How To Flush a Water Heater

10/18/2019 (Permalink)

Unless you live in an apartment building, you almost certainly have a water heater in your Bensenville, IL, home

Unless you live in an apartment building, you almost certainly have a water heater in your Bensenville, IL, home. As part of routine home maintenance, you should flush the sediment from the tank once a year.

How To Do a Water Heater Flush

Fortunately, flushing the unit is a relatively straightforward task. The following steps will guide you through the process:

Put on work gloves to protect yourself from hot water. Locate a garden hose that will reach from the drainage spigot of the tank to an area outdoors that can withstand the hot water and sediment you will be draining.
Turn off the power to the unit. Additionally, you will want to turn off the thermostat and close the water supply valve.
Turn on the hot water in a sink and leave it running to prevent a vacuum from forming.
Connect the water hose to the drainage spigot on the tank. Then turn on the spigot and allow the water to drain until it runs clear or the tank is empty.
Turn the water supply valve back on to flush out any remaining sediment from the tank. Allow the water to drain until you do not see any sediment in the water coming from the hose.
Turn off the spigot, and disconnect the hose. Make sure the water in the faucet is running freely (indicating no excess air in the pipes).Then turn off the water that has been running in the sink. When the tank is completely full, turn the power back on to the heater and the thermostat up.
In about twenty minutes, check to make sure that you have hot water coming to the faucets in your house.

Hopefully, keeping your water heater maintained will help prevent plumbing problems. However, if you do experience residential flooding, a professional restoration company can help restore your home to its pre-flood condition.