If you’re sick to the back teeth of paying overly expensive call-out fees to plumbers who don’t really seem to know what they’re doing, learning to service and maintain your water heater can save you a lot of hard earned cash. We rely upon water heaters every single day, so ensuring you know how to keep yours in good working order is guaranteed to come in handy if nothing else.
Most water heaters last for over 10 years, in fact, a lot of the newer models have 15 year warranties, so if you’ve just bought one of these, all you really need to do is pick up one of those eberspacher service kits that everyone’s been talking about. This will contain everything you need to ensure your new boiler stays in working order for as long as possible. However, if you’ve got a really old model, you might want to have a quick read through this article. Hopefully you’ll find some interesting tips and tricks that could well mean you don’t need to call the plumber – again.
The 3 Step Maintenance Plan
This will take you less than 5 minutes to complete, but could save you hundreds of pounds in the long run by significantly increasing the lifespan of your water heater, so pay attention.
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Dial the temperature down. To do this, simply locate the temperature setting dial on your water heater. When you’ve found it, all you need to do is turn the temperature down to around 110 – 120 degrees. This will protect the tank from overheating and also reduce the amount of energy used to heat your water.
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Test the pressure and temperature relief valves. Both of these components are vitally important for the safety and operation of your water heater, so make sure you check them regularly. To test the valves, all you need to do is lift the lever part way, and release. If the valves are working properly, the lever should rapidly snap back into place, so be careful not to catch your fingers. If the lever stays in the position you’ve moved it to, then the valves are bad and need to be replaced as quickly as possible.
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Perform a mini-flush. To prevent rust and other unwanted materials from collecting at the bottom of your water tank, performing a mini-flush every month is essential. Simply place a bucket underneath the drain valve and turn the handle counter-clockwise to release the first few liters of water. Then, when the bucket is full, close the valve, empty the bucket, and repeat. You might find that this process can take some time depending on the size and age of your boiler, but in most instances this job takes around 3 minutes to complete, so you really shouldn’t encounter any problems.
Now you’re done! That wasn’t too difficult now was it? Frequent maintenance can make a huge improvement to both the lifespan and the function of water heaters, so don’t be a fool and make sure you check yours today.
Have fun!
