Removing sediment from a water heater
 

While insulating the water pipes, I took some time to crack the drain on the water heater and get some gunk out of the bottom of the tank. There wasn't much in it, and I am a bit surprised about that. I doubt this has been done to the heater ever. Perhaps I didn't do it right? All I did was drain some water from the bottom. Are you supposed to drain it all the way, then let the cold water splash in and blast the bottom a bit? That does seem like a better way, but it also drains all my hot water.

Daox, Water heaters may collect sediment in bottom of tank, if sediment doesn't harden then draining should be sufficient. When sediment hardens it creates a insulation barrier to the heat source and creates ineffiency. When you decide that a hardening is present and want to clean it, you may have to use chemicals to breakdown the sediment and flush. Continued accumulation of hardened sediment can damage the glass lining and lead to rust out.

If you have a water softener inline before the heater the soft water will dissolve the sediment and eventually clean it all out. Might take a while, though.

The directions for my water heater say to shut off the power supply, turn off the water, then drain the tank and turn the water back on and let it run through the heater for a few minutes. When the water runs clear you're done. Close the drain, open a hot water faucet in the house to let the air out (you can't leave the element exposed to air or it will burn out), then turn the power supply back on.

My water heater claims to have some kind of circulating design that prevents sediment build-up. My father-in-law told me never to use that drain except when removing water in preparation for replacing the heater. He said that if any crud gets lodged in the drain, you end up with a permanent leak. (Mine, however, is threaded, so if it were to leak, I could always cap it.)

I do have a water softener before the heater. So, I think I'll take Patrick's advise and completely drain it. Thanks.

I have noticed a tiny and slow leak out of the valve now. I'll have to see if I can get a cap for it. I think I can.

I took a shower, set the hot water heater to "vacation", waited 40 hours, then drained the tank. The water was lukewarm, so I didn't waste too much energy. I actually didn't get any sediment out, so either there was none, or I didn't drain it fully. Maybe I'll try again.

When I was done, I closed the drain valve, and it was dripping. Probably had some sediment in the valve seat. So I opened it and closed it a few times, and now it seals just fine.

My tank's relief valve (on the top) says to work it once a year, so I did that too.

The threads accommodate a garden hose.

They say you should drain it once a month, I only do it every 2-3 months but I always get a bucket of light brown water, nothing to bad but there is some crud in there.
I put a garden hose cap with a gasket on mine to stop the drips as well.

Well, I did this tonight. I don't know how long its been since this was done, but wow... I thought it was going to be a relatively quick drain, wash and fill back up. No, not even close. I've been at it for about 2 hours now. I don't even have any idea how many gallons of water I've gone through trying to clean it out...

This was my 3rd or so bucket out of the heater.
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Here are the first four buckets out from left to right.
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After a while, I got smart and just grabbed the hose.
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I finally got the water running pretty clear, so I unplugged the valve and filled it back up. Then, I had problems with the pressure relief valve leaking (and the drain of course). Got those fixed and opened up the faucet downstairs on the utility sink only to notice that the water was still cloudy red. So, as I type right now, that is just going going going. I'll definitely be doing this more often in the future as this was just ridiculous. Hopefully, I should see a good decrease in gas usage to my hot water though!

Finally got the water running clear. Fired the heater back up. Phew...

Now, I can get a cap for the drain valve. However, my pressure relief valve is still dripping a little. Is there any way to fix that? Perhaps remove and clean the valve? I'm not incredibly liking the idea of replacing it considering the age of the heater (13 years).

Wow. Don't drink your hot water unless you have iron poor blood. :-)

You can try opening the relief valve a few more times to try to dislodge anything that might be stuck in it. If that doesn't cure it, you probably will have to replace the valve. At 13 years old your heater is on borrowed time anyway. Have you replaced the anode rod?