Living in vegas I found water heaters out there last about 5 years without a water softner.
What is typical? I have been told the warranty for the water heater normally is about how long it will last.
My water heater works fine during the summer but in the winter it doesn’t get as hot as I would like. I have it set to the highest setting which leads me to think, it’s old. It is ten years old with a warranty of 10 years.
I used to live in a Texas town with notoriously hard water. Upon removal, old water heaters weighed considerably more than new ones due to heavy calcium accumulation.
I’ve written here that our heaters are 14 years old and we’ve had to crank up the heat as you have. Still looking at tankless and will get serious about it next week or two. The original water heaters lasted only 7 years before springing a leak. A plumber working on something else here told me to expect 8-10 years. As with other appliances, though, they don’t make 'em like they used to.
In Vegas, I was buying homes that had been foreclosed on. The water is so hard that when it’s vacant, it destroys the hater. Every home I had to replace the water heater.
I know in your part of the world, 5-10 years tops.
Wasn’t sure about the midwest. My mom has had her heater probably close to 30 years.
Our water softener just blew its lining and filled all the faucet aerators with a resin sand. I also noticed the water wasn’t very hot in the shower anymore. I removed the aerators and cleaned them all.
The water heater is six years old so on advice of the plumber I hooked a hose to it at the bottom and flushed it for 5 minutes. Now we have hot water again and plenty of it.
You may want to try to flush your water heater. Just hook a hose up to the bottom valve and turn it on for about 5-7 minutes. Leave the supply turned on as you want to do this under pressure.
What does that look like? That may explain something I am seeing.
I would flush mine but the valve is missing the handle.
Very small clear resin sand like beads. Look in your toilet tanks for settlement. They can also be light yellow in color.
On the water heater can you use a wrench or screw driver. Mine was just a slotted shaft no handle attached, 1/4 turn opened the valve.
In my toilet I’m seeing black sand like residue. It leaves a ring in the toilet. I can’t figure out where it’s coming from.
I do have new water softener