Water heater maintenance is a very important part of keeping your water heater healthy. While we have written about the benefits of water heater maintenance before, we haven’t really covered what actually happens during a water heater maintenance appointment. We feel that it’s important to know at least some of the procedures associated with water heater maintenance, so you can understand why it’s actually so important. With that in mind, let’s look at some of those procedures now.
Sediment Flushing
All the water that enters your home probably has at least some level of minerals in it. These minerals can build up on the bottom of your water heater tank over time, and eventually can become so large that they actually insulate the tank from the burner assembly. That will prevent your water heater from actually heating water. In order to prevent this from happening, we open the tank and flush out the water. This removes any sediment buildup. Sediment that has already solidified on the bottom of the tank can be scrubbed out manually.
Checking the Anode Rod
The anode rod is a part that protects your water heater from rusting by degrading over time. While this protection is quite good when the anode rod is mostly intact, it will eventually reach a point where the rod is too degraded to prevent the water heater from rusting. At that point, the anode rod will need to be replaced or the water heater will rust out. We check the anode rod every time we have a water heater maintenance appointment, and will replace it if necessary to ensure complete rust protection.
If you haven’t had your water heater checked in a while, call Saddleback Plumbing. Our expert technicians serve the entire Orange County, CA area.