Water Heater Descaling

[dlb53151]

Looking for a best (simple) practice for descaling our water heater.  Any suggestions?  Not sure what the capacity is (3 gallons?)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Merlin]

Our heaters are 6 gallon. I tried cleaning the scale out of mine and ended up with such a mess I replaced it. If the scale is bad enough to need removal, you might want to consider replacing the whole thing? I bought one from Camping World and it took only a couple hours to R&R. (Easy access on the 16TBS.)

[dlb53151]

Ok thx - I don't know how much scaling is in mine.  Was thinking of putting vinegar solution in there and letting it bake for a few hours


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[DaveL]

Several videos on line with people descaling.  Combination of apple cider vinegar cooking for several hours and left to sit and cool.  They report good results.

However......  Unless the scale has reached gargantuan proportions I wouldn't think this would be a huge issue.  I flushed mine out with a nozzle this spring and there was quite a bit of sediment on the bottom that readily flushed out.  Later I did end up with some clogging in the bathroom faucet that looked like the same stuff that probably got loose.  But otherwise the heater heated just fine on gas or electric.

[Merlin]

I'll chime back in here to note that the sediment from flushing and descaling mentioned by DaveL was my concern. Once that gets into the plumbing lines, it's game over if it clogs fixtures or pipes. When I looked at the amount of crud coming out the WH drain and looked inside with my borescope, it was an easy call to replace. I really think WH descaling is one of those "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." things.

[DavidM]

I don't have an opinion on descaling but I do have one on how to prevent it from occurring:

We dry camp 98% of the time and we mostly leave the water heater off. I think 24/7 operation of the water heater where the propane burner or electric heating element comes on periodically to keep the tank hot is what forms scale. So after dinner and sitting around the campfire sipping some good bourbon, I turn on the water heater and in 15 minutes it is ready for a shower. Turn it off after your shower and you will have reduced the opportunity for scaling dramatically. The same thing works for morning showers.

Yes we won't have hot water for washing dishes, but cold water works for our minimal plates and utensils since we usually cook outside on the grill.

David