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Old 08-14-2017, 05:43 PM   #1
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Ps. Shop Vac your water heater

Didn't know if it would be a "What did you do to your SMB today" or a Interior thread BUT....Was getting Sporty ready for traveling and thought I would drain/rinse out the water heater....I remember some lyme deposits coming our of drain last fall when I was winterizing...man I am sure glad I did...I don't know if it is a yearly build up or what, but try to shop vac WH hooked up to city water....screw open for awhile, then close, then reopen etc several times....these pics are only 3/4 of what was in it. I started just opening it and letting it drain through overflow, but stopped when I was seeing/feeling the chunks coming out and pulled out the shop vac, then pulled out the big shop vac to really rinse/pull water & chunks out through open flow/valve on water heater...can you believe it!?
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Old 08-14-2017, 05:51 PM   #2
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I just changed my 300W water heater element for a 200W.....the amount of scale in the water heater visible when I removed the element was incredible ......figuring that I've probably run around 150-200 gallons through it from day one. It's been filled with soft water from day one....

There was about an inch of calcium carbonate crusty sandy stuff at the bottom of the tank, and the heating element was totally encrusted. My anode looked like it was about 1/3 used up too.
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Old 08-14-2017, 09:55 PM   #3
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I definitely believe that, I use filters and still see crap in the water...
Makes one wonder what we drink.
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Old 08-14-2017, 11:12 PM   #4
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Wow, what the heck is that stuff? Looks like gravel. I drain the water heater in my boat every winter, and I've never seen anything like that.
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Old 08-15-2017, 07:06 AM   #5
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Total Dissolved Solids in raw water after heating

This is why it is recommended to drain your home heater every year
These formations will react with the metal in your tank, mostly the weld joints, causing premature death to the heater
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Old 08-15-2017, 11:50 AM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hogasm View Post
Total Dissolved Solids in raw water after heating

This is why it is recommended to drain your home heater every year
These formations will react with the metal in your tank, mostly the weld joints, causing premature death to the heater
I have a lot of experience with cooling towers, measuring TDS, and using floculants to keep said particles in suspension. I've seen a lot of build up and scale on various parts, but never loose, large chunks. I suppose it depends a lot on the make up of the water though, some is soft and some is very hard. Interesting............
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Old 08-15-2017, 12:48 PM   #7
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I put a new 2.5gal electric heater in this summer that apparently has a glass lined tank inside, wonder if it will have this much debris still, that's crazy. Thanks for posting, I will be having to suck mine clean when I winterize.
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Old 08-15-2017, 12:51 PM   #8
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Originally Posted by arctictraveller View Post
Wow, what the heck is that stuff? Looks like gravel. I drain the water heater in my boat every winter, and I've never seen anything like that.
The crap in my water heater looked just like that....quite white-ish when it's dry.....like very course sand...and that was with using a soft water supply.
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Old 08-16-2017, 12:34 AM   #9
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As we do too WonderB...Iowa has nitrate warnings in fall and spring from all the runoff from farm fields...that leads to LOTS of 'chlorine' to treat and still not getting it all out...and I don't even know about all the Monsanto type herbicides and other chemicals it might or might not get out...so I use a combo softener and filter system for the whole house...granted the hot water tank gets the 'brunt' of the treated soft water, but whole house filter would/should cut down more minerals in water...which leads me back to the wow-factor and a 'new thing' I have to do upon winterizing and maybe again in spring, which might be the best time since it will have dried out and maybe started flaking making it easier (?) to flush? Anyway, thanks for the input all, and WonderB, again your knowledge/experience/posting is priceless, thx!
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