"mike" wrote in message
news

The wife called me this morning grousing because there was no hot
water .
I'm down in Memphis getting a roof put on our house here , I haven't
a
clue
... this W/H is only like 3 years old and doesn't see that much use
with
just the 2 of us . We have low water pressure (****ty pressure
regulator)
and every time we use much hot water we can hear the heating elements
"sing"
, apparently because the water is boiling off the elements . We also
have
very hard water , and I'm wondering if because of the low pressure
and
the
"singing" we've gotten a buildup of mineral deposits on the elements
.

I once fixed a water heater for a friend.
The bottom element was so corroded that I had to finesse the curved folded
part straight to get it out.

The bottom of the tank was filled with what looked like chunks of rust
up way past the bottom element. That "insulation" allowed the water
at the element to boil and overheat the element.
Cleaned out the gunk, replaced the element. Worked great. No more
singing.

This one has sang since day one and I've always thought it was because I
have the water pressure set kinda low - that pressure reg has "gone high" a
couple of times and popped the TPR on both the house w/h and the one in the
camper (camper has since been disconnected from the water supply) . It's
only around 3 years old , probably not enough time to get that much crud
built up on the bottom . With any luck the roof will be finished tomorrow
and I can get home to see what the problem is .
--
Snag