Talk of The Villages Florida - View Single Post - 40 Gallon Electric Water Heater
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Old 06-15-2025, 03:39 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by retiredguy123 View Post
You can drain the water heater, but you cannot actually "flush" it because the drain valve is way too small to get any flushing action. The Rheem manual doesn't recommend ever draining or flushing the entire tank. Opening the drain valve can cause the valve to start leaking because of lime deposits that accumulate in the valve. Personally, I don't think you will remove much of the sediment by draining the tank.
Well, the tank I replaced yesterday was never drained and was not leaking Yet. The anode rod was original. Twelve years on a basic water heater is pretty darn good. The new tank is about the same as the original. The plumber did an excellent job as well. Nice and neat work and took the old tank away.