You may have read this blog post and immediately wondered what scaling is–the short answer is that it’s a build-up of hard water minerals and over time it can have a significant negative impact on your water heater.
Hard water has excessive amounts of minerals in it–most notably calcium, magnesium, and sometimes iron. These minerals are completely harmless to ingest for you and your household, but they’re not harmless to your plumbing system, and your water heater is no exception.
Read on to learn more about scaling, and the service you need to prevent this problem–annual water heater maintenance.
Does Your Water Heater Have Scaling?
Usually, homeowners notice that something is wrong with their water heater when they begin hearing the sound that’s created by the buildup of mineral deposits. They might hear a banging noise, a more subtle popping sound, or perhaps even crackling.
The general impact, however, is the same–it’s jarring!
But jarring noises aren’t necessarily the sign of something terrible. The noise you’re listening to is the mineral deposits settling to the bottom of your water heater tank, and then getting moved around as the burners come on to heat the water, causing steam bubbles.
Scaling can also settle in the unit of a tankless system–tankless water heaters are not immune.
Why You Need to Call Us for Water Heater Maintenance
You’re likely not in any immediate harm if your water heater is impacted by scaling. However, this doesn’t mean that you should just brush the problem off. After all, it is the long-term impacts that can be problematic and ultimately costly. These problems could end up becoming potentially harmful if they go neglected for too long.
This is because scaling creates a pressure imbalance within the water heater tank, which may shut the system off or lead to overflow. This can also wear down the bottom of the tank so that the lining no longer protects from corrosion.
You Need This Service If You Have a Tankless System Too!
It’s easy to understand why hard water scaling can impact a tank water heater, the scaling can build up on the interior of the system and cause problems like corrosion and heating imbalances.
But did you know this could happen with a tankless system too? The heat exchanger of the tankless system is the component that is most likely to be impacted. As scaling coats them, it makes it harder for the water to get heated, and therefore you won’t have an efficient system.
It will also cause the system to wear down faster and leave you needing to replace it sooner than you would have had to otherwise.
So whether you have a tank water heater or a tankless system, the best thing you can do to keep it in great shape is schedule routine maintenance with our team. For a tank system, this service should be done at least once a year. For a tankless water heater, you can likely get away with it every couple of years–be sure to check with our team first to see what the recommendation is for your area.
When you need professional service for your tank or tankless water heater in Fincastle, VA, look no further than W.C. Butler Heating and Air Conditioning. Contact us today!