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Flushing your water heater

  • Writer: Michael Farnan
    Michael Farnan
  • Jul 9, 2023
  • 2 min read

Do you get your water from a well? Do you notice an orange sandy substance in your water when you first turn your pump on after having it off for a little while? If so and if you have a normal tank style water heater, there is a very good chance the bottom of it is filled with sediment. Over time, all the sediment in your water system that passes through your water heater begins to build up on the bottom of the tank eventually causing weakened water pressure and very brown/orange looking water.


What to do about it


Once every 8 months to 1 year, depending on how bad your situation is, you should do a flush of your water heater to clear it out and get all the buildup out of your tank and pipes. The process is as follows:


  1. Shut water heater off at breaker and hook a hose up to the drain valve at the bottom of the tank

  2. Shut the inlet valve at the top of water heater where cold water enters the tank.

  3. Open the drain valve to allow the tank to begin to drain. Depending on how much sediment is in the tank you may see a lot of water instantly coming out of hose or a very slow stream if the tank is really blocked up.

  4. After a few minutes open the inlet valve on top of tank back up to allow water back into the tank to try and stir some of the sediment on the bottom of tank to get it to come out of the hose hooked up to the drain valve.

  5. After a few minutes of this go to the furthest away fixture from the water heater and open the hot water to allow air into the line which will greatly help the process of flushing the sediment out of the tank. At this point you should have noticed brown water coming out of the tank. Close the inlet valve one more time and allow tank to drain for another few minutes or until the water coming out of the hose looks clear.

  6. Shut the drain valve and close the handle of whatever fixture you opened. Disconnect hose and make sure inlet valve is open to allow tank to fill back up.

  7. Once tank is full again, turn heater back on at breaker, you are now done! Hope this helps.





 
 
 

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