04/15/2024
We need to get more pro-active with preventative measures with our household appliances. Besides replacing your furnace filters regularly and more frequently when the doors and windows stay open longer, the water heater is what I want to focus on.
Holy crap!! They are expensive to replace now. ...I remember when....no I won't go there.
So, what is it that we can do to help prolong the life of these heated water storage tanks. Flushing the tank from the bottom hose connection is about all we can actually do.
And honestly, it doesn't really do all that much. the outlet is small and there's no way to visually inspect the sediment build up at the bottom. The other more harmful thing is...corrosion. The phenomenon that takes place when water heats up. All these 'invisible minerals' become visible, the hardness of water exposes itself with that chalky residue. A lot of times you'll get that weird 'rotten egg' odor when you turn on the hot water faucet.
One of the first preventative steps to be taken is when the tank is installed. If there are no Dielectric unions on the water connections of the water heater, You Have a Poorly Installed Water Heater.
With new builds, the piping in a residence is 99% PEX Tubing. The thing is....the connection between the PEX and the Water Heater is usually BRASS. Brass is not similar to a Steel, Glass Lined Water Heater. Those are dissimilar metals that when touching, become a potential area for corrosion to start doing its' thing.
A Dielectric Union
