It is very important to include some good practices for the maintenance of your water heater, to maintain a clean and workable water heater. For that, you need to learn a few things, such as how to let out excessive gas from your tank, or replace an anode rod. Also, discover
common issues that cause a lot of trouble and how to fix these problems. These issues mostly occur inside the tank, around the upper heating part, the temperature, and the pressure valve.
So, do you want to learn the tricks to make your water heater efficient and run properly? Then let’s see what the solutions are!
Reading guide
Perform A Visual Check
Plumbing pipe leakage is a very common problem that leads to water wastage.
Every year, on average, around 1000 gallons of water gets wasted, due to plumbing leakage. Moreover, an old or damaged water heater tank can also cause huge wastage of water.
There can be a few reasons for the water heater to not work properly, leakage in the tank is one of the common reasons. These leakages cause variation in water temperature which further lowers the water pressure. Leakage also can be the reason water doesn’t go up all the way to your home’s upper floors.
For these reasons, it is necessary to perform a visual check of your tank as an important task of water heater maintenance. Make sure you are checking even the smallest things, such as screws, nuts, and bolts, which might get loosened, also old gaskets, which help water to come out.
Fixing these kinds of small things is what you can do on your own. However, if your tank has way too many damaged parts, it will be better to reach out to a water heater repair specialist.
Clean Up The Heater Twice In A Year
Hard water, which contains a good amount of calcium carbonate (CaCO3), rarely
affects health. By heating this up, a scale gets formed. This can then cause a decrease in the capacity of your heater, by reducing its life short, and causing a higher cost for your heating process.
If you haven’t considered installing a home water softener and filter, then it is high time to take steps. Softeners will do its job by reducing excess sediment build-up, on the other hand, filters will help to reduce contaminants. You can also check out the water heater installation services in San Marcos ca.
You also need to clean out the whole tank at least twice a year to get rid of any sediment in the tank, as part of water heater maintenance.
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Yearly Test for the Pressure Relief Valve
There is a temperature and relief valve in all gas and some electric water heaters. A temperature and pressure relief valve is a device for safety purposes, which has been manufactured in a way that it can open and release excess temperature and pressure within the tank. If the temperature and pressure go over the specified benchmark, the valve needs to open immediately.
Otherwise, the tank’s temperature and a huge amount of high pressure can result in an explosion. A lot of people think that this is impossible to happen, but there is a possibility, so you should not take any risk since an explosion and an exploding tank can cause a lot of unpleasant outcomes.
In a nutshell, all you need to remember is that as the water gets heated up, a gas gets formed which is actually the pressure. The water heater gets heated up the more you use it, which will create more pressure. After a certain amount of time, when the tank gets too hot, it sets off the temperature and pressure valve so that it can get rid of the excess heat and pressure.
So, if your valve is broken or not working, the whole process will not take place. Without any way to get out from the tank, the heat and pressure will keep getting increased, causing an explosion.
That is why it is important to run a temperature and pressure valve test once or twice a year, as a part of the water heater maintenance.
Yearly Inspection of The Anode Rod
An anode rod is a very important part of a water heater tank as it helps to prevent any damage inside the tank. It is made of either aluminum or magnesium. The function of this rod is, it goes on top of the water heater to attract elements in the water which makes the oxidation within the water.
An anode rod is also known as the “sacrificial rod”, since it also prevents the lining of the water heater tank from any kind of corrosion. For this sacrifice, an anode rod can not last more than four to five years. On that note, if you see that your watercolor is getting rusty, it tastes metallic, then it is time to replace the rod, as it has prevented your water from oxidizing.
Also, it will be better if you do not let this happen, since this will cause damage in your water tank. So, you need to consider running a yearly inspection of the rod, again as part of your hot water heater maintenance jobs.
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Check out This Water Heater Maintenance Checklist
As you can see, water heaters mostly don’t need a bunch of care and attention, unlike the other electrical devices you have. You have got the idea by now that the important thing you need to do is to flush and clean out your water tank at least twice a year.
Although, it is important that you should follow everything in this water heater maintenance checklist. By doing this, you can make the situation better within the time before it gets
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worse, and cause your heater to corrode early. Moreover, it will help you to keep checking on it, and fixing any problems, specifically water leakage issues, before it gets out of hand, otherwise, you might need a water heater expert.
Author Bio:- Jacqueline is a content marketing manager who formerly worked at Cali’s Choice Plumbing & Restoration. She is a writer, editor, and content strategist for plumbing services. Making her knowledge and skills a power, she amplifies the readers’ knowledge about the ways of the water leak and slab leak detection and their reciprocation.
Through her articles, she shares the most successful tactics and strategies of slab leak repair, mitigating blockages through Hydro Jetting, and AC & heater installation tips to the audience.
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