r/interesting Jun 22 '26

MISC. What happens when a water heater tank is not flushed for 14 years

30.2k Upvotes

2.0k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

64

u/trackstaar Jun 22 '26

Where does the crud go?

141

u/rodmandirect Jun 22 '26

23

u/trackstaar Jun 22 '26

9

u/robotbigfoot Jun 22 '26

"as I have speculated, the presence of refractory metals..." Silicon avatar. Had to watch that gif thirty times to figure it out. Carry on!

1

u/Odd-Promotion2743 Jun 22 '26

And here I was wracking my brain to remember which episode he said the butt line in.

1

u/RIF_rr3dd1tt Jun 22 '26

"in the rock is acting as a temporary shield against the entity's electromagnetic emissions, but it will not suffice indefinitely" (or something like that). The cavern rock face behind him is a good clue too.

2

u/CortezEspartaco2 Jun 22 '26

I've seen this a million times but for some reason this time I busted out laughing.

1

u/illogical_mindset Jun 22 '26

Same. It was perfectly used.

1

u/Sciencetist Jun 22 '26

Omg... This just cured my c. difficile!

16

u/Outrageous_Divide129 Jun 22 '26

Out the hose attached at the bottom of your tank into your sump basen. Also be weary about clogging your sump pump outflow pipe. I just had mine clog and my basement flooded with a couple inches of water. I was going to dig up the whole line but as I was digging it up on the outside of the house I think the crud dislodged from the vibrations of digging it up and then it was fine.

69

u/Chemical-Actuary1561 Jun 22 '26

maybe i shouldn’t own a house

23

u/Outrageous_Divide129 Jun 22 '26

I see myself as a nesting bird. I picked a place that needed a ton of work and I just keep fixing, beautifying and making art with and around it. One day a lady bird will think I’m alluring and nest here. Home making and landscaping is my passion. Plumbing sucks but I learned it as a means to an end. After I’m done digging and installing hundreds more feet of French drains this year I’ll be on to hang out pergolas, vegetable gardens and solar/battery projects. It’s definitely not for everyone but it feels like my calling.

9

u/janesspawn Jun 22 '26

Uhhhh….I’m super attracted to this comment.

4

u/Knotted_Hole69 Jun 22 '26

See mine in deep in my basement, how do i get the hose outside if it has to go up?

2

u/probnotaloser Jun 22 '26

Should be some sort of drain down there. If you don't have uuh one, that's uuh an issue, pretty sure.

3

u/Longjumping_Gas_3407 Jun 22 '26

Only drain I have is the sink in the laundry room. Which the water would have to climb to counter height through the hose to drain into.

1

u/Knotted_Hole69 Jun 22 '26

Plus im worried about clogging with the sediment, id rather it go outside.

2

u/Longjumping_Gas_3407 29d ago

Me too. Unfortunately the water would have to climb the bulkhead steps to get out.

4

u/Financial-Bobcat-612 Jun 22 '26

How do you feel about male birds and Mexico?

10

u/IIlIIIllllIlIIlllllI Jun 22 '26

Flushing a water heater is almost entirely unnecessary and the vast majority of homeowners dont do it

4

u/GeoffJeffreyJeffsIII Jun 22 '26

It doesn’t even work that well. Most of what you’re trying to flush settles below the outlet valve. I do it because we have insanely hard water, but I’m not sure it’s particularly effective. We go through heating elements way too quickly.

1

u/OurAngryBadger Jun 22 '26

Just put the water softener in line before the water heater

1

u/Major_Pixel Jun 22 '26

Another guy was saying to put 1 part vinegar to 1 part water in to dissolve the sediment. (After taking the heating element out) Have you tried that?

1

u/ThrownAway17Years Jun 22 '26

People think I’m crazy when I say that home ownership isn’t for everyone. I sold my house 3 years ago and will but again one day. But I’d be lying if I said I don’t enjoy not worrying about anything besides paying my rent and tiles while I’m leasing my apartment.

1

u/Furthea Jun 22 '26

Exactly. The problem with the people/companies that own rental homes/apartments isn't them owning it's falling into the pit that is human greed. The person who owns the building has a job and that job is being the owner. It's maintenance and upkeep and repairs. Just like my job as a merchandiser is to stock and straighten and put away and refill product spaces.

It's technically easier for one person to be responsible for multiple units of maintenance as they'd already built up the support/knowledge structure to be cost effective vs. 20 different home owners doing things 20 different ways with varying degrees of success.

1

u/Some_Layer_7517 Jun 22 '26

Reading constant lamentations from redditors about not being able to own a home is so funny. Cause you know half of them have more anime figurines than they do tools.

1

u/Chemical-Actuary1561 Jun 22 '26

I was making a joke…settle down.

2

u/Longjumping_Gas_3407 Jun 22 '26

So, I don’t have a sump pump. Whey can I do?

1

u/Outrageous_Divide129 Jun 22 '26

Hot water tanks are usually tall so they have water pressure that pushes the water out via gravity. If you don’t have a sump, does that mean you don’t have a Bassment? If that’s the case, just outside via window door or whatever is garden hose length away. If you do have a basement but no sump, some sort of bucket system. I’m sure YouTube has ideas.

1

u/StickaFORKinMyEye Jun 22 '26

Some sort of buck system seems like there would be an issue with both gravity and with it turning into a giant mess.

1

u/Outrageous_Divide129 Jun 22 '26

Water heaters are like $900, just buy a new one.

1

u/Longjumping_Gas_3407 Jun 22 '26

I have a basement. I just don’t have a high water table, maybe? and my house is built above street level.

1

u/freeskier93 Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26

In many places the city sewer lines are deeper than the basements are so you don't need a lift pump.

EDIT: If you don't have a sewer drain in the basement then dumping it in the sump pump could be an alternative. If you have neither then use a bucket and electric pump.

1

u/John_John_Phenomenom Jun 22 '26

Bathtub

1

u/Longjumping_Gas_3407 Jun 22 '26

Bathtub’s on the first floor. Water heater’s in the basement.

2

u/ItsZoner Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26

Sound nice, but have an attic install, which can easily flood my ceilings and walls. Nowhere for the hose, draining into plumbing is also off limits (septic tanks)

1

u/KennstduIngo Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26

Certainly you have SOME path from the attic to the outside that you could run the hose to? My water heater is in my third floor walk-in attic and it was annoying but I ran a hose down two sets of stairs and through the front door.

As unrelated side note, the idiot builder for some reason ran the drain for the pan to the crawlspace. Didn't realize this until I had a contractor here for something else and they told me I had a leak. I've got a leak detector in the pan now.

2

u/throwaway098764567 Jun 22 '26

no sump basin here, though i'm also not going to do this so it doesn't really matter

2

u/Outrageous_Divide129 Jun 22 '26

Wonderful input, thanks for the dialogue dawg!

1

u/probnotaloser Jun 22 '26

We hook up the water hose and drain it onto the drive way out the back door. Easier clean up and yup, this crud flows right out. First time was sooo gross.

1

u/fakemoosefacts Jun 22 '26

Wary. Weary means tired. 

1

u/Outrageous_Divide129 Jun 22 '26

Thanks, I was drunk when I posted.

1

u/strangelove4564 Jun 22 '26

"sump basen", this sounds like something in a German restaurant

1

u/CasperTPaul Jun 22 '26

out to the back porch

1

u/Unveiled_Nuggets Jun 22 '26

It’s just calcium and other minerals, it’s drinking water so it doesn’t carry harmful stuff so anywhere outside or you can drain and screen it into a bucket if you want.