Be Careful Cleaning Your Water Heater

You should always be careful when ever you clean out your water heater tanks. I would like to share some home maintenance tips with you that could save you a lot of money. If you're planning on cleaning out your water heater, to remove calcium deposits, it's time to start paying attention and to put your thinking caps on.

It was about 20 years ago, and I had just purchased my first home. I was a young general contractor on a mission to maintain the house that I was living in. We bought the house from the government and it had been sitting vacant for a few months as all of the local skateboarders used the swimming pool as a community skateboard facility.

This should give you, a pretty good idea what the condition was of the house. Knowing what I knew, I decided to clean out the water heater tank, even though there wasn't anything wrong with the water heater. This is where you need to pay attention, especially if you're a do-it-yourselfer, who's looking for a few home maintenance tips.

I hooked the garden hose up to the water heater drain valve, but when I went to turn the drain valve on, it wouldn't budge. I noticed that there was a little bit of corrosion around the water heater drain valve and this was a good sign, that the inside of the water heater could be damaged also.

I got some channel locks and proceeded to turn the drainage valve on, only to find out that I had just broken off the handle. I looked at that drain valve and it was something that I could replace with an ordinary hose bit. This is where things get a little more interesting. When I went to remove the water heater drain valve it was corroded enough to break it into small pieces, with out removing it from the water heater tank.

By the time I had assessed the damage that I had done to the water heater and the water heater drainage valve, it was time to go purchase another water heater. I purchased another water heater and installed it, but I needed to know how bad the old water heater was damaged.

I took a saw and cut the water heater in half, only to find out that the inside of the water heater tank was clean and there wasn't any calcium deposits for lime damage. I had just wasted an entire day and spent around $200 for a new water heater and it just didn't make sense.

The moral to this story is, “If it isn't broke, don't try to fix it.” If you have a water heater drainage valve that won't turn, don't force it to open. If you do, you could find yourself in the same situation that I was in 20 years ago.