Water Heater Maintenance

[doc holiday13]

I've got very calcium heavy water. I use a water softener but still get fixture buildup. I did a draindown on my heater last week week to pull the sacrificial rod and replace if necessary. COVERED in calcium buildup. So I dumped 2 gallons of 30% industrial vinegar into my 50 gallon heater tank and let it sit for 2 days. Any plumbers think this was sufficient time to descale the heater tank? I ran out the water last night and it was super fizzy and definitely had a vinegar smell but not strong enough to act like smelling salts.

 

[Huntindog45]

ive gone down the rabbit hole of trying to fix a water heater before.... i fought it like i was Tyson... eventually just had to replace it. It just seems once shit starts to go wrong with a water heater the problems just seem to keep stacking up.

 

[pirogue]

Do you have the salt free type softener, or different

 

[S-3 ranch]

I’m in hard water country myself
And a yearly flush and check the element is my way of trying to keep a buildup
If you do replace, try to stay away from the big box stores, somehow the Chinese build them different, there’s a couple of good YouTube videos on that subject

 

[doc holiday13]

ive gone down the rabbit hole of trying to fix a water heater before.... i fought it like i was Tyson... eventually just had to replace it. It just seems once shit starts to go wrong with a water heater the problems just seem to keep stacking up.

Water heater is ~5 years old. This is my 2nd time doing a flush. The first time I think i only let the vinegar set for 5 hours. I also used less vinegar. I don't have any issues ATM but I am curious how much time this is buying me. I figured having a solid 54 hours of soaking that much vinegar would be good

Do you have the salt free type softener, or different

Salt type. During the winter I burn off 5 gallons of water every 2 days with a pot of water on top of my wood stove. The softener helps A LOT I've pulled water directly from a spigot i have that is before the softener and generally I'll have scale in 4 days. Using water from a spigot after the softener, I won't have much scale after 20 days of boiling, Water heater(55 gallon) probably heats up 2-3x a day so its processing A LOT more water even though its post softener