Most water heater manufacturers recommend servicing your water heater every 3 or 6 months. This is designed to flush the sediment out of the heater, giving you more efficient operation and more hot water out of your unit.
- The first step in this procedure is to shut off the power to the unit, if it is electric, or turn the gas control to off if it is a gas water heater.
- Second, shut off the ball valve or gate valve at the top of the heater.
- Third, hook up a hose to the water heater drain at the bottom of the heater and open the drain. It will probably be necessary to open a hot water faucet in the home for the heater to drain. You can also open the temperature/pressure relief valve on the heater to accomplish this. Some water heaters, particularly those that haven’t been serviced on a regular basis, will not drain. If this is the case with yours, we strongly recommend that you call a service professional; it can be quite tricky to get it to drain with out making a mess or a flood.
- After the heater has thoroughly drained, shut the water heater drain, remove the hose, and open the valve at the top to refill the water heater. Leave a faucet open in the home to allow the air to purge itself from the heater. When you hear the heater fill up, and there is a steady stream of water and no air, shut the faucet off and turn the power back on (or re-light the pilot light if it is gas). You are now back in business, and should have hot water in 30-40 minutes.
It is imperative that you do not turn the power back on, or re-light the water heater until it is full of water. If all this sounds like too much for you to handle, or you run into problems, give Sav-On Plumbing a call 602-488-4647. We are very experienced performing this task, and can save you time, aggravation and expense.