Joseph Meehan wrote:
Les wrote:
I live in my condo the 4 summer months a year, and it is vacant
otherwise. Each year, I shut off the breaker to the hot water heater
and shutoff the water. When I turned things back on recently I
notice a small leak on the bottom of the hot water heater that the
plumber said required replacing, which I did. I also have a water
softener which I also shutoff when not there.

The previous hot water heater was only 8 years old when it failed. That
seems relatively a short time. The plumber said that water
softeners reduce the life of a hot water heater.

Am I doing something wrong? Should I be doing something else? I
have never drained the waqter from the valve on the bottom of the hot
water heater.
Your comments / suggestions would be appreciated.

I don't and do agree with your plumber. While I don't agree that water
softeners reduce the life of a water heater (why would you have a hot water
heater to heat water that was hot?), I would tend to think that the water in
areas that you need a softener for are likely to be areas where the water
will also be hard on water heaters.

Ask around among your neighbors and I'll bet they all have short service
life from their water heaters. I suggest that you can drain the new one
regularly and make sure you replace the anode rod like once every year or
two.


I think you mean to check it every year or two. If he replaced it
every year or two, it would get expensive real fast. Also, based on
the rate of deterioration, the inspection interval can be adjusted
accordingly.



If you have not drained water and the water heater is more than a
year or two old, it is too late to gain much from it. I would also strongly
suggest that you either get a water heater with a quality drain valve or
replace the one most come with, they don't last.

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit