There are so many different components in the home that go unnoticed, and yet we cannot live without them. One of those essential items in your home is a water heater. Almost everyone would notice if there is no hot water coming out of their shower head. A top that, most would say they can wait to take a shower till later if it can be fixed quickly. Hot water is something that everyone needs in their home, but their hot water heater is often neglected when it comes to maintenance. Here at Strouse Home Inspections we want to help you with getting to know your water heater a bit better and how to maintain it.
The first thing that you are going to want to make sure that you do on a yearly basis is to flush out your water heater. In proceeding, you will first need to find the valve located near the bottom of your water heater. Before you turn the valve so that it is open, you will want to get a bucket to catch the water. Essentially what you are doing is letting out a couple gallons of water. This will help you to gauge how healthy your water heater is. If there is a lot of sediment coming out, then you will want to go a step further and empty out all the water from it. Before you do this though, make sure that you turn the thermostat down. Once It has completely drained then you can fill it back up and turn the temperature back up.
Next on the list is purely a visual inspection. Corrosion can happen over time without you knowing until it is too late. This means it is important that you inspect all the piping and valves on it. Additionally, if you have a gas water heater, you will want to check the draft hood. It never hurts to make sure that everything is properly and fixed where it should be.
During your inspection make sure that you do not ever smell gas coming from it. You will also want to look out for black marks around fittings or around the top of it. This usually indicated combustion issues and require a professional to look at it. The same for the electrical side of things. You never want to see that they have melted or are burning.
Strouse Home Inspections wants to help make sure that you keep your home in the best possible shape possible. A healthy home is important to the health and safety of all of those living there. We are happy to get to help many homeowners learn about their home and how to best take care of it. Give us a call today if you are looking at buying a home, we would love to help give you the facts so that can make a good decision!
By Strouse Home Inspections 8-28-2020
