In cold weather, you don’t only need to have a good heating system to stay warm. The heating system can only keep your rooms warm. When it comes to taking a shower, a bath, cleaning dishes, and even washing your hands, you need to have hot water.
Some people even use a water heater during the hotter months of the year because the water still comes out cold and they prefer it warm.
If you and your family need hot water as well, then you should consider maintaining your water heater to allow it to run for a long time. Otherwise, you might end up needing to replace it every few years, or have water heater repair services in your contacts.
To help, here are a few maintenance tips you can use to maintain your water heater.
Inspect Your Water Heater
The first thing you should do is just go and take a look at the water heater. You might know what it’s supposed to look like in a good condition from when you first got it installed by a good plumber contractor. You can look out for:
- Leaks in the pipes
- Loose connections
- Corrosion
- Aged gaskets
The above list is not exhaustive. If you see anything else that seems wrong, you should call a water heater repair service to come and have a look.
Flush the Water Bi-Annually
As you use the water heater, sediments and minerals start to set at the bottom over time. While these sediments don’t necessarily cause any direct damage to the appliance, they can make your water heater work harder to provide you with hot water. Over time, this can cause damage and higher bills.
That’s why you should flush your water heater once or twice a year. Before draining, shut off the water and power completely. Then, allow the water to cool down before attaching a hose to the water heater and draining it out. Before turning on the power again, fill the entire tank up.
Insulate the Water Heater
Among the easiest things you can do to keep the water heater running properly and make sure it is more energy efficient is insulation.
When you insulate your water heater, you are basically making it easier to heat the water and keep the water hot for longer periods. Overall, the water heater will need to work lesser and it can last longer.
If you already have insulation on your water heater, make sure to check it regularly to see whether or not it is intact. To make things better, you can also insulate the pipes running from the water heater.
Maintain the Right Temperature
Some people play around with the temperature settings on their water heater a lot. Not only that, but they also keep the setting at an unreasonably high temperature.
But just because the settings can go up to 140 degrees doesn’t mean you should set it that high. Even if you think that a higher setting will make the water hot faster.
With a setting that high, you will be making your water heater work constantly and overtime. That could lead to high bills and more repairs. Not to mention, water that hot can cause burns and injuries.
