Water Heater Background Information

  • Over 100 million water heaters are used in homes, apartment complexes today.
  • 715 water heaters are replaced every hour!
  • 8 million+ are replaced or installed on new construction yearly.
  • The average life of a water heater is 8-15 years without maintenance.
  • Documentation shows that, with maintenance, water heaters will last 20, 30, 40, years.
  • The main elements that destroy water heaters are scale, internal rusting, electrolysis, higher than normal temperature setting, external pipe leakage, and excessive water pressure.

Why is Maintenance more Important Today Than Ever Before?

Years ago, water heaters would have service life of 20+ years. There are some contributing factors:         

  1. The steel tank was made with thicker metal.
  2. The glass lining applied to the inside of the tank to protect from rusting had 2 coats instead of today’s 1 coat, due to competitive marketing.
  3. Water quality was better – less hardness and aggressiveness, and less corrosive chemicals. (chlorine, salt)
  4. They had a lower heating rating (less recovery time) creating less fatigue on the metal tank bottom.
  5. Water softeners, which speed up the corrosion rate, salt (sodium) were not in wide use.
  6. Some tanks were made of non-corrosive metals like Copper or Monel, which are not economical to manufacture or purchase in today’s competitive price market.

The price of water heaters has increased and will increase further. Why?

  1. State and local code requirements—example: City fees imposed on Contractors and inspection fees. Other requirements such as earthquake strapping protection, pans, stands, expansion tank, fire protection requirements, higher energy ratings, and faster recovery time are also contributing factors.
  2. The environmental protection agency will continue to impose stricter energy efficient regulations on water heating design. Dumping, transporting and recycling costs will increase in order to conform to environmental regulations.
  3. Professional organized plumbing and heating firms are setting the standards for skilled technicians required to install water heaters. Due to constant code changes and safety requirements, it is becoming more complicated for the average home owner or handy person to install them properly.

What’s your Water Heater doing?

The following information may help you to understand why a water heater fails, and what you can do to prolong its life up to 20 / 30 years or more.

Browning's Plumbing specializes in water heater maintenance. We can prolong the life of your investment by upgrading your system with extra anode rods, (see following pages for explanation) and a flush kit to remove sediment build up that accumulates at the bottom of your heater that damages the tanks interior glass lining.

Preventive Water Heater Maintenance

*Reduces Energy Consumption By 4 to 7 Percent
*Stops Noise *Protects The Environment

Muck-Vac is a new tool built to vacuum sediment from water heaters. Removing sediment cuts costs by lengthening tank life and reducing operating expenses. The Muck-Vac service also provides an opportunity to check the anode and replace it when needed and install a flush device. Servicing your water heater with Muck-Vac can easily double heater life. Removal of sediment, replacement of anode rod, and installation of flushing device are offered to our customers as a full service. Repeat maintenance can be set up on a contract or call basis. This service has a high degree of customer satisfaction.

Service Description:

ANODE ROD REPLACEMENT:

The anode is a rod, usually magnesium, which is suspended inside the tank from the top. It is called a sacrificial anode because its whole purpose is to corrode away, little by little, to keep the tank from rusting. Anodes do have a limited lifetime, and should be checked every 3 to 5 years in hard water areas and more often when a water softener is in use.

SELF- FLUSHING DEVICE INSTALLED

Every water heater has a straight dip tube which delivers cold water from the inlet on top of the tank to the bottom for heating. We replace this tube with one which in longer, curved at the bottom and directed to flush water around the tank bottom (see TURBO FLUSHING below). By opening the full port drain valve supplied, the sediment is swept off the bottom of the tank and flushed out, reducing buildup and extending tank life.

SEDIMENT REMOVAL BY MUCK-VAC:

Sediment can slow heat recovery, reduce energy efficiency, overheat and weaken the metal components, damage the glass lining, shorten element life, isolate the tank bottom from the anode rods protection and cause a heater to produce popping, crackling and rumbling noises. With MUCK-VAC, no chemicals, draining or moving of the water heater are required during the process.

Turbo Flushing

The water heater you see in this drawing has a specially designed dip tube that reaches the bottom of the tank with a curved end, which causes the water to swirl at the bottom as cold water flows in the tank. Standard dip tubes only extend about 24 to 30 inches into the tank and point straight down. Ours is 44 inches long and curved at the bottom.

There are 5 advantages to this TURBO FLUSH KIT design.

  1. Adds more heated hot water volume to the tank.
  2. Prevents already heated hot water from mixing with cold and diluting bottom 1/3rd  of the water that was already hot, causing a loss of energy.
  3. Because the cold water exits the tube at the bottom, it reaches the thermostat in seconds, causing it to begin heating immediately.  The shorter standard tube results in a delay while the bottom 1/3rd of the hot water gets cold enough to activate the thermostat.    
  4. Keeps sediment from accumulating and sticking to the bottom. This sediment causes a heat buildup at the bottom of the tank, which causes the glass tank lining to melt when the burner is on. THIS GLASS LINING PREVENTS WATER FROM TOUCHING THE STEEL TANK. Breaks in the surface of the glass allow water to be in direct contact with the steel, causing rust to begin, which eventually becomes a hole. The leaking water heater must then be replaced.
  5. With a valve added to the drain, it is now possible to flush out the loose sediment collected in the bottom, KEEPING BOTTOM CLEAN.

If you have questions, please feel free to contact us!