I have a clear gel type substance in my water heater
I would like to know what it is
any help would be appreciated

mogeye

letmetellu

What part of the country are you in?????? I have seen this or something similiar on several occasions only what I saw was not clear it was a slightly tan color.
If you run some of this into a pan and it has water with it does it come to the top or does it settle to the bottom of the pan.
On the heaters I found it in I replaced them and I never heard from the people if the stuff came back or not. If it did I think they would have complained.
I took this to the water department they did not know what it was and did not show much interest in finding out what it was

mogeye

I am in north Florida
the substance is a clear gel that doesn't float and is in small chunks

speedball1

Greetings from Sarasota,
Have you flushed your heater to get it out? For long life and fewer troubles you should keep your heater clear of mineral build-up by flushing on a regular schedule. let me show you how. 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. This shouldn't take more then a few minutes. Do this monthly to keep it clear.
While I haven't run across this in waterheaters I have found in in AC condensate drain lines. Full strength bleach did the trick. If flushing didn't help try this. Shut off all power to the heater, shut the cold water supply off and drain the heater. Open a hot water faucet close to the heater to relieve air-lockwhile draining.
Now poiur a gallon of bleach into the heater. You may do this by opening the boiler drain and attaching a washer hose to it and while holding it up pour the bleach into a funnel attached to the hose. Shut off the boiler drain and turn the water back on and fill the tank. Let it set and work for a while then drain and flush the tank.
You should now be able to fill the tank and turn the power back on. Don't forget to open a hotwater faucet when you're filling the tank to exhaust the air.
Good luck, Tom

mogeye

I had already replaced the water heater
the substance in question was in the bottom of the old water heater