With some easy, routine care you can help your water heater last longer. Get some useful tips and tricks with this Water Heater 101.
Water heaters often work perfectly for a decade or more without any care, so they’re easy to neglect. But, there are several easy and inexpensive ways to increase a water heaters efficiency and lifespan. Some things only need to be done once, while others need to be done each year. Albuquerque Plumbing, Heating, & Cooling wants you to know Water Heater 101. A couple of upgrades/additions and few minutes of maintenance can really pay off by extending the tank’s lifespan. All the while maintaining your water heaters efficiency and safety.
Once and Done
Set the Temperature: The Department of Energy recommends setting your water heater temperature to 120 degrees. This lowers its energy use and is still plenty warm for most household uses.
Add Insulation: Adding insulation reduces heat loss by up to 45 percent and can shave as much as 9 percent off water-heating costs.
Use an Expansion Tank: On a closed system installing one of these will help relieve some of the pressure from the main tank, increasing its lifespan.
Install a Second Anode Rod: If you don’t know what an anode rod is you probably don’t know why you need a second one. But trust us, this is the thing that helps your water heater avoid corrosion. More on this in the next section, because you only have to install it once but they will need to be checked each year.
Many of these things can be done on your own, but if you want or need help just give us a call.
Each Year
Check Anode Rod: This piece is made of different types of metal and sort of sacrifices itself to save the rest of the water tank. They need to be checked each year and replaced when worn down. If the anode rod is not being “eaten” by rust, that means the rest of the tank is.
Flush/Clean Tank: Sediments will build up in the water tank over the course of the year. Flushing the debris will improve the efficiency and longevity of your water heater.
Both of these things are included in our Plumbing Residential Service Agreement.