Hot Water is puking up brown water all of a sudden. Soft Water?

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Charlie Bosco

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So many of you have followed my saga to perfect water from my well. We purchased the house about 3 years ago and the softener was hardly working at all. In the past 2 months I have gotten the water softener stable and working 100%. My hach kit turns blue as soon as I add the water to the powder. I assume that is 0gpg.

For the first time in I don't know how long I have had about 60 days so far of super soft water running through my plumbing.

I understand soft water will eventually etch its way through calcium and sediment deposits. As noticed by my shower head. The streams were partially blocked and spraying in off directions.. A few weeks after getting the softener corrected its all clear and flowing perfectly..

This brings me to the 19 year old water heater that still needs to be replaced in the next few weeks. Last night my wife ran the hot water in her tub which incidentally is about 3 feet from the water heater. It was flowing brownish water. What would cause this ALL of a SUDDEN sludge fest? Did a big chunk of sediment fall off the wall and stir the pot?

Again, I am planning to pull this crap tank very soon..
 

Reach4

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Don't know. Your thought that the soft water has released a lot of accumulated rusty crud is interesting.

How long since you had flushed your WH? https://terrylove.com/forums/index....o-flush-a-hot-water-heater.79444/#post-576623

Do you have any H2S (sulfur) smell? If so, you might consider a powered anode on your WH. I prefer Ceranode vs stubby ones. Anodes are hard to pull when new, because they overtorque. They are even harder to pull with time. Hard water is protective somewhat, but does make the WH less efficient.

If your WH does not leak, I would consider flushing, especially if the flushed material is impressive, and then goes clear, and keeping the WH.

If you do pull the WH, consider cutting the old one open to view accumulated crud.
 

Charlie Bosco

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Don't know. Your thought that the soft water has released a lot of accumulated rusty crud is interesting.

How long since you had flushed your WH? https://terrylove.com/forums/index....o-flush-a-hot-water-heater.79444/#post-576623

Do you have any H2S (sulfur) smell? If so, you might consider a powered anode on your WH. I prefer Ceranode vs stubby ones. Anodes are hard to pull when new, because they overtorque. They are even harder to pull with time. Hard water is protective somewhat, but does make the WH less efficient.

If your WH does not leak, I would consider flushing, especially if the flushed material is impressive, and then goes clear, and keeping the WH.

If you do pull the WH, consider cutting the old one open to view accumulated crud.

Its never been flushed because I could never get a hose to attach to the drain.. the threads were buggied up. As I mentioned the unit it 19 years old and No smell from it at all by the way. Its going to be fun draining it I am probably going to need to snake some irrigation tubing into the cold inlet and siphon out the water.

Gonna put that old dog out of its misery.. I am heading out now to get a replacement unit.
 

WorthFlorida

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19 years old, do as you want, replace it. Yes the bottom is full of crud and the fast moving water churned things up. The cold water inlet goes down to the bottom of the tank. Some water heaters it's a straight pipe and others is curve to cause the water to swirl thus reducing sediments from settling.
 

Jadnashua

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It could be crud stirred up, or it could be rust. The mineral deposits might have been acting like plugs, and with the soft water are now dissolving, exposing what's underneath.

WH tend to last longer with a well since they don't have added chemicals (or at least you hope not!) that can add to the corrosiveness of the water. They generally come with a 6-year or so warranty for a reason...manufacturers don't want to build them too well, and don't want to pay out for warranty claims, so anything beyond the original warranty is a bonus for you.
 

Water Pro

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Its never been flushed because I could never get a hose to attach to the drain.. the threads were buggied up. As I mentioned the unit it 19 years old and No smell from it at all by the way. Its going to be fun draining it I am probably going to need to snake some irrigation tubing into the cold inlet and siphon out the water.

Gonna put that old dog out of its misery.. I am heading out now to get a replacement unit.
At 18 yrs, sounds like a new tank is in order. Do you have a water hookup in the basement. you could try blowing out your house lines (cold side). this will essentially push the water out of the tank. make sure you bypass the treatment tanks first.
 

Charlie Bosco

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At 18 yrs, sounds like a new tank is in order. Do you have a water hookup in the basement. you could try blowing out your house lines (cold side). this will essentially push the water out of the tank. make sure you bypass the treatment tanks first.
All replaced. I decided to go with a 40 gallon just 2 of us. Got lucky and was able to drain the old one. My pipes looked horrible inside. The years of basically untreated well water had a ton of black sandstone like buildup on the walls. I finally have the softener working great so I hope the soft water starts cleaning up my pipes. I'll have check my aerators a lot. At least we enjoyed nice clean hot water this evening.
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Reach4

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I finally have the softener working great so I hope the soft water starts cleaning up my pipes.
You forgot the output pipe for the T&P valve.

If your drain doesn't work well at some point, consider Rheem AP12231C-1
It is longish.
 

Charlie Bosco

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I was in a hurry to get the heater replaced and forgot to get the parts for the Pressure Relief valve.. Going to add that today..
Also since its much easier now to pull the water heater with the threaded Sharkbite hoses I wont think twice about replacing this cheap water heater. I paid $329.. At that price and how easy it will be to remove it.. I'll dump it rather than fight with it.

On another note.. WTF is up with all the damn stickers that were on it.. Jeeze this thing looks like it was getting ready for a NASCAR race.. I had to peel at least 6 stickers off it and then WD40 to get rid if the remaining glue..
 
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