On Feb 15, 11:57*am, Ashton Crusher wrote:
I've noticed that setting my electric water heater on "really hot"
seems to cause a lot of crud build up. *On "normal" or a little lower
it doesn't seem to build up nearly as much crud. *This seems backwards
to me. *Hotter water should be able to hold more dissolved stuff so
why does more of the dissolved minerals seem to come out at higher
temps??

My 70 yr old HW pipes are calcified shut, cold lines are ok, I have
heard the higher the heat the faster they clog. With gas its a bigger
issue since flame is outside tank, efficiency drops alot. But electric
the element is in water, do you have a softener.

On Feb 16, 5:35*am, ransley wrote:
On Feb 15, 11:57*am, Ashton Crusher wrote:

I've noticed that setting my electric water heater on "really hot"
seems to cause a lot of crud build up. *On "normal" or a little lower
it doesn't seem to build up nearly as much crud. *This seems backwards
to me. *Hotter water should be able to hold more dissolved stuff so
why does more of the dissolved minerals seem to come out at higher
temps??

My 70 yr old HW pipes are calcified shut, cold lines are ok, I have
heard the higher the heat the faster they clog. With gas its a bigger
issue since flame is outside tank, efficiency drops alot. But electric
the element is in water, do you have a softener.

I think, if your water has a high hardness level, a softener would be
a big help. Not to mention your clothes would come out of the wash
cleaner and you wouldn't need as much soap. But if you have a drilled
well as I do, a whole house water filter is also very important to
have. I installed one in our house a few years ago and I couldn't
believe the amount of crud it collects on the filter after about 4
months. Just my 2cts.
Steve

On Feb 16, 8:12*am, Steve wrote:
On Feb 16, 5:35*am, ransley wrote:

On Feb 15, 11:57*am, Ashton Crusher wrote:

I've noticed that setting my electric water heater on "really hot"
seems to cause a lot of crud build up. *On "normal" or a little lower
it doesn't seem to build up nearly as much crud. *This seems backwards
to me. *Hotter water should be able to hold more dissolved stuff so
why does more of the dissolved minerals seem to come out at higher
temps??

My 70 yr old HW pipes are calcified shut, cold lines are ok, I have
heard the higher the heat the faster they clog. With gas its a bigger
issue since flame is outside tank, efficiency drops alot. But electric
the element is in water, do you have a softener.

I think, if your water has a high hardness level, a softener would be
a big help. *Not to mention your clothes would come out of the wash
cleaner and you wouldn't need as much soap. *But if you have a drilled
well as I do, a whole house water filter is also very important to
have. *I installed one in our house a few years ago and I couldn't
believe the amount of crud it collects on the filter after about 4
months. *Just my 2cts.
Steve

Ditto with the last post

FWIW, the original lower element in my 50 gal electric burned out at
about the same time as the OP's, but I was surprised to find no lime
buildup when I replaced it. The replacement lasted about 10 years, and
when I replaced it, the tank had lime at least up to the element. I
cleaned out what I could and replaced the element and it is still
working after 2-3 years. I would have probably just replaced the heater
then, but my truck was in the shop, and it was somewhat easier to
transport an element than a w/h in a Ford Aspire. As to the OP's
question about the temperature, dunno if the lower temp actually causes
less lime buildup, but the fact that it is on for less time with the
lower temp may be more of a factor that the second element has lasted,
besides that the replacement was possibly of higher quality than the
original. Larry