When you take a water heater you do not need to concern about its working as it will work by its own, but yes one important thing of concern is to maintain your water heater. Maintenance is very essential in order to maintain the efficiency and life of a water heater. Here we will discuss various steps needed to maintain your water heater but before that let’s see some basic problems occurring in the water heater.
The major problem that comes in a water heater after some time is corrosion. Keeping this thing in mind, water heaters are provided with an anode rod that protects the tank by pulling all the corrosive elements towards it. If this rod gets damaged, your water heater could go in big trouble.
The water that goes into water heater is contaminated with sediment and dust to some extent. Over a period of time, the sediment gets settled down at the bottom of the tank and lowers the efficiency of the burner. This causes more consumption of electricity by the heater. The accumulation of sediment at the bottom of the tank also gives birth to bacteria which in turn makes water smelly. There are many more problems that occur in a water heater, we will now find the solutions for these problems.
To maintain your water heater, the most important step is to inspect the anode rod twice in a year or more depending on how corrosive your water is. It can be removed from the top of the water heater. Before removing the rod, turn off the cold water inlet valve. If the anode looks like a worn wire then it means anode is required to be replaced.
Bottom of your tank has a lot of accumulated sediment. To remove that, you need to regularly flush your tank. For doing this you can connect a garden hose to the drain valve located at the bottom of the tank. After this, open the valve and allow the water to flow for several minutes. Be careful because the water coming out will be very hot.
Dip tube helps in connecting cold water supply to the water heater. A problem or damage in this pipe results in passage of cold water through shower heads or faucets. Hence, in such scenario, replace the dip tube with a fresh and new dip tube. Keep in mind that while replacing, you need to cut down the water supply.
The valves for maintaining the temperature and pressure (TP&R) in water heater need to be checked once in six month or so. You can check it by raising or lowering down the test lever. Periodic checking of it can reduce the leakage to a great extent.
Thermostat controls the water temperature. It also needs a periodic examination as a fault in thermostat can prove to be very dangerous for you. If thermostat can not read the right temperature of heater, the temperature of heater could go very high. To tackle these situations, call an experienced professional.
Scott Rodgers is a noted author who has been providing ample guidance on plumbing works all over the country. His luxurious knowledge has, in fact, sparked significant rise in revenue for talented plumbers across the nation, from East Norwich Plumbers to Glen Head Plumbers .