Why You Should Flush Your Water Heater (and How Often)

Ask most homeowners when they last flushed their water heater and you'll get a blank look. It's the most skipped maintenance item in the house — and with Central Texas hard water, it's one of the most important.

What's happening inside the tank

Our water carries dissolved minerals. Every time the heater runs, some of those minerals settle out and collect at the bottom of the tank as sediment. Left alone, that layer thickens and hardens.

Why sediment is a problem

• It insulates the water from the heat source, so the unit works harder and uses more energy
• It overheats the bottom of the tank, which stresses the metal and the glass lining
• It causes the rumbling and popping sounds many homeowners hear
• Over time, it shortens the life of the water heater

How often to flush

In a hard-water area like ours, once a year is a good rule of thumb for a conventional tank. If your home has a water softener, you may be able to stretch that; if your water is especially hard, more often can help.

DIY or call a pro?

Flushing a tank is within reach for a handy homeowner: shut off power or gas, connect a hose to the drain valve, and drain until the water runs clear. But if the valve is old, stuck, or the unit hasn't been flushed in years, it's easy to create a leak you didn't have before. If you'd rather not find out the hard way, we're glad to handle it — and inspect the unit while we're there.