For appliances to serve their owners faithfully and for as long as possible, they must be serviced. Some devices require regular technical diagnostics, while others need cleaning. The main thing is to do what needs to be done correctly and on time.
Of course, all of the above also applies to water heaters. In order for the water heater to last a long time and not have to be replaced with a new model after only a couple of years of operation, it is necessary to clean the tank where water is drawn, the heating element, and, if necessary, replace the magnesium anode.
If prevention is always carried out on time, it will be more financially beneficial than repairing a broken water heater or buying new equipment. So, how often should you clean your water heater?
Why is it necessary to clean the tank and heating element?
A water heater is a large container in which water is heated. Many people probably know from a kettle that in those containers that are always used for heating liquid, scale appears on the surfaces over time.
The rate of appearance of unwanted formations is influenced by the level of hardness and quality of the water that is usually used. Thus, the harder the water, the more scale forms on the walls during heating. Scale is a common sediment that is a normal product of the decomposition of calcium and magnesium salts.
In an ordinary kettle that will boil tap water for a month without prior cleaning, scale will cover all internal surfaces.
It is clear that in a water heater that heats tap water almost constantly, a lot of scale forms in just a year, which negatively affects its further operation.
If the scale is not cleaned periodically, it will accumulate more and more. Eventually, it will reach the heating element and create a heat insulator around it, as a result of which the water will stop heating. Therefore, the water heater starts to heat itself instead of water and simply burns out.
How often should you clean your water heater
If the water heater is used daily, then its prevention, cleaning, and replacement of the anode should be carried out once every 1-2 years. This is enough to remove the accumulated sediment and scale from the tank walls and around the heating element, so that the device works like new again.
By the way, cleaning is also necessary to save money. The fact is that the more scale accumulates inside the water heater, the more difficult it is for it to heat water, which means it heats for a little longer and, accordingly, uses more electricity.
You can read about self-cleaning the water heater at home in the article: How to clean a water heater (boiler) from scale at home.
