cleaning the inside of a hot water tank

[Alexdc99]

Ok, after 6 months of using my well water in my kettle I get a blackish coating on the walls of the kettle. This coating make the water smell slightly..... I'd say dirty. You can kind of smell it when the water is boiling. So I use CLR in it to remove the deposits and were good for another 6 months. Now, when running a bath you can smell it as well. I can clorinate the tank and that last for a month before the smell comes back. Any problems in my pouring 2 bottle full in to the tank over night to clean it out and then rinse it out the next day.

Thanks

[master plumber mark]

it might work for you,
but they actually make something that is supposed to be for de limeing water heaters. if you got the time and patience to use it...

will look around and see if I can find the name of it.

the downside to delimeing your water heater is if it is an older unit,
sometimes the lime has actually worked as a plug to seal up any tiny
leaks that might be starting... so it you clean it out, you risk it leaking someday....

ya cant win

[Alexdc99]

My tank is 1 1/2 years old. I'll have a look around and see if I can find the product you mention.

[hj]

You will probably have the problem until you remove or replace the anode rod in the heater.

[Alexdc99]

I got the same results from using the standard rod and the other metal kind, but I didn't clean the tank in between rods so I guess I cannot rule out the the second rod since the biuldup was already present from the first rod.. I'll try the CLR idea and see what happens when using the new rod. Won't hurt trying it out.

Thanks
Alex

[skip1028]

I tried the special anode rod but to no avail! I use hydrogen peroxide periodiacally. Turn off water to tank, drain small amount, then add 1 pint of hydrogen peroxide along the anode rod. Ceiling height is not sufficient to remove rod.