On Oct 20, 6:35�pm, "Ed Pawlowski" wrote:
"hr(bob) " wrote in message

...

I drained my 3 year-old gas water heater last night, for the first
time. �I drained it into a sump pump pit that is in the basement at a
lower level than the water heater, through a piece of garden hose that
I screwed onto the drain output. �There was no sign of anything other
than clear water throughout the entire 40 gallon draining process.
After it finished draining, I turned the input water back on and put a
couple of gallons of fresh water into the heater to see if I could
stir up anything on the bottom. But the new water drained out clear
also. �I guess I should be happy, but I am wondering if I missed
something.

Probably not. �If everything goes right, the water passes through and leaves
little or nothing behind. Mud comes from solids the precipitate out when
standing. �If you have good water, there will be little solids. �Some water
supplies have lots of sediment. �If you have a whole house filter in line,
that helps too.

my heater never has sediment of any type, so i quit draing it after
one drsaining where the thermocouple failed after turning tank off.

to me water heaters are install and forget till they fail or get old
and i replace them as preventive maintence.

if you divide the purchase cost per year of service its less than a
buck a week, or one cheap candy bar per week.

not worth messing with, espically risking premature tank failure