"Brett Miller" wrote in message

The hot water in my recently purchased home seems to be slow in
comming and does not get very hot.

How hot is not very hot? The thermostat can be set very low by your
standards so as not to scald. Get a thermometer and tell us just what the
temperature is. Look to see what the setting is.

Slow in coming is usually a distance or pressure problem. Once the water
that is in the pipe is pushed out by the water in the heater, the how water
is there. Does not matter what the temperature is, it is either there or
not.


The water heater is gas and is about 15 years old.
When I lit the pilot light, I saw a lot of debris on the burner.
I brushed this off but it made no difference in the problem.

As long as the flame is working properly the debris does not really matter.
Chances are it may be corrossion of what is above the burner starting to
corrode and flake off. If it blocks the burner, yes a problem, if it does
not and the flame is the same, you get the same heat.


Should I replace the burner or the entire heater.

If the burner is working properly, that is not the proble and replacing it
is a waste of money. There may be other problems though.


I did drain the heater, first with the water main turned off and
then flushed it with the water main on. I got a lot of redish
water out of the unit.

If there is sediment on the bottom it will retard heat transfer. Flush once
in a while to prevent it.


How does one know when a water heater has reached end of life,
other than a complete failure?

You don't get hot water any more for one thing. Leaks is another. At 15
years it may or may not be on the way out. Some will go 20 or more. Start
with the basics like the thermostat setting.