Yuck. The water at your beach cottage or rural home may taste just terrible. On top of that your water heater may “gurgle” or make sounds and noises like its ready to take off to the moon.
What to do? For the most part it comes down to regular maintenance of your water heater by simply draining the hot water tank on a regular basis. It’s similar to maintenance with a car. Those who change their oil on a regular basis don’t seem to have any of the car maintenance problems (often associated with costly repairs) that those that do not pay as much attention to their property do. On top of that at least your car usually can be driven to the repair shop. However with plumbing and water repairs it often involves a costly plumber tradesman visit to your home or cottage. Not only do you have tradesman labor rates to deal with, but travel time for the highly paid technical expert as well. It’s not too bad if you are in living or working in a property in the city but try to get a professional to come out for the call – whether it’s a time, cost or water considerations. You can try to use the local handymen if you wish. However in dealing with cottage or vacation properties these people are often work seasonally or sporadically.
The problem in your water tank is most likely giving you the headache, noise and poor water taste and quality is most likely from mineral lime accumulations in your hot water tank. Its not the water source – or the water coming into your abode that is causing the grief, If you water kettle or coffee pot seems to accumulate mineral deposits (usually white) inside, that is a tip off that your water has a high mineral content., just waiting to be deposited in your kitchen water appliances and in this case your water heater. As well you may of noticed that when the inside of your coffee pot or tea kettle is coasted with the white mineral coating that it takes a lot longer and requires more heat to boil or simply heat up the water. The crystalline minerals cover the pots metal surface, shielding it from heat transmission and in effect becoming a heat insulator. A heat insulator is fine for saving heat and heating costs in your cottage but in this case it’s not a good idea. It takes more energy and time to heat up the kettle or coffee pot and your hot water tank as well. This translates into more electrical or gas costs , depending on the type of water tank you have , slower heat ups of the water tank requiring longer waits for hot water after showers or hot water clothes washing and ultimately less hot water and greater energy and heating costs.
Why does this occur mainly in utensils and appliances that are mainly used with heating water? The answer is it is lime buildup. Lime will emerge especially from “hard” or “harder water”. When water is hot, as in your water heater or kettle, the lime “leaches” out of the water onto your appliance and its surface. The hotter the water the more lime is deposited. Interestingly enough the hotter you set the thermostat on your water heater and the more hot water you use the greater the risk and incidence of lime mineral deposits.
What to do? The answer is fairly simple .On the bottom of your water heater will be a drain that simply opens as a faucet. Drain the water heater on a regular ongoing basis out of the drain hole. You can attach a standard garden hose to the threads on the drain outlet – it is designed for that. Alternatively if space under the draining hole and logistics allow you can fill a pail or pails with the water you release and drain off. It’s best to do this procedure on an ongoing and regular basis – once a month or bi-monthly or so. The key is a regular and ongoing maintenance schedule for your hot water tank. One word of caution – if you have an electric water heater tank, if you plan to fully drain the tank of water, it is best to return off the power to the tank. If the electrical element in the hot water tank is not immersed in water and the thermostat turns it on to heat water, a dry water heater element can be ruined and non-functional in a flash. Simply turn of the electrical power to the tank at the circuit breaker board while completing this process.
By following the simple steps of regular maintenance of your hot water heater by carefully draining the water of the hot water tank you will be rewarded with faster, more tasty hot water throughout the year with less energy costs as well to heat the water to hot.