SAN RAFAEL — Most water heater problems stem from a lack of routine maintenance. Over time, sediment and mineral buildup can inhibit a water heater’s efficiency and water flow, leading to subpar performance and even premature failure. Routinely flushing your traditional or tankless water heater will prevent these types of problems and help ensure efficient long-term operation.
Tankless water heater maintenance
Tankless water heaters require annual flushing with a descaling solution. This helps clear any blockages caused by sediment or mineral buildup so the heat exchanger can maintain an uninhibited flow. Tankless water heaters also have air and water filters that need to be routinely cleaned to ensure an uninhibited flow of combustion air and efficient flow of water throughout the unit.
Traditional water heater maintenance
For traditional water heaters, maintenance is much more basic. Once a year, the unit should be completely drained to flush out sediment buildup at the bottom of the tank. Fortunately, this is something most homeowners can do themselves. Here’s how it’s done:
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<li> Shut off gas to the unit. Find the gas control valve and turn the knob to “pilot.”</li>
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<li> Turn off water to the tank. Give the heater’s shut-off valve a quarter-turn to stop water from entering the tank.</li>
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<li> Drain the tank. Connect a garden hose to the drain valve at the bottom of the tank and open the valve. You can also open the T&amp;P (temperature and pressure) valve, which will create air in the system and help push the water out of the tank.</li>
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<ol start="4">
<li> Refill the tank. Once the water heater is completely drained, close the drain valve and the T&amp;P valve. Open the water shut-off valve to refill the tank and turn the gas control valve back to “on.” The unit should immediately start reheating the water in the tank.</li>
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Maintaining Your Water Heater

Get tips to extend your water heater's life span, from routine maintenance to dealing with sediment buildup to temperature settings.

Maintaining Your Water Heater by Kyle Barnhart

By Kyle Barnhart of {BR} Mike Testa Plumbing, Inc.

Resolving High Water Pressure Issues

Video: Maintaining Your Water Heater


Whether you have a traditional or tankless water heater, annual maintenance is crucial to ensure efficient operation. Today we're in San Rafael with diamond certified expert contributor Kyle Barnhart of Mike Testa Plumbing to learn more.

All right, so when I go to a customer's house to deal with water heater issues, whether it's replacement or troubleshooting a unit that's not working properly, one of the questions that I ask them is, you know, when was the last time that they performed routine maintenance on their water heater? And almost always, the answer is they have never done so. Doing routine maintenance on your water heater is an important part of keeping your water heater working efficiently and lasting as long as it possibly can.

As far as water heaters are concerned, there are two different types: tank types and tankless water heaters, and both have routine maintenance needs. The tankless water heaters require a yearly flushing with a descaling solution to make sure that the heat exchanger stays full flow and not being blocked by any sort of sediment or mineral build-up. It also has a number of air and water filters that need to be cleaned out so that it can, you know, get all of its combustion air and water can move through the unit appropriately.

As far as the tank water heater is concerned, the maintenance on that is much more basic. It essentially just needs to be turned off and drained out a hundred percent to flush out any sediment or debris that builds up on the bottom of the tank. If you don't do this service, that sediment builds up and then your water heater is trying to heat your water through all of this sediment. It causes your water heater to work harder and it makes it less efficient. And this is actually a service that most homeowners can do themselves.

You'll notice at the bottom of most water heaters, or perhaps behind a little access panel, is a hose Bibb connection. And so what you would do is you just attach a garden hose to that, roll your hose outside. At the top of the water heater should be a gate valve or a ball valve to turn the water off to the water heater, and then on the gas control valve there's a little knob you just turn that to pilot. And then you open up the drain valve, let your unit drain all of the water out. Once it's finished draining, you close the drain valve, you open up the water valve on top, and let the tank fill to capacity. And then once it's completely full, you just turn your gas control valve back to on. It should automatically turn on to start heating your water.

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Video: Resolving High Water Pressure Issues



One of the most common plumbing issues that we get are drippy faucets or toilets that are running on, and you know, a lot of times you'll get plumbers who want to come out there and just replace washers or a minor part here, there, and leave the house. And then you know, a couple of months later, you have that same problem again. A lot of issues in the home can be related to high water pressure, so it's important to make sure that that is checked regularly by your service provider, and that if there is a high-pressure issue that you do get it corrected. Because in addition to dripping faucets and running on toilets, it can void the warranties to any appliances or fixtures that are receiving water. It can also lead to more disastrous circumstances, such as the burst pipe, which can cause a massive amount of damage in a very short amount of time.



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