Water Heater Repair & Maintenance Tips #2

ByCurtis McQuinn
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Today’s post is our second tip for water heater repair and maintenance. If you missed the first tip, take a look at our post from yesterday.

Remember — the Sonora plumbers at Optimized Plumbing & Piping can service your plumbing or  water heater needs for you, OR you can follow these tips yourself.

Please note: These tips are unnecessary for tankless water heaters.

Water Heater Maintenance Tips – Tip #2

  • The next thing that a Sonora plumber would do is an anode rod inspection. The anode rod in your water heater is a sacrificial metal that is eaten away instead of your water heater tank. They should be inspected and probably replaced within 6 years of installation. Every storage tank water heater has at least one anode rod, but finding it can be difficult because they are seldom in the same spot.
  • Once you find the anode rod and remove it, you should inspect it. The length should be enough to nearly reach the bottom of the water heater. If it crumbles or has parts of it eaten away, it’s time for a new one.
  • If the anode is down to bare wire, there is probably damage to the inside of your water heater, and you may want to invest in a water heater installation instead of a repair.
  • Another thing to consider when scheduling maintenance is whether or not you have a water softener.  Softening is done by exchanging salt for calcium carbonate. The salt is more corrosive to the anode rod and doubles or triples it’s consumption.  Frequent anode inspection is crucial for softened water. Inspection periods should be every 1-2 years.

The maintenance tips described the last 2 days can make a huge difference in doubling the life span of your water heater.

For water heater repair and maintenance or water heaters, tankless water heaters and high efficiency water heaters installation, call Sonora’s expert plumbers at Optimized Plumbing & Piping  — 209-743-9821.

Our Sonora plumbers service the following locations in Tuolumne County and Calaveras County :

Sonora, Copperopolis, Jamestown, Groveland, Twain Harte, Mi Wuk, Angels Camp, Murphys, Arnold, San Andreas, Jackson , Oakdale , Riverbank, Merced , Modesto.