If your budget can withstand the shock, I'd go for the heater. Install a
full flow ball valve on the drain of the new WH, and use the drain twice a
year, at least.

When I replaced my W.H., it was late in January, and sixteen inches snow on
the ground. My WH is in a cabinet, outside my trailer, so I didn't do any of
that fancy stuff.

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..


"Ron in NY" wrote in message
...
Hi all,

My 80 gallon electric hot water heater's lower heating element has
burned
out for the second time. It burned out about 8 years ago, and I replaced it
then. The heater is about 18 years old now. I have well water, which is very
hard and has a lot of calcium and lime in it. When I replaced that element 8
years ago, I looked into the heater thru the element hole and the bottom of
the
tank was packed with chunks of lime & calcuim. I vacuumed out as much as I
could
with my shop vac, but I would say that there was still about 3-4 inches of
the
stuff still in there. Now, it's 8 years later, and I would guess that the
chunks
probably are now above the element hole. I am also very leery about opening
the
drain valve (it's a plastic one), as I'm afraid if a piece of those chunks
gets
into the valve, I might not be able to close it. I'm also afraid that if I
open
it, nothing will come out due to the calcium and lime blocking the drain
passageway. If I remember correctly, it took about 2 hours for it to drain 8
years ago.

Should I try to replace the element, or should I replace the heater ???


RON
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