The experts at Outstanding Plumbing perform routine water heater maintenance and inspection for safety and efficiency. One of the many services included in these maintenance checks is a water heater system flush.
Flushing your water heater clears out the sediment that builds up in your pipes and causes your plumbing to lose efficiency and risk obstruction. It’s a fairly simple procedure, but it’s absolutely critical to the health of your unit. Your water heater should be flushed once a year.
You can flush your water heater on your own! Watch the instructional video or read the transcript below to learn how.
Here are the steps to flush your water heater:
- Turn the thermostat to the “vacation” setting.
- Shut off the cold water supply valve.
(NOTE: If you aren’t sure which valve is the cold water supply, look on the top of the water heater. There should be a stamp on the device telling you which is which.) - Connect a garden hose to the drain (shown in video).
- Open a hot water faucet in the house — any sink faucet will do.
- Place the other end of the hose in a floor drain.
- Open the valve and let all the water drain out.
- One word of warning: if your water heater is older, the drain valve may be rusty or broken, which will make it difficult to fully seal. Before you perform a water heater flush, make sure that the drain valve can be tightly and properly sealed.
If you’d like a complete inspection performed on your water heater, call the plumbing specialists at Outstanding! We can service your water heater with a complete inspection, flush, and system test — no matter how old your device, Outstanding can help!