singforsupper

I recently discussed buying a new hot water heater since my current natural gas 40 gallon heater wasn't providing enough hot water for a 15 minute shower. The advice I was given is to flush out my hot water heater to remove sediment that could be displacing water.

I did. But it wasn't so easy. The hot water heater was made in 1987 so it's been in use a few years. The previous owner had the drain valve removed and a 3/4 in. extension pipe about 5 inches long put on and then a sleve and a plug. (all steel pipe fittings). The cover over that area no longer fit. I don't know why they did that unless they dranied in right onto the floor of the basement. BTW... after I finished the job I took my dremel and cut out a place in the cover so that it fit around the added drain pipe.

I turned off the gas, ran all of the hot water out through our tub and kitchen sink I shut off the cold water to the tank and I took out the drain plugplug with water gushing and replaced it with a boiler drain faucet. I then attached a garden hose and opened the presure release valve and it emptied. I followed a process of running a bit more cold water in to stir up sediment and draining again. I did this twice more.

HERE"S WHAT WAS CONFUSING... THE SEDIMENT WAS A BUNCH OF CLEAR JELLY/SILICON TYPE GLOBS. What kind of water would cause that to collect in the bottom of a hot water tank?

Ron The Plumber

What you found is hard water in the bottom of the tank, very common thing that takes place.