As a business offering residential, commercial and new construction plumbing services, water heaters are certainly in our everyday vocabulary. No matter if it be comparing the differences between storage tank water heaters and tankless options, evaluating the various safety components associated with water heaters or anything else, the water heater is one of many plumbing items that you want to have properly working on a consistent basis.
Considering a water heater installation is a decent-sized investment, I think everyone would like to get as many years of use as possible out of their water heater. In other words, it’s not something that you want to get in the habit of replacing. For one, it can quickly become quite expensive, but also it could become extremely frustrating to constantly be dealing with hot water issues! As such, it should come as no surprise that maintenance is very important to keeping everything running like normal, especially with your water heater!
Fortunately, water heaters don’t require a ton of maintenance throughout the year, but that doesn’t mean they require no maintenance at all. Assuming you have a water heater that’s been installed by an experienced plumbing professional and made by a quality manufacturer, you’ll be in great shape to start though. Nonetheless, one of the most important tasks that every homeowner and facility manager should remember to complete is a flush. In this week’s blog post, we’ll discuss why this is such an important task!
Why is it so important to flush your water heater?
With a storage tank water heater, you can typically expect to get 12-15 years out of a unit. On the other hand, with tankless water heaters, you can easily get 20-plus years. These are simply estimations though and if you don’t perform the recommended maintenance, you can easily end up needing a replacement sooner than expected. So…as we referenced above, one of the more critical maintenance tasks worth completing is a flush.
Luckily, the process of flushing a water heater is a fairly straightforward process. With that being the case, if you choose to hire a local plumber to flush the heater, it won’t cost very much. On the other hand, if you choose to complete it yourself and have an understanding of the process, it shouldn’t be very time consuming either. In any case, a major reason why flushing your water heater is so important is simply due to the fact that Kansas City is home to hard water. In previous blog posts, we’ve touched on some of the various downsides associated with hard water. Think of things like the cloudiness look on your dishes and dry hair as prime examples.
How does this impact your water heater, in particular? Well…thanks to hard water, over time you’ll gradually experience mineral build-up inside the water heater, which will force it to work harder to perform its normal functions. This increased pressure will inevitably result in greater amounts of wear and tear, thus leading to your water heater breaking down earlier than expected. By flushing your water heater, you can clear out this sediment buildup and keep your water heater operating at an optimal condition.
How often should you flush your water heater?
Now that you know that a water heater flush is a worthwhile maintenance task to complete, you might wonder how often you actually need to do it. A good rule of thumb that we often share with customers is to flush your water heater at least on an annual basis. Does that mean there is any harm in flushing it more frequently? Not at all! At the end of the day, what you’re doing is simply clearing out that sediment build-up, so flushing the heater is a good thing. One of the more prevalent reasons as to why someone may opt to flush their water heater more frequently than once a year is based on the hardness level of their water. If you have harder water, there is more mineral build-up. As simple as that!
Do tankless water heaters also need to be flushed?
If you’ve checked out any of our previous blog posts, you may have seen “tankless water heaters” mentioned on a few occasions. Even though storage tank water heaters continue to be the most common water heating option for homeowners, there’s no denying that tankless water heaters have been growing in popularity. Albeit coming at a higher initial installation cost, they present a number of advantages and can even save you money in the long run thanks to their increased operating efficiency. Nonetheless, maintenance is just as important with tankless water heaters as it is with storage tank units. With that being said, the answer to the question listed in the heading of this section is YES! Particularly in areas with higher levels of hard water, tankless water heaters are just as susceptible to mineral buildup. As such, cleaning and flushing them is certainly a worthwhile task!
DIY or Hire a Pro?
A common question many homeowners may ask themselves is whether a particular home improvement project could be turned into a DIY job or if it’s best to hire a professional to complete the work. When it comes to flushing a water heater, this question is going to be dependent on the homeowner. For some, this is the type of job that you could do some research on and complete over the weekend. On the other hand, if you’re worried about missing a step or simply want to have an experienced plumbing technician complete the flush, it’s a task that can easily be taken care of with a short service call.
While on the topic of DIY plumbing jobs, I did want to mention that we always encourage homeowners to leave the more complex projects up to a licensed plumber. For one, they’ll possess the experience necessary to complete the job correctly the first time, which is a definite plus. In addition, as you can likely imagine, having the correct equipment and tools can go a long way in ensuring a successful plumbing project as well! Not to mention, when you hire a plumber to complete a maintenance task like flushing your water heater, this would also be the perfect time to ask them any other questions you may have. Even if it’s something as simple as learning the signs of a failing water heater or knowing what to look out for, this knowledge can potentially be extremely beneficial for the future.
Call the Water Heater Experts at Stine-Nichols Plumbing!
From installing new water heaters to repairing existing ones and providing routine maintenance, water heaters are something that our plumbers work with on a weekly basis. As evidenced throughout this blog post, maintenance is an extremely important factor when it comes to getting the maximum number of years out of your water heater. To take it one step further, one of the most effective maintenance tasks you can complete on a regular basis is a water heater flush! We hope you found some value in this week’s blog post and will add flushing your water heater to your to-do list moving forward!
Do you live in or near the Kansas City area and need your water heater flushed? If so, we would be happy to have one of our plumbing technicians stop by and complete this for you on a service call! To schedule an appointment, feel free to give us a call at (816) 348-3481 or fill out the form HERE.