SEDIMENT CONTROL

When you heat hard water, minerals settle out of it into the bottom of water heaters as sediment. There, it does all sorts of unfortunate things. For the full story, visit the sediment page. And then come back!

Suffice to say that if you're in a hard-water area, you're going to have sediment and even if you follow the manufacturer's instructions and regularly drain your tank, you're still going to have sediment.

Why? Well, if you could look inside any water heater, you'd see the bottom is domed. And with gas heaters, there's a big flue dead center. Those are obstacles to efficient flushing. When you drain your tank, all you get is the sediment lying between the bottom of the dip tube (that's the cold-water inlet tube, and more on that in a moment) and the drain valve. Everything else stays put, causing noise, burning out elements in electric heaters, and slowing heat transfer in gas heaters and overheating the bottom.

Some newer tanks claim to be self-flushing. The idea is to keep the water so stirred up that sediment never gets a chance to settle down. Let's just say we have our doubts that this will work in most situations.

Then there are folks selling magnets that go on the piping, supposedly polarizing the water and doing amazing things. Trouble is, while there are numerous testimonials, there never seems to be any science. More doubts.

You'll probably say, "You just want to sell us a curved dip tube." You're right! Because we know it works. The only thing we know that works, except for vacuuming. That works, too, but it's not something you can usually do yourself.

Standard dip tubes are straight. They bring cold water to the bottom of the tank to be heated. We've taken straight ones and bent them -- mostly over the stove, and it's tricky. Too little heat and it kinks. Too much and it melts. Anyway, with a curved dip tube in your tank, aimed in the right direction, and a straight-path, brass, ball-valve drain assembly to replace the junk that comes with many heaters, you can make the water swirl around the flue and domes and blow the sediment out of the tank.

Now, a word about dip tubes in general. With age, they get brittle and break or split. Say 10 years or more, but there's no firm rule. If your water heater suddenly doesn't give as much hot water, think first about the dip tube. If it doesn't do its job, cold water coming in will mix with already-heated water going out.

The one at right came out of our tank. For reasons we'll explain in a minute, we decided it was worth a look-see. This used to be a curved dip tube. No longer. Retrofitting is about keeping an eye on things.

We wanted to check ours because some years back, there was a fair-sized scandal. A company that makes almost all of the dip tubes used in the U.S. changed its formula for plastic, with the result that in some conditions, the plastic disintegrated. The key period was August 1993 to March 1996. This tube was made in February 1994. Surprise!

One of the dead giveaways is if you start finding little bits of something clogging your aerators. Or you have less hot water, of course.

If you have a tank made in the critical period and you'd like to sue, sorry; somebody already beat you to it. The class-action settlement's terms expired several years ago. On the other hand, if you keep an eye on the anodes, change the dip tube, and make sure the T&P works, your water heater could yet shed big, hot, sediment-free tears at your funeral. It's a lot simpler-made than you are.

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