We live in an location with very hard water.
We don't have a water softener and our hot water
heater has the build-up of deposits so that when it
starts heating up it sounds like rocks bouncing in a dryer.

Last spring, I drained it and it was all good. This spring, I
drained it twice, but we still get the loud noises when it's
heating up. I've seen a product that I can add to the water
heater that will soften these deposits so they can come out.
Does it work?

Also, our water heater is in the back of the house,
near the washer/dryer. When the door is closed to this area,
you can't even hear the noise. Can I just ignore this and
pretend there's no problem? I'm pretty good at that solution.

On 5/24/2012 9:07 AM, Tater Cole wrote:

We live in an location with very hard water.
We don't have a water softener and our hot water
heater has the build-up of deposits so that when it
starts heating up it sounds like rocks bouncing in a dryer.

Last spring, I drained it and it was all good. This spring, I
drained it twice, but we still get the loud noises when it's
heating up. I've seen a product that I can add to the water
heater that will soften these deposits so they can come out.
Does it work?

Also, our water heater is in the back of the house,
near the washer/dryer. When the door is closed to this area,
you can't even hear the noise. Can I just ignore this and
pretend there's no problem? I'm pretty good at that solution.

I once replaced the lower heating element in a heater on well water.
There was about a foot of sediment in the tank.
Dug it out with a spoon and flushed the tank before installing the
new element. No more problems.

If you choose to ignore, it, you can disconnect the lower heater
or just wait till it burns up.

On May 24, 12:07*pm, Tater Cole wrote:
We live in an location with very hard water.
We don't have a water softener and our hot water
heater has the build-up of deposits so that when it
starts heating up it sounds like rocks bouncing in a dryer.

Last spring, I drained it and it was all good. This spring, I
drained it twice, but we still get the loud noises when it's
heating up. I've seen a product that I can add to the water
heater that will soften these deposits so they can come out.
Does it work?

Also, our water heater is in the back of the house,
near the washer/dryer. When the door is closed to this area,
you can't even hear the noise. Can I just ignore this and
pretend there's no problem? I'm pretty good at that solution.

the boiling sound isnt hazardous, it just cuts into efficency a
little......

if your tank is gas just ignore it

if your tank is electric you can try removing and cleaning the
elements and remove what crud you can from the bottom of the tank.

but you might cause a leak and have to replace the tank.......

if i were you i would just ignore it. till one day the tank begins to
leak then replace it!

On Thu, 24 May 2012 09:07:27 -0700 (PDT), Tater Cole
wrote:


We live in an location with very hard water.
We don't have a water softener and our hot water
heater has the build-up of deposits so that when it
starts heating up it sounds like rocks bouncing in a dryer.

Last spring, I drained it and it was all good. This spring, I
drained it twice, but we still get the loud noises when it's
heating up. I've seen a product that I can add to the water
heater that will soften these deposits so they can come out.
Does it work?

Also, our water heater is in the back of the house,
near the washer/dryer. When the door is closed to this area,
you can't even hear the noise. Can I just ignore this and
pretend there's no problem? I'm pretty good at that solution.

To minimize this problem (so many deposits) in the future, turn the
water temperature down to about 140. My electric heaters used to fill
up with this crap and cause the lower element to burn out. Once I
started setting them for the lower heat setting the problem went away.
I have a dishwasher that will heat the water, which is a concern if
your dishwasher won't. Dishwashers really should have 160+ water for
proper cleaning and sanitizing. Lower temps also theoretically create
the possibility of listeria in the water heater. I've not found that
to be a problem but it is cited as an issue. One thing I've thought
could be done is to turn the temp back up real high for a week or so
each year to 'burn it out'.

On 5/24/2012 12:07 PM, Tater Cole wrote:

Last spring, I drained it and it was all good. This spring, I
drained it twice, but we still get the loud noises when it's
heating up. I've seen a product that I can add to the water
heater that will soften these deposits so they can come out.
Does it work?

If it's making those noises, it's already too late. Start shopping for a
replacement now...and if it isn't already equipped with a drip pan or
other provision for a surprise leakage...it will be after the failure.

GrtArtiste

On Jun 9, 2:07*pm, Ashton Crusher wrote:
On Thu, 24 May 2012 09:07:27 -0700 (PDT), Tater Cole





wrote:

We live in an location with very hard water.
We don't have a water softener and our hot water
heater has the build-up of deposits so that when it
starts heating up it sounds like rocks bouncing in a dryer.

Last spring, I drained it and it was all good. This spring, I
drained it twice, but we still get the loud noises when it's
heating up. I've seen a product that I can add to the water
heater that will soften these deposits so they can come out.
Does it work?

Also, our water heater is in the back of the house,
near the washer/dryer. When the door is closed to this area,
you can't even hear the noise. Can I just ignore this and
pretend there's no problem? I'm pretty good at that solution.

To minimize this problem (so many deposits) in the future, turn the
water temperature down to about 140.

No good reason it should be any higher than that with
any water heater.




My electric heaters used to fill
up with this crap and cause the lower element to burn out. *Once I
started setting them for the lower heat setting the problem went away.
I have a dishwasher that will heat the water, which is a concern if
your dishwasher won't. *Dishwashers really should have 160+ water for
proper cleaning and sanitizing.


I've yet to see a dishwasher manufacturer call for anything above
140F.


*Lower temps also theoretically create
the possibility of listeria in the water heater. *I've not found that
to be a problem but it is cited as an issue.


I have seen lot of recommendations from credible sources
that say 140F is sufficient to keep
a water heater safe. If you have a reference that says listeria can
be
a real safety issue that requires 160F, I'd be happy to see it. With
tens of millions of water heaters at 140F or possibly lower, I've
never
heard of a listeria outbeak traced to a water heater. Usually it's
some
agricultural product, improper food handling, etc.




One thing I've thought
could be done is to turn the temp back up real high for a week or so
each year to 'burn it out'.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Again, any reference that says this in necessary?

On Jun 10, 9:12*am, "
wrote:
On Jun 9, 2:07*pm, Ashton Crusher wrote:









On Thu, 24 May 2012 09:07:27 -0700 (PDT), Tater Cole

wrote:

We live in an location with very hard water.
We don't have a water softener and our hot water
heater has the build-up of deposits so that when it
starts heating up it sounds like rocks bouncing in a dryer.

Last spring, I drained it and it was all good. This spring, I
drained it twice, but we still get the loud noises when it's
heating up. I've seen a product that I can add to the water
heater that will soften these deposits so they can come out.
Does it work?

Also, our water heater is in the back of the house,
near the washer/dryer. When the door is closed to this area,
you can't even hear the noise. Can I just ignore this and
pretend there's no problem? I'm pretty good at that solution.

To minimize this problem (so many deposits) in the future, turn the
water temperature down to about 140.

No good reason it should be any higher than that with
any water heater.

My electric heaters used to fill

up with this crap and cause the lower element to burn out. *Once I
started setting them for the lower heat setting the problem went away.
I have a dishwasher that will heat the water, which is a concern if
your dishwasher won't. *Dishwashers really should have 160+ water for
proper cleaning and sanitizing.

I've yet to see a dishwasher manufacturer call for anything above
140F.

**Lower temps also theoretically create

the possibility of listeria in the water heater. *I've not found that
to be a problem but it is cited as an issue.

I have seen lot of recommendations from credible sources
that say 140F is sufficient to keep
a water heater safe. *If you have a reference that says listeria can
be
a real safety issue that requires 160F, *I'd be happy to see it. *With
tens of millions of water heaters at 140F or possibly lower, I've
never
heard of a listeria outbeak traced to a water heater. *Usually it's
some
agricultural product, improper food handling, etc.

One thing I've thought
could be done is to turn the temp back up real high for a week or so
each year to 'burn it out'.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Again, any reference that says this in necessary?

My question wouldn't be "is this necessary" but instead would be "Wil
this work?"

I've never heard that the sediment could be "burned out". It's not
like it will actually burn nor would I expect that hotter water would
simply dissolve it. Even it it did, I assume that you would then need
to run the hot water until the existing water was changed out to
remove the suspended sediment to prevent it from coming back once the
tank cooled down.

Doing that once a week seems like it would reduce the overall
efficiency more than the sediment would.

On Jun 10, 10:22*am, DerbyDad03 wrote:
On Jun 10, 9:12*am, "
wrote:





On Jun 9, 2:07*pm, Ashton Crusher wrote:

On Thu, 24 May 2012 09:07:27 -0700 (PDT), Tater Cole

wrote:

We live in an location with very hard water.
We don't have a water softener and our hot water
heater has the build-up of deposits so that when it
starts heating up it sounds like rocks bouncing in a dryer.

Last spring, I drained it and it was all good. This spring, I
drained it twice, but we still get the loud noises when it's
heating up. I've seen a product that I can add to the water
heater that will soften these deposits so they can come out.
Does it work?

Also, our water heater is in the back of the house,
near the washer/dryer. When the door is closed to this area,
you can't even hear the noise. Can I just ignore this and
pretend there's no problem? I'm pretty good at that solution.

To minimize this problem (so many deposits) in the future, turn the
water temperature down to about 140.

No good reason it should be any higher than that with
any water heater.

My electric heaters used to fill

up with this crap and cause the lower element to burn out. *Once I
started setting them for the lower heat setting the problem went away..
I have a dishwasher that will heat the water, which is a concern if
your dishwasher won't. *Dishwashers really should have 160+ water for
proper cleaning and sanitizing.

I've yet to see a dishwasher manufacturer call for anything above
140F.

**Lower temps also theoretically create

the possibility of listeria in the water heater. *I've not found that
to be a problem but it is cited as an issue.

I have seen lot of recommendations from credible sources
that say 140F is sufficient to keep
a water heater safe. *If you have a reference that says listeria can
be
a real safety issue that requires 160F, *I'd be happy to see it. *With
tens of millions of water heaters at 140F or possibly lower, I've
never
heard of a listeria outbeak traced to a water heater. *Usually it's
some
agricultural product, improper food handling, etc.

One thing I've thought
could be done is to turn the temp back up real high for a week or so
each year to 'burn it out'.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Again, any reference that says this in necessary?

My question wouldn't be "is this necessary" but instead would be "Wil
this work?"

I've never heard that the sediment could be "burned out". It's not
like it will actually burn nor would I expect that hotter water would
simply dissolve it. Even it it did, I assume that you would then need
to run the hot water until the existing water was changed out to
remove the suspended sediment to prevent it from coming back once the
tank cooled down.

Doing that once a week seems like it would reduce the overall
efficiency more than the sediment would.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I took the "burn it out" comment to be about the alleged dangerous
bacteria that requires temps of 160F to kill. I agree, you can't burn
out sediment.

I took the "burn it out" comment to be about the alleged dangerous
bacteria that requires temps of 160F to kill. *I agree, you can't burn
out sediment.

me too. never heard of a infection from a home water heater. probably
because they are small and the water cycles fast.....

the infections seem to be large older buildings.... they may have more
lightly used locations where water can linger and bacteria grow.

i keep my hot water around a 120. I figure lower heater temps equal
longer heater life. the thermal cycling would be less extreme

On Sun, 10 Jun 2012 11:17:06 -0700 (PDT), bob haller wrote:



I took the "burn it out" comment to be about the alleged dangerous
bacteria that requires temps of 160F to kill. *I agree, you can't burn
out sediment.

me too. never heard of a infection from a home water heater. probably
because they are small and the water cycles fast.....

the infections seem to be large older buildings.... they may have more
lightly used locations where water can linger and bacteria grow.

i keep my hot water around a 120. I figure lower heater temps equal
longer heater life. the thermal cycling would be less extreme

You're thermal cycling it more, since you're using more hot water and will
drop the tank temperature faster. The normal thermal cycle is only a few
degrees.

On Jun 10, 11:13*am, "
wrote:
On Jun 10, 10:22*am, DerbyDad03 wrote:









On Jun 10, 9:12*am, "
wrote:

On Jun 9, 2:07*pm, Ashton Crusher wrote:

On Thu, 24 May 2012 09:07:27 -0700 (PDT), Tater Cole

wrote:

We live in an location with very hard water.
We don't have a water softener and our hot water
heater has the build-up of deposits so that when it
starts heating up it sounds like rocks bouncing in a dryer.

Last spring, I drained it and it was all good. This spring, I
drained it twice, but we still get the loud noises when it's
heating up. I've seen a product that I can add to the water
heater that will soften these deposits so they can come out.
Does it work?

Also, our water heater is in the back of the house,
near the washer/dryer. When the door is closed to this area,
you can't even hear the noise. Can I just ignore this and
pretend there's no problem? I'm pretty good at that solution.

To minimize this problem (so many deposits) in the future, turn the
water temperature down to about 140.

No good reason it should be any higher than that with
any water heater.

My electric heaters used to fill

up with this crap and cause the lower element to burn out. *Once I
started setting them for the lower heat setting the problem went away.
I have a dishwasher that will heat the water, which is a concern if
your dishwasher won't. *Dishwashers really should have 160+ water for
proper cleaning and sanitizing.

I've yet to see a dishwasher manufacturer call for anything above
140F.

**Lower temps also theoretically create

the possibility of listeria in the water heater. *I've not found that
to be a problem but it is cited as an issue.

I have seen lot of recommendations from credible sources
that say 140F is sufficient to keep
a water heater safe. *If you have a reference that says listeria can
be
a real safety issue that requires 160F, *I'd be happy to see it. *With
tens of millions of water heaters at 140F or possibly lower, I've
never
heard of a listeria outbeak traced to a water heater. *Usually it's
some
agricultural product, improper food handling, etc.

One thing I've thought
could be done is to turn the temp back up real high for a week or so
each year to 'burn it out'.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Again, any reference that says this in necessary?

My question wouldn't be "is this necessary" but instead would be "Wil
this work?"

I've never heard that the sediment could be "burned out". It's not
like it will actually burn nor would I expect that hotter water would
simply dissolve it. Even it it did, I assume that you would then need
to run the hot water until the existing water was changed out to
remove the suspended sediment to prevent it from coming back once the
tank cooled down.

Doing that once a week seems like it would reduce the overall
efficiency more than the sediment would.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I took the "burn it out" comment to be about the alleged dangerous
bacteria that requires temps of 160F to kill. *I agree, you can't burn
out sediment.

My error...made the wrong connection.

On Jun 10, 7:07*pm, "
wrote:
On Sun, 10 Jun 2012 11:17:06 -0700 (PDT), bob haller wrote:

I took the "burn it out" comment to be about the alleged dangerous
bacteria that requires temps of 160F to kill. *I agree, you can't burn
out sediment.

me too. never heard of a infection from a home water heater. probably
because they are small and the water cycles fast.....

the infections seem to be large older buildings.... they may have more
lightly used locations where water can linger and bacteria grow.

i keep my hot water around a 120. *I figure lower heater temps equal
longer heater life. the thermal cycling would be less extreme

You're thermal cycling it more, since you're using more hot water and will
drop the tank temperature faster. *The normal thermal cycle is only a few
degrees.

but the degree change is smaller I tend to buy a oversized tank.
this one is 75 gallons 75K BTU

for most of my life i had elderly realtives here and wanted to avoid
them getting burnt.....

that can happen quickly with 140 degree water

so I upped the tank size and BTU... that works fine and lower
temperature water minimizes energy waste.

although i did consider a tempering valve.

140 tank water would be mixed automatically with cold water so output
water temp would never exceed 120 degrees or whatever you set it at

On Sun, 10 Jun 2012 16:20:49 -0700 (PDT), bob haller wrote:

On Jun 10, 7:07*pm, "
wrote:
On Sun, 10 Jun 2012 11:17:06 -0700 (PDT), bob haller wrote:

I took the "burn it out" comment to be about the alleged dangerous
bacteria that requires temps of 160F to kill. *I agree, you can't burn
out sediment.

me too. never heard of a infection from a home water heater. probably
because they are small and the water cycles fast.....

the infections seem to be large older buildings.... they may have more
lightly used locations where water can linger and bacteria grow.

i keep my hot water around a 120. *I figure lower heater temps equal
longer heater life. the thermal cycling would be less extreme

You're thermal cycling it more, since you're using more hot water and will
drop the tank temperature faster. *The normal thermal cycle is only a few
degrees.

but the degree change is smaller I tend to buy a oversized tank.
this one is 75 gallons 75K BTU

No, the degree change is larger since you're filling it with more cold water
(since you're taking out more water to mix to a constant temperature). The
size is irrelevant.

UR right. I just measured my actual temp and it's 120 degrees.


On Sun, 10 Jun 2012 06:12:59 -0700 (PDT), "
wrote:

On Jun 9, 2:07*pm, Ashton Crusher wrote:
On Thu, 24 May 2012 09:07:27 -0700 (PDT), Tater Cole





wrote:

We live in an location with very hard water.
We don't have a water softener and our hot water
heater has the build-up of deposits so that when it
starts heating up it sounds like rocks bouncing in a dryer.

Last spring, I drained it and it was all good. This spring, I
drained it twice, but we still get the loud noises when it's
heating up. I've seen a product that I can add to the water
heater that will soften these deposits so they can come out.
Does it work?

Also, our water heater is in the back of the house,
near the washer/dryer. When the door is closed to this area,
you can't even hear the noise. Can I just ignore this and
pretend there's no problem? I'm pretty good at that solution.

To minimize this problem (so many deposits) in the future, turn the
water temperature down to about 140.

No good reason it should be any higher than that with
any water heater.




My electric heaters used to fill
up with this crap and cause the lower element to burn out. *Once I
started setting them for the lower heat setting the problem went away.
I have a dishwasher that will heat the water, which is a concern if
your dishwasher won't. *Dishwashers really should have 160+ water for
proper cleaning and sanitizing.


I've yet to see a dishwasher manufacturer call for anything above
140F.


*Lower temps also theoretically create
the possibility of listeria in the water heater. *I've not found that
to be a problem but it is cited as an issue.


I have seen lot of recommendations from credible sources
that say 140F is sufficient to keep
a water heater safe. If you have a reference that says listeria can
be
a real safety issue that requires 160F, I'd be happy to see it. With
tens of millions of water heaters at 140F or possibly lower, I've
never
heard of a listeria outbeak traced to a water heater. Usually it's
some
agricultural product, improper food handling, etc.




One thing I've thought
could be done is to turn the temp back up real high for a week or so
each year to 'burn it out'.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Again, any reference that says this in necessary?

On Sun, 10 Jun 2012 20:46:45 -0700 (PDT), bob haller
wrote:

for most of my life i had elderly realtives here and wanted to avoid
them getting burnt.....

that can happen quickly with 140 degree water

so I upped the tank size and BTU... that works fine and lower
temperature water minimizes energy waste.

although i did consider a tempering valve.

140 tank water would be mixed automatically with cold water so output
water temp would never exceed 120 degrees or whatever you set it at
Required by law on all new tank installations here. Unless one is
installed on the shower, which SOMETIMES exempts you from installing
at the tank.