Water Heater

When the old water heater started leaking a year ago, the plumber who installed the new one told us that we should flush it once a year. He said that would get rid of the sediment that builds up at the bottom of the tank and thus provide a longer life-span for the appliance.

So today I did. Boy, it sure takes me a long time to figure out the instructions in the owner's manual. I begged Gary's assistance. It took forever to drain that tank. Turned out that we weren't draining just the tank, but also all the hot-water pipes in the whole house. It took nearly an hour to drain. I was surprised at how quickly the water heated up once we refilled the tank.

Next year, I'm going to make sure I've got washers in the hose we attached to the drainpipe. It would've been nice if the hose hadn't spit and leaked all over the basement floor!