photo is certainly not out of normal.

 

[GChief]

I do ours every 6 months. I do not know many people that actually do that maintenance as they should. Always get the deer in the headlights look when I mention it

 

[jt candycane]

You drain them 1 gallon a month that last years longer I do mine 1 gallon a month

 

[John T]

In addition to semi annual draining to add life to a water heater I also check the anode rod but that doesn’t need to be performed near as often. Another energy saving thing is to wrap with one of those insulation blankets. One last thing is to use a non conductive pipe fitting on the inlet snd outlet.

John T. No warranty im
Not a plumber so see what professional plumbers have to say

 

[showcrop]

We used to have to clean lime scale out of booster heaters for customers now and then. The most common model was 12 KW and would recover 40 degrees in one minute. I would remove the two lower elements and shoot water in one hole and catch the scale laden water from the other. We would often get a gallon dry of scale.

 

[Stephen Newell]

I think every month is too often unless you know of a lot of sediment in the water. If your water company has the water off working on the lines you might do an extra drain when they are done. In general once a year should be sufficient.

 

[560Dennis]

I think every month is too often unless you know of a lot of sediment in the water. If your water company has the water off working on the lines you might do an extra drain when they are done. In general once a year should be sufficient.

Just trying to do what they recommended . I’m trying catch up .

 

[560Dennis]

Here’s what I think, if I would done this draining on the last one , then I would still be using the old water heater. Maybe !

 

[560Dennis]

Bradford White is the best water heater you can get. Congratulations. And it is iportant to keep up with draining off the sediment from time to tieme else it will degrade your heater into eary retirement. The sediment in your photo is certainly not out of normal.

To go along with your comment I
had my heating and air conditioning vendor’s do it cause I don’t keep up with codes . I’m sure I would gotten a big box store model that last 4 years if I did it .
My AC guys aren’t interested in call backs, they put in the best .our
Farm had Bradford White , so I have some experience with the heater put in by the furnace maintenance / plumber .
The REX made in Cleveland was the orginal electric my dad installed last 30 year , never had anything done to it , had a fourty gallon reservoir tank I drain once a year ,the gate valve was so old, it needed prayer before we open it to please work one more time.

 

[Stephen Newell]

Here’s what I think, if I would done this draining on the last one , then I would still be using the old water heater. Maybe !

All that would happen is the water would seem to not heat as well as it was when it was new. A large amount of sediment can insulate the bottom of the tank and prevent the water from heating well.

 

[da.bees]

The frequency or need varies widely, depending on water supply. Frequently plugged faucet aerators and crust forming on fixtures signal need for doing it more often.

 

[a49deere]

The frequency or need varies widely, depending on water supply. Frequently plugged faucet aerators and crust forming on fixtures signal need for doing it more often.

And a water softener!!