Mihomeowner
Member
Due to an issue with my water softener, I had hard water sitting in my toilets and hot water heater for a couple months.
I finally realized what was happening and fixed the water softener. The toilets had a brown sludge like build up in the tanks that left the clean toilet water looking yellowish. I was able to wipe it off the tanks pretty easily.
The same sludge (sorry don't know a better word for it) exists on the inside of my water heater. I've flushed it 3 times and drained it. The water still looks yellow when I fill up a bath. I took the t/p relief valve off and stuck my finger in and wiped the inside wall of the heater and the sludge is still there. Stuck my bore scope in and anywhere that it touched left a mark in the sludge.
So there is a build up in there. I think it is primarily from my issue with the water softener. Before that, everything worked normally.
I guess my options are attack with chemicals or replace? If there was a way to wipe down the inside of the heater with a paper towel (that is all it took for the toilets), it would work. But there is no way. Chemicals seem like it would take forever. Unless there is some miracle iron-out product I don't know about?
The tank is 12 years old so I know it's coming to the end of it's life... but it's a bradford white so I thought it could get a few more years (and probably could).
Any thoughts?
I finally realized what was happening and fixed the water softener. The toilets had a brown sludge like build up in the tanks that left the clean toilet water looking yellowish. I was able to wipe it off the tanks pretty easily.
The same sludge (sorry don't know a better word for it) exists on the inside of my water heater. I've flushed it 3 times and drained it. The water still looks yellow when I fill up a bath. I took the t/p relief valve off and stuck my finger in and wiped the inside wall of the heater and the sludge is still there. Stuck my bore scope in and anywhere that it touched left a mark in the sludge.
So there is a build up in there. I think it is primarily from my issue with the water softener. Before that, everything worked normally.
I guess my options are attack with chemicals or replace? If there was a way to wipe down the inside of the heater with a paper towel (that is all it took for the toilets), it would work. But there is no way. Chemicals seem like it would take forever. Unless there is some miracle iron-out product I don't know about?
The tank is 12 years old so I know it's coming to the end of it's life... but it's a bradford white so I thought it could get a few more years (and probably could).
Any thoughts?