Water – the proper way to clean a water heater

maintenancewater-heater

I have heard many times that it is good to clean your water heater about once a year by flushing it. I went to look online to find the proper way to do so and found many people recommending different things for how to clean it.

  • Turn off the water supply and drain the heater completely
  • Turn off the water supply and drain the heater by just a couple gallons, then turn the water on and off a few times to try to stir up anything at the bottom to let it drain
  • Leave the water supply on and run water out of the heater until it clears up

Most of the posts I found recommended the last option, so I decided to go this path. What I found was that all of the water coming out of the hose wasn't very warm (as in it was coming almost directly from the cold water supply) and it seemed to be very clear.

Did I do it right? What is the proper way? As a note, I have a gas water heater that is about 4 years old.

Best Answer

Not sure there's a right way, just people with different preferences. Here's what I think is important:

  • You need water entering the tank from the cold side, so it should be open for most of the process. The cold line goes to the bottom of the tank, which is where the sediment will be. I personally turn my supply off when first opening my drain in case that valve malfunctions, but I've got a pretty cheap drain valve.
  • You want as much pressure going through the cold input to kick up the sediment, so try to leave all the valves open as much as possible. If your drain is a little slow, then opening and closing the cold shutoff might be a good way to get more sediment stirred up.
  • Monitor the discharge. On my next cleaning, I plan to run the hose into the utility sink next to the hot water heater so I can watch the result. Without doing this, you're missing a key piece of data to know when you can stop. I'd run 5 or so gallons after you see it start to run clear.
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