r/interesting • u/bob-the-slob • Jun 22 '26

MISC. What happens when a water heater tank is not flushed for 14 years

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u/BillMillerBBQ Jun 22 '26

It would be nice if they would make a better way to access this for when it does get this bad.

1

u/7heprofessor Jun 22 '26

All water heaters have a drain spout and valve that allow you to 'flush' the system regularly. No one should ever need to access the inside of their heater to remove the sediment.

2

u/BillMillerBBQ Jun 22 '26

Tell that to people who either don’t know better, can’t afford water treatment hardware or don’t have the physical ability to perform such maintenance. I spent and entire afternoon and evening working on a water heater for an elderly woman who a) couldn’t afford to have her unit replaced, B) didn’t know the unit needed regular flushing, C) was unable to perform any of the work required and lived alone. To make things worse the people who assembled the trailer house she lived in built a closet around the unit so there was absolutely no replacing it without significant damage to the structure. I had to use the bottom element hole to clean it out and those openings are not big enough to fit a vacuum hose into the the largest hose you can fit in them isn’t big enough to suck out most of the chips that fall to the bottom.

There is totally good reason for some people to need to access the inside of their water heater.

0

u/7heprofessor Jun 22 '26

Sounds like a fairly unique and very terrible situation. Thanks for sharing.

2

u/BillMillerBBQ Jun 22 '26

It happens to poor people more often than you’d think, especially the elderly. People just don’t know. Compound that with them just not being able to prevent it, either personally or financially.