When was the last time you flushed your hot water heater?
Many of us tend to forget about little things that seem like boring maintenance, but so many of those boring maintenance things are so very important. Last week we flushed our hot water heater. In fact we keep our maintenance schedule on google calendar so every 3 months google reminds us.
Flushing the Hot Water heater is helpful and the degree of build up is mostly determined by the water that you are hooked up to. Even very good water still has hard chemicals that can build up.
To flush your Hot Water Heater first make sure your gas and electric switches are in the off position. (We usually turn or heater off hours before so it is cool) or you can run you kitchen faucet until it runs cool. Turn off the water supply at the city water hook up post.
There is a slight difference between the Attwood Hot Water Heater and the Suburban. Attwood generally have a plastic drain plug, the Suburban has a metal plug with and anod rod. If you have a metal plug you should purchase a replacement rod before begging this procedure.
Now remove the plug with a wrench and open the overflow valve on top to allow the water to drain out. Once all the water is out, turn on the city water and allow it to flow through the hot water heater for 4-5 mins. At this point you may start to see small particles coming out, this normal.
Calcium
What make a big difference in removing build up is using a wand available at most RV stores.
Hot Water Heater Wand
Turning this every direction inside the tank will remove allot of build up better then just the water flush.
After the water starts to come out pretty clear, you can shut all the water off again and plug the hot water heater. Most the time when we flush ours, we tend to get the igniter and other electronics wet. Thus the heater will not work for a while. Most the time we end up taking a hair dryer to it before it will light again no matter how careful we are.
There is also videos available on youtube about flushing your tank if you still want help, try looking those up and enjoy the RV life.
One last note, before doing any maintenance like this on your rig, if you are currently staying in your rig; you may not want to start anything on Friday afternoon or Saturday if there is any chance parts will be needed. Since most RV stores are scarcely open on the weekends.
