Water Heater Went Out: Replacing Failed Element Due to Calcium, Lime in Well Water

Well, Our Water Heater Went Out. Let's Fix It.  

    What a week it has been!

    Right before the Turkey Day week, our water heater decided to kick the bucket on us. Not a good time for that to happen, is it? (Did I mention that I found out our water heater wasn't working twenty minutes after I got the call from the mechanic that our car was repaired and ready to go?)

    Our small farm is in a rural area, which means we've got a well as our source of water like many other rural families do. Our well brings up a lot of sediment. Tennessee is rich with limestone, which means we get a lot of calcium, lime, and shale. Guess where all of that ends up? That's right: your appliances.

Yup, that would be the issue with the hot water heater.

Well Water Will Always Be Preferrable to Me, Though!

    Now, don't get me wrong. I will forever take well water over city water any day, any time. Well, healthy well water, that is! I personally prefer the health benefits of well water, even if you catch some of that delightful sulfur after periods of heavy rains. I grew up with sulfur water, so I'm completely unphased by it. Chlorinated water? I simply can't do it. I had a hard time adjusting to city water when I got my first apartment, and I never plan to return to it. Even if I had to deal with a couple of days of cold water and digging into a hot water heater for hours trying to remove sediment, I still prefer the well water. It's a hassle, but there's not much option currently. (I'll explain why a sediment filter isn't yet an option later!) There's always something going wrong, and this year, we've seen quite a few issues pop up. 

This was the miniscule amount that came out via draining the water heater. There's probably 3/4 to 1 cup's worth of sediment here; a far cry from what's inside of the water heater. 

Well Water Really Wrecks a Hot Water Heater Though....

    Over the last few months, our newish (3 years old) water heater has been making lots of popping and crackling noises. I knew it was imminent. That water heater was preparing to fail. When sediment collects in the water heater, it cakes onto the elements and buries them. Over time, these elements end up overheating and failing. I came in from feeding the farm one day and started to do some dishes; odd, the hot water is taking a little bit too long to heat up. I go to investigate... and find that the breaker is tripped. Now, most folks would probably try to flip the breaker and get it going again. However, I knew exactly what had happened; the element failed. That failure likely tripped the breaker.

The element looked fine on the exterior, but it was wrecked. We were not prepared for how much had been deposited into the heater!

A Lowe's Trip and a Dedicated Afternoon: DIY Water Heater Element Replacement & Sediment Cleanout

    We had a busy evening, so it wasn't something we could address that day. Instead, we took off to Lowe's the following day to find some elements for our hot water heater; we had no issues finding the elements, they were in stock... Sounds suspicious, right? Repairs NEVER come this easily. I should have known that we had our work cut out for us. A quick stop for an iced coffee, and back home to get this water heater fired back up.

This element was caked with minerals. This is why the elements fail in our water heaters.

    Our current water heater is decently large, we had a much smaller one that was replaced with a commercial water heater after it failed. Therefore, draining it seemed to take a lifetime and a half. Once drained, we found the upper element with some buildup, but nothing too crazy; it was fine otherwise. The bottom element? It literally had a chunk explode from it. Yes, we located the metal chunk, too! The amount of sediment build up was absolutely ridiculous; inches of it. Just inches of chunks of calcium. No wonder that element gave up on us; it was fighting for its life until the bitter end. 

This water heater element has a hole in it, the element quite literally exploded and we found the missing chunk of metal. 

It's Never, Ever That Simple. There's Always a Catch with Home Repairs!

    Naturally, this was the roadblock. I had to find the shop vac, search the property for a piece of junk PVC pipe that was just right (1/2" to be exact), and I had to find a saw to cut that pipe at a 45 degree angle. I then duct taped that to the shop vac, and I finally had a very inefficient way to remove the sediment from the hot water heater. I must have spent an hour and a half knocking sediment around and vacuuming it out; my partner? He dug some out for a good hour. We opted for some vinegar and allowed that to sit for hours; we did a few rinses. In the end, we removed a ton of sediment, but nowhere near all of it. Half of it, if we're lucky. 

This is how I got a lot of sediment out of the water heater. I used a shop vac with a piece of 1/2" PVC attached to it, that would fit through the element hole. I considered a garden hose, but the one we cut had fiberglass hanging out of it, and I was not comfortable with sticking that into the hot water heater. 

Success: We've Got Hot Water Again!

    We got our new elements placed into the water heater and fired it up. She works like a charm again; well, until things get a little rough in there again! They say you should drain your water heater annually, but if we're being honest, that would have done us no good. Very little sediment drained through the valve, and due to the size of the chunks and the size of the opening of the valve, it's clear that this would never be effective for removing the well sediment from our hot water heater. Instead, we're going to have to drain it, remove elements, and take the shop vac to it once a year. That's a lot of work; but we never realized just how much calcium/lime was building up in there. Just look at all of that buildup!

Crazy amounts of calcium/lime sediment that came out of our hot water heater with the shop vac. 

Prevention is Great, but It's Easier Said Than Done, Unfortunately. (Sediment Filter)

    We've considered adding a sediment filter, but there's really not a good place to install one. Our well equipment was placed in a very poor location out in the elements; placing it with the well equipment would likely result in a lot of freezing and well issues. There's not a good place for it under the house, as it would be nearly impossible to access it to empty it. The only location for it would be in our laundry room, which is where our electrical panel and one of our freezers are; there's nowhere for it to go without constructing a building immediately behind our house and rerouting the water line. Since this isn't a project we can take on at this point in time, it looks like we're stuck with cleaning our appliances out here and there. Like I said, well water will present you with a ton of challenges; but I greatly prefer well water over city water, and even if I didn't, we don't have the option for city water anyways. Love it or hate it, it's here to stay!