# Water Heaters - Is self cleaning worth it or just a gimmick?



## Russ Toole (Dec 31, 2008)

Its time for a new water heater and have seen some that say there self cleaning.  Anyone have any experience with these?


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## crackerdave (Dec 31, 2008)

Not sure if there's a self-cleaning one being sold now that I don't know about,but I do know this:If you hook a garden hose to the bottom drain on a water heater and let it run till the water comes out clear,the sediment [#1 killer of water heater tanks and elements on electrics!]  will be flushed out.Do this every couple of months or so,depending on how much sediment's in your water.Well water usually has more.


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## jason4445 (Dec 31, 2008)

What self cleaning means is the intake pipe instead of just going straight down inside the water tank, it goes down and curves halfway around the bottom.  This, or so they say, stirs up the sediment every time water is added to the tank so hopefully the little tad of sediment that usually goes to the bottom of the tank will feed into your system and not end up in the tank.

I don't know how much more they charge for it, but all it amounts to is another few feet of plastic pipe inside the tank.

Does it work, probably for the smaller stuff, but for the little gravels and rust particles that end up down there I don't think it shoots them up far enough to leave the tank.  I think it is more a marketing thing than anything useful.


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## crackerdave (Dec 31, 2008)

jason4445 said:


> What self cleaning means is the intake pipe instead of just going straight down inside the water tank, it goes down and curves halfway around the bottom.  This, or so they say, stirs up the sediment every time water is added to the tank so hopefully the little tad of sediment that usually goes to the bottom of the tank will feed into your system and not end up in the tank.
> 
> I don't know how much more they charge for it, but all it amounts to is another few feet of plastic pipe inside the tank.
> 
> Does it work, probably for the smaller stuff, but for the little gravels and rust particles that end up down there I don't think it shoots them up far enough to leave the tank.  I think it is more a marketing thing than anything useful.



I agree with you,Jason.

Any sediment they do stir up is gonna end up in your faucet,seems to me.


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## builderrwc (Jan 4, 2009)

What Jason said is true and it may come to the faucet, but you can take the aerator off the faucet to let it out. I believe it allows longer between flushing, if you have sediment in your water you should hook a hose at the drain and open drain for about 3-5 min. This lets incoming water flush out the sediment, as that sediment seats on the bottom it allows a place for the tank to rust, and it causes the noise you hear on an old tank which is gas escaping from the sediment.


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