Water Heater: Slow Heating Of Water Problem. Draining/Flushing Help ?
 

Hello:

Have the typical cylindrical type of upright gas fired hot water heater.
Probably about 5 yrs old, or so.

Lately, it is taking an inordinate amount of time to heat water up.
It used to be fairly quick; now my wife complains that
it takes "forever".

Heard about draining the crud via the valve at the bottom; the theory being
apparently
that the crud is acting as a thermal barrier for the heat. Likely ?

Frankly, have never played with the valve or draining the tank.

Is it likely that over the years a layer of crud, or whatever has built up
in the tank, and this is the cause of the slow heating ?

If so, woulds draining the tank likely help ?
Guess I'm wondering if the crud, if that is actually the problem, is
hard-baked on the inside,
or somehow loose enough such that draining the tank would help ?

How do I do this ? Do I flush it by letting the water run thru and out a
hose to the outside, or... ?

Any thoughts or comments would be most appreciated.

Thanks,
Bob

"Robert11" wrote in message
Lately, it is taking an inordinate amount of time to heat water up.
It used to be fairly quick; now my wife complains that
it takes "forever".

Heard about draining the crud via the valve at the bottom; the theory
being apparently
that the crud is acting as a thermal barrier for the heat. Likely ?

Is it likely that over the years a layer of crud, or whatever has built up
in the tank, and this is the cause of the slow heating ?

If there is buildup, it would act as an insulator from the gas flame. It
may help. Check to see that the burner is lit all the way around also.
Depending on the content of your water, yet, it could have a lot of
deposits.

What do you mean heating is slow, the tank reaches a temp so when you
turn the water on that is the temp it is. Reheating after alot of use
is probably a bad thermostat, 5 yrs is not enough time to put in to much
crud, plus it will heat but slower. Do you mean after alot of use it
does not recover fast.

Don't forget to turn off the heater and let its contents cool down before
draining it. You don't want 30 gallons of scalding water coming at you.

I remember hearing that you could do more harm than good draining an old,
undisturbed water heater; but that might have applied to the glass ones, not
the newer ones (that are fiberglass, I think).

That all being said, I've had water heaters older than that and they didn't
noticeably "slow up"; I think you have a different problem.

--
Regards,

Jerry Schwartz
http://www.writebynight.com
e-card JerryS https://ecardfile.com/

Hi,

Much thanks for help.

Yes, your term of "recovery" is a better description than my attempt to
describe the problem.

Bob

.. Do you mean after alot of use it
does not recover fast.

Robert,

The amount of crud will depend on how much disolved mineral is in your
water, that depends on where you are and the source of water. Crud
formation also depends on how hot your water heater thermostat is set.
The higher the setting, the more crud will precipitate out. Since the
burner is under the water heater, the crud in the bottom will
definately affect heat transfer. When I was in western PA, we often
flushed gas water heaters every few years. Here in coastal South
Carolina, the water is soft and not as much of a problem. Plus most
water heaters in my area are electric and not affected by crud.
Flushing your gas water heater should help. Turn off the burner and run
a tub till the water is cooler. then hook a hose to the drain and run
it to a floor drain or outside. After the heater is drained, turn the
cold water of full and that will break up the crud some. Do this
several times till the drainage is clean. Then refill the tank and
purge the air out. THEN turn the burner back on. If no crud comes out
when you flush the tank, there is probably some other problem.

Stretch

Robert11 wrote:
Hello:

Have the typical cylindrical type of upright gas fired hot water
heater. Probably about 5 yrs old, or so.

Lately, it is taking an inordinate amount of time to heat water up.
It used to be fairly quick; now my wife complains that
it takes "forever".

Heard about draining the crud via the valve at the bottom; the theory
being apparently
that the crud is acting as a thermal barrier for the heat. Likely ?
....

Draining it may help or it may not. Ask your neighbors. They likely
have the same type of water and therefore the same type of build up. See
what they may have done and if it helped. This is something that is a big
problem in some areas and no problem in others.

You chance having the drain valve fail. They are all very cheap. It is
not all that hard to replace them with a good one.

Also keep one more thing in mind. You are likely living in an area
where spring is just started and the water coming into your home is much
colder than it was last fall. It takes longer to heat it up. So you should
expect some reduction in recovery time this time of year when the water is
at it's coldest. It will be a couple of moths before it really warms up
much.



--
Joseph Meehan

26 + 6 = 1 It's Irish Math

I think the problem is something other than sediment buildup.

I just replaced a15 year old WH that started to leak. I never
drained the WH to flush the sediment (my bad) in the 10 years we've
been in the house. The water in my area is fairly hard & there was a
LOT of sediment in the WH. I Sawzall'd the WH in half for fun (I know
pretty strange)

The WH had a couple of inches of sediment. With 4 people in the house
we never really experienced noticeable loss of performance.

IMO your situation must be preception or some problem other than
sediment? Dip tube?

Don't depend on the cheap plastic drain valve working, when I went to
drain the WH to remove & replace it, the sediment was so deep it
wouldn't drain properly. THe valve failed to shut off completely.
Luckily I had let the WH cool otherwise I'd have been dealing with a
HOT water leak.


cheers
Bob

BobK207 wrote:
I think the problem is something other than sediment buildup.

I just replaced a15 year old WH that started to leak. I never
drained the WH to flush the sediment (my bad) in the 10 years we've
been in the house. The water in my area is fairly hard & there was a
LOT of sediment in the WH. I Sawzall'd the WH in half for fun (I know
pretty strange)

The WH had a couple of inches of sediment. With 4 people in the house
we never really experienced noticeable loss of performance.

IMO your situation must be preception or some problem other than
sediment? Dip tube?

Don't depend on the cheap plastic drain valve working, when I went to
drain the WH to remove & replace it, the sediment was so deep it
wouldn't drain properly. THe valve failed to shut off completely.
Luckily I had let the WH cool otherwise I'd have been dealing with a
HOT water leak.


cheers
Bob

I would not rule out the dip tube, but the OP wrote "it is taking an
inordinate amount of time to heat water up." The problem usually noted with
a bad dip tube is running out of hot water too fast not a delay in heating.

Your experience is not that unusual, but water quality has many factors
and one hard water may not react the same as another. So while your build
up was not a problem, someone a few miles away with a different water supply
might have a totally different experience.

You are totally correct about those cheap valves and the fact that
sediment can clog them.


--
Joseph Meehan

26 + 6 = 1 It's Irish Math

"Joseph Meehan" wrote in message
...
BobK207 wrote:
I think the problem is something other than sediment buildup.

I just replaced a15 year old WH that started to leak. I never
drained the WH to flush the sediment (my bad) in the 10 years we've
been in the house. The water in my area is fairly hard & there was a
LOT of sediment in the WH. I Sawzall'd the WH in half for fun (I know
pretty strange)

The WH had a couple of inches of sediment. With 4 people in the house
we never really experienced noticeable loss of performance.

IMO your situation must be preception or some problem other than
sediment? Dip tube?

Don't depend on the cheap plastic drain valve working, when I went to
drain the WH to remove & replace it, the sediment was so deep it
wouldn't drain properly. THe valve failed to shut off completely.
Luckily I had let the WH cool otherwise I'd have been dealing with a
HOT water leak.


cheers
Bob

I would not rule out the dip tube, but the OP wrote "it is taking an
inordinate amount of time to heat water up." The problem usually noted
with a bad dip tube is running out of hot water too fast not a delay in
heating

It depends on whether or not you are running the water during the time while
you are waiting for the water to reheat. If you do run the water before it
fully reheats, a broken dip tube could result in the slow recovery.
--
Peace,
BobJ


Your experience is not that unusual, but water quality has many factors
and one hard water may not react the same as another. So while your build
up was not a problem, someone a few miles away with a different water
supply might have a totally different experience.

You are totally correct about those cheap valves and the fact that
sediment can clog them.


--
Joseph Meehan

26 + 6 = 1 It's Irish Math