I have read a lot of the posts and think that I need to flush my tank.
At all facuets, the hot water, from our electric hot water heater, was running fine until today. Now when you turn on the hot water, it starts out with pressure and then quickly goes to a slow steady stream.
We just bought the house and the water heater says it is self cleaning. It has a label of De-Limer 7.5 on front from Mor-Flo/American.
Would flushing the tank help the problem or do I need to get a plumber out to look at it.
Thanks

Lotta

Flushing will not hurt. You may find the problem. How old is the water heater?

dherman1

Flushing definetly won't hurt. With an electric water heater, turn off the breaker before you do any thing with it.

If the heating element were to come on when there is any air space, it would quickly burn out.

For steps on how to do it, this is what I have gleamed from other posts/websites.

Unless you have a floor drain next to the water heater, connect a hose and direct it to the nearest drain. (Or outside).

Open the valve at base of the water heater fully.

Let the water run until cool.

Close the valve.

Turn on the heater and let it warm back up.

You may even need to repeat the flushing a couple of times if it has been awhile.

Also, you may want to consider replacing the cheap valve on the water heater with a full flow ball valve.

Another thing to do is to go to each faucet and remove the aerator at the tip of the spout. They may be clogged with stuff.

If either of these don't work, post back and let us know what you have done and we will try and help.

There was another post regarding low pressure where I put in a lot of trouble shooting steps. These may not all apply to your issue, but, may help in providing some quidance as to what to look for.

Good Luck, Dan

speedball1

Hey Tex,

"when you turn on the hot water, it starts out with pressure and then quickly goes to a slow steady stream."

You have just told me that you have a blockage. The line is clear and there's a strong stream untill the blockage gets sucked up into the system and cuts down on pressure and volume.
Unless your heater has a timer on the boiler drain that's set up to flush it out on a regular basis I fail to see how it could be "self cleaning".
Flushing your heater is a important part of maintaining it. Let me show you how. If you do not flush,(not drain) your heater on a regular basis it will build up mineral on the bottom of the tank and clog up the hot water system. Attach a hose to the boiler drain at the bottom of the tank. With the pressure on, open the boiler drain and let it run untill the water runs clear. You will see a spurt of red,(rust) and some white grains,(lime or calcium carbonate). The whole thing shouldn't take more then a few minutes. Don't forget to flush it out every month. Your heater will thank you for it. You might want to consider cleaning the screens on your areators if you have a high mineral buildup. If thev problem still persists after you have flushed, you will have to drain the heater, remove the boiler drain and go up in the bottom of the tank with a wood or plastic rod, (not metal) and try to break up the mineral and flush it out.
You have a serious blockage that affects the entire hot water system. If it were just one faucet that lost pressure I'd instruct you on how to clean and flush out the faucet, however all your faucets are affected. That puts the problem in the heater itself or the hot water supply line downstream from the first fixture after the heater. you're gonna need a plumber to track this down. But flushing the heater out will save you time and money on the service call.
Herman, (Dan) gave you very good advice when he advised you to change from a globe shutoff valve to a ball valve however when flushing your heater it's not necessary to turn off the breaker because there will be no air enter the tank while flushing under pressure. Draining your tank is a different story. Then you'll have to shut the power off.

good luck, Tom,

jtexas

I have read a lot of the posts and they are all very informative and also are telling me what I honestly had hoped that they would not - I probably have some sort of blockage with the hot water heater.

I tried to find the manufacturer of the tank to see how old it might be, but they are either out of business or were bought by someone prior to companies having web sites. I also wanted to find out what the meaning of 'self-cleaning' was.

I will try the flushing, but my gut is saying 'better save for a new tank'.

Thanks for the advice - much appreciated!

dherman1

As always, Tom is right in that it is normally not necessary to turn off the breaker.

However, Water and Electricity always scare the bejeebers out of me. So, my feeling it that it is better to be safe than having to replace a couple of heaters.

And, Tom nailed it on the head when he caught that ALL the faucets were affected. Thus narrowing it down to the common point of the water heater.

Dan

speedball1

Tex,

"I tried to find the manufacturer of the tank to see how old it might be."

I don't care what you're told about replacing your water heater after eight years or so. I think it's a scam by the heater manufactures to churn up more sales. WATER HEATERS DO NOT "WEAR OUT" unless the tank develops a rupture in the weld. Every part in a water heater is replaceable. True, it's easier with a electtic one then with a gas but replacing the parts is a lot cheaper then buying a new heater and the labor cost of installing it. All you have to do is flush it out and maintain it and it will reward you with decades of service. How do I know this? I have a fifty two old year home that still has the same thirty gallon water heater that still services the house. I flush it every month and about the only thing I hadto replace in all these years is a element. So when I say, "Be good to your heater and it will be good to you" I really mean it.
Regards, Tom