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Did you know that water heaters are supposed to be drained once a year? This was a fact, I, a homeowner of 20 years, learned very recently.
A thread.
A thread.
So, we went to attach the garden hose to the bottom of the heater - yes, I never questioned why there was a spigot there. And nothing came out. Apparently due to the 20 years of sediment building at the bottom of the tank.
The water heater, as you may have noted, is now 22 years old. It should have a lifetime of 15 years, if properly maintained. We suspect one of the heating elements has died.
Florida, being predominately limestone, is hard on plumbing. The sediment is corrosive to metal, so there's essentially 20 YEARS worth of acid like a ticking time bomb at the bottom of the tank.
I turn off the power, and we spend the better part of a day attempting to empty the 40 gallon tank. The tiniest of lukewarm trickles comes out, for hours.
As we wrap up the evening, the kids start to make dinner. "Dad," call my son. "The oven is not on." That seems odd.
I go back to the breaker panel. The breaker labeled water heater is turned off. The one marked stove is on.
I turn back on the water heater, and sure enough, the oven comes back on. It looks like the panel was mislabeled by our builder. And I didn't think to check if the power was indeed off.
After watching umpteen YouTube videos, we come up with a new plan. One that involves tubing, and a heating element wrench. AND A VOLTAGE METER.
We disassembled the bottom spigot and used a hose and dry vac to start to suction out sediment. It was laborious, but in five hours we managed to drain the entire water heater.
And then we go to remove the heating element from the tank, and it's stuck. Like, really stuck.
WD-40. The heating element wrench. One broken screwdriver. A 1 1/2 inch socket with a breakout bar. The element did not move, but the water heater did.
And so, we've come full circle. A tremendous learning curve to come all the way back to "we need a new water heater."
Remember to drain your heater once a year. Don't take for granted people did the right thing the first time around. Not all tools in the world work the way they are intended - in fact, most don't. Take the time to watch and learn from others who did before you. Ask for help.
I'm sure this is as applicable to beans and can openers as it is for houses.