I was told that the blue stuff could be the dip tube and the white stuff could be the anode rod sacrificing itself. 2wax had input as did AO Smith customer service.
Water heater not draining
- Thread starter Joe Landau
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Joe Landau
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That worked, of course. Thanks.
pasadena_commut
Well-Known Member
Reviving this thread to explore the concept of "power flushing" which was mentioned in one of the posts. I recently ran into that idea elsewhere too. Does it actually work though? Consider a typical gas water heater, with a straight dip tube for the cold water inlet about 45 degrees offset from the tank drain. (Think radial coordinates from High School geometry and ignore the radius term.) There will be some turbulence near the outlet, and some near the inlet, but remember, these are quite close together within the tank. The other 315 degrees of the bottom of the tank is going to see little to no agitation. So would this method really successfully remove sediment from those other areas of the tank?
I know from gravity drain flushes, followed by scoping the inside of the tank through the hole left by removing the pressure release valve, that it is perfectly possible, when a substantial amount of sediment is present, that blasting the water from the cold inlet may only clear those interior 45 degrees plus a little bit more. To solve that problem the last time I flushed I had to use a long piece of PEX inserted through that top hole to blast water supplied by a second garden hose in various directions within the tank.
The one thing where I believe "power flushing" definitely would help is when there is a long run of garden hose over a minimal slope to the drain point. In our house the water heater is in the center in a closet (unfortunately surrounded by wood floor), and it is a long way to the curb, with only a slight elevation drop. So when gravity draining, which has a slow flow, the sediment will sometimes drop out and fill the hose at locations where a slight dip occurs. I wouldn't expect that from a power flush, since the water would be moving much faster and have enough force to keep the sediment moving.
If the tank was emptied of all but the last 10% or so of water, then pressurized to around 70 psi with air (that is, 10 psi less than whatever the inlet pressure is, here assumed 80 psi), and then the cold water inlet was turned on I suspect that a pretty good flush would result. The incoming water could splash to reach other parts of the tank (aim a garden hose into a bucket at full power, it will splash all over the place), while the high pressure would keep the sediment moving in the hose. I don't have the equipment to do this myself though, and I would be worried about screwing up the air pressure and damaging the tank. It would also be tricky keeping just enough water in the tank that the water would be shallow enough to be easily stirred up by the splashing, but not so shallow that the air would have direct access to the drain. Because if that pressurized air did reach the drain it would probably just all blow out rapidly through the hose. The rapid release might resemble a whale exhaling, except sideways!
I know from gravity drain flushes, followed by scoping the inside of the tank through the hole left by removing the pressure release valve, that it is perfectly possible, when a substantial amount of sediment is present, that blasting the water from the cold inlet may only clear those interior 45 degrees plus a little bit more. To solve that problem the last time I flushed I had to use a long piece of PEX inserted through that top hole to blast water supplied by a second garden hose in various directions within the tank.
The one thing where I believe "power flushing" definitely would help is when there is a long run of garden hose over a minimal slope to the drain point. In our house the water heater is in the center in a closet (unfortunately surrounded by wood floor), and it is a long way to the curb, with only a slight elevation drop. So when gravity draining, which has a slow flow, the sediment will sometimes drop out and fill the hose at locations where a slight dip occurs. I wouldn't expect that from a power flush, since the water would be moving much faster and have enough force to keep the sediment moving.
If the tank was emptied of all but the last 10% or so of water, then pressurized to around 70 psi with air (that is, 10 psi less than whatever the inlet pressure is, here assumed 80 psi), and then the cold water inlet was turned on I suspect that a pretty good flush would result. The incoming water could splash to reach other parts of the tank (aim a garden hose into a bucket at full power, it will splash all over the place), while the high pressure would keep the sediment moving in the hose. I don't have the equipment to do this myself though, and I would be worried about screwing up the air pressure and damaging the tank. It would also be tricky keeping just enough water in the tank that the water would be shallow enough to be easily stirred up by the splashing, but not so shallow that the air would have direct access to the drain. Because if that pressurized air did reach the drain it would probably just all blow out rapidly through the hose. The rapid release might resemble a whale exhaling, except sideways!
