I have a 50-gallon water heater that is 19 years old. As a previous post mentioned, the heating burner is on the bottom, and any build up inside can affect the heating process. After about 10 years, I started hearing a rumbling noise soon after the burner turned on.
I decided to drain the tank and, in the process, replace the drain valve. The previous valve did not allow for quick drainage. Replaced it with a brass Ball Valve.
What I found in draining was a layer of a milky white slurry at the bottom most portion of the tank. That was what was causing the rumbling sound. This slurry almost looked like a thin oat mill and was likely a calcium slurry.
In any event, the water heater worked without the rumbling after that.
While a previous poster stated you wouldn't have an operational problem with an electric water heater, I would suggest that same slurry would be in the tank. I can recall having an electric water heating elements in the past that had two heating elements, one at the bottom and one much higher. The bottom one failed. I would presume that electric water heaters accumulate a similar slurry. Even though that slurry accumulates in the bottom, it likely gets agitated and floats about and finds its way to your spigot.
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