Sediment may make damage to your water heater, it may appear as a result of bacterial growth. Bacteria oxygenate and corrode the lining of a water heater. Bacterial growth is caused with large quantity of heat. The sign of a bacteria problem in your water heater is a sulfur smell or rotten-eggs odor. The same odor is observed when there is a potential natural gas leak.
The natural minerals of the water flow get into your water heater. As soon as the water is getting warmed, the minerals in the form of sediment fall to the bottom of your water heater tank. The sediment is available as calcium carbonate. If you use a gas water heater, the sediment falls to the bottom of the tank and locates on the burner plate, in the area where the flame is directly underneath. Sediment prevents heat to pass through without any difficulties.
The glass lining on the inside of a tank-type water heater will start to disintegrate slowly at temperatures of 160 degrees or higher. It can lead to the deformation of metal on the burner plate at the bottom. As soon as sediment build-up appears, water heater leaks can be observed. You may observe that your electric water heater does not produce the same quantity of hot water as in the past. The reason is the accumulation of sediment on the lower heating element. If you observe nise from your gas water heater, it may be a sign of sediment build-up. If you observe a sulfur odor, it is a sign of a sediment build-up problem. If you soften hot water, it may slow sediment build-up.
The drawback of this measure is a shorter term of work of an anode rod inside your hot water heater. Sediment will not appear so quickly, if you lessen the temperature in the water to 130 degrees. Heat that is above 140 degrees or of higher temperature leads to the quick accumulation of sediment. The temperature of 130 degrees is very dangerous for the life of bacteria that can distruct the proper functioning of people’s bodies. The bacteria that leads to the appearance of legionnaires' disease develop successfully at temperatures up to 115 degrees.
Sediment can be controlled with such measures:
1) Fill a container with hot water at a tap in the house. Water should be hot.
2) To determine the temperature, insert a meat thermometer into it and write it down.
3) In the case you have a gas water heater, switch off the control knob at the bottom hotter or colder. You will hear the words: “ON OFF PILOT”. If you see a small adjustment knob in the center of the ON OFF PILOT control, it can be applied to lessen the size of the flame on the burner plate.
If you have an electric water heater, find a low-watt density element installed in your tank. Apply it to lessen the high temperatures produced and it leads to lesser production of sediment in your tank. It is interesting to know that it does not influence the temperature of your water. It is thanks to the low-watt density element that is twice the size and has twice the surface area that heats the water.
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