Besides draining, there's a 'sacrificial rod' which must be replaced periodically. Or, you could act like the grasshopper of fable.
i'd rather that you'd just included a paragraph on how and when the water heater should be drained........
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"A digital ribbon around your finger might help."
Try a basic calendar. Even a paper one will do. I have reminders on my smartphone calendar to do routine things like check the water level on my furnace. I don't need to pay $59 year for that.
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You can just put a meeting announcement in a calendar like Outlook for the next ten years, clean gutters, change batteries in thermostat, change car oil etc. It's more custom for each individuals needs. Works great for me!
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Ah! for the old days when one just banged on the radiator pipes to wake up the Super that it was cold enough for the heat to be turned on ,worked every time .
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I subscribe to a maintenance contract when I install the new furnace and air conditioning system. The company comes in once a year to inspect and get the system ready in Spring and in the Fall, and I have them drain the water heater to get rid of the calcified debris generated during the year. There had been coolant leakage and other manufacturer's mistakes that had to be fixed over the year. but no additional charges that I was required to pay.... For less than $15 a month, that is clearly worth it.
Have owned 7 homes, net is there a pain. Loving a condo in a high end well run, building. Yes, AC, hot water heater, and appliances , need be maintained, but with todays quality , think replacement, they break down fairly fast. With that said, no roofing to replace, no gutters to clean, don't have to hire lawn service etc. Smart folks don't play weekend warrior with electrical work or plumbing.
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My plan for home maintenance is benign neglect. When stuff breaks, leaks or rots, I fix or replace it. I don’t need an app to tell me the roof is leaking, the gutters are clogged or the deck needs sealing. I have eyes.
And really...how many people drain their water heater regularly?
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@Passion for Peaches
In Brooklyn, if you have oil heat you need to get rid of the brown water once a week in winter, less often in summer. I have never figured out what makes the water so filthy -- our pipes? our water? -- but if you don't, you're in trouble.
(I prefer oil heat: It heats the house faster and gets the water hotter than gas; in the summer I can switch it off altogether if I go away for a while; and if there's a problem, my oil company comes within a few hours.)
@B., to my knowledge, that brown water is either something that is in the water going into your boiler, or an interior crack or to flaw in your tank that is reacting to the water (in which case your tank is on death’s doorstep). Since you have to do this so often, you may have a breach in an incoming water main, and sediment is being brought in. Or maybe the main is corroded and dissolved metals in the water are reacting to the heat. That would make sense in a place like Brooklyn. You must have some ancient water mains there! You might not notice anything in your water coming from your household pipes because it’s the boiling that makes the water discolor. If your toilets have reserve tanks you can look in there and see whether there is discoloration from iron staining. I’d get a water test done, but that’s me. (I get my water from a well, so I get it tested every few years because you never know...).
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Every week. Also oil heat in Brooklyn. I don't drain the whole heater, just two pails full of water.
You might be right that the accumulation of the brownish sludge that shoots out at the beginning might be due to old infrastructure in the main. The water turns clear after a few seconds but I empty out two pails' worth just to be on the safe side.
$59 for a relatively simply app? Come off it. As for draining the water heater, not necessary unless you have very hard water but changing the anode every few years is absolutely essential as is knowing how to change the element(s) a simple task but one that no plumber will tell you about, since he can make far more getting you to replace the heater.
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@ian stuart
Very hard water here, every five years the plumber drains the water heater (I keep a post it on the water heater, once upon a time that was high tech!) -- he finds crud, but says he has been too lazy to drain his own! Now I will research 'anode', thank you.
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If you need an app to figure out your home systems you are probably better off renting.
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@Eric
Depends on whether one grew up in a house or an apartment. If one grew up in a house, none of these house systems are mysterious.
$59 for a simple app is the most expensive app I've ever seen. Much of what these apps do can be done on one's own, as long as one knows basic HTML code. And a scanner can help, though PDFs of all manuals can be found online.
In my case, I put all the necessary on a web page:
http://donwiss.com/manuals/house/
And I don't need an app to track my home value. I can simply periodically check Zillow or Trulia.
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As a residential real estate broker, I see all the time the implications of homeowners missing out on key maintenance through the years. Hidden dry rot under the stucco. Roof leaks in the attic. Rusted out boilers. Furnace filters that haven’t been changed since purchase.
All small chances of really big problem$, or in the latter case, a clear signal to inspectors and buyers that this is not the well-maintained house they were hoping for.
My suggestions:
—do the inspection w your home inspector, talk through maintenance items for that particular home, take notes, and save the doc on your desktop for easy reference.
—here in CA, get gutters cleared before the rainy season starts, and 3/4 of the way through the rainy season. Backed up gutters cause the most expensive avoidable damage, in my experience.
—use furnacefiltersdelivered.com or another service to buy furnace filters in bulk, and put in on your calendar to do this 2 min job a few times a year.
—get your furnace serviced every couple-three years, and have that person vacuum the fridge coils at the same time.
—ask your realtor for strong referrals when the stove needs work, or the furnace needs replacement, etc. Their reputation will go far in getting good service at a fair price, and thoughtful analysis of the options.
—ask your realtor for thoughts on longer term choices you face. They should offer insights (property tax implications, etc etc etc) understanding that it’s a personal, risk-based decision.
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Marketing, marketing. These apps are just phase one. The second phase is automatic ordering of maintenance, just as your “smart” fridge now orders food. Sometime during phase two, insurers will jump in to deny coverage for manually-maintained homes, just as they do now with wood stoves. Phase three, you really do not want to know about.
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After my years of home ownership and experience in real estate, the idea of delegating instead of understanding will *IMO* cost any homeowner way more with more problems. People are learning they can not do everything drinking coffee with their thumbs, and that applied knowledge is not virtual, it's experiential. . Best to learn about systems as they are from people who have your best interest ( people at parts counters), not your credit card ii mind. , Properties are simple physical structures that follow simple mostly analog rules. The best refrigerator is one that has little to no tech. I could go on and on. Learn to fix plumbing problems by learning how to sweat copper before you have a leak. try that with a phone. Keep Calm and Buy Tools.
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@David #4015Days, or...collect a list of reliable repair services so you know who to hire (and trust) when things fail. Because they will fail.
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@David #4015Days
Plumbing repairs are easier for the homeowner today due to the wonderful invention known as “Sharkbites.”
These fittings can be used on copper or Pex. I have used them for years and never had a leak yet. Check your local codes first. I am sure there are places where they are not allowed.
Firstly, there is no "fun" in home ownership. Second, thanks to the Republicans and Trump there is no financial upside to home ownership. And thirdly, who drains their water heater?!?
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@Tom
Draining a water heater is not recommended as rust and leaks can form in the empty tank.
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No reason for homes to be used as money makers. They are meant to be lived in.
You buy a house because you do not want to share walls, floors, and ceilings with smokers, noise-makers, and slobs. You do not want careless people sending cascades of water from their overflowing bathtub into your bathroom. You do not want people who never wash their dishes to breed cockroaches which inevitably find their way into your kitchen no matter how clean you are.
You save up money, as a young person, for several decades so that you do not give money to a landlord all your life.
If you have to sell, you sell. You come out ahead not because your house has appreciated in value but because it has been a relatively peaceful place to live for however many years you have lived in it.
If you want to make money, play the stock
market instead.
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1. I get to do what I want, albeit HOA issues.
2. Only if one bought a house expecting a large tax write off
3. People that have 10 yr old heaters and do not want them bursting/dying at a bad time
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Drain the water heater? How in all my years did i never know that was something one was supposed to do???Learn something every day.
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@JEP
Not every system requires it. Perhaps yours is one of them.
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"A home can seem like a mysterious structure, with large systems, pipes and wires that make little sense."
If a house seems mysterious, it might be that the homeowner would be much better off renting an apartment.
My unfinished basement is vast, with a high ceiling, with all sorts of pipes and wires (for the alarm system, which I use, and for cable TV, which I don't use) everywhere. Early on, I went around with my plumber and labeled everything: the steam pipes, the return pipes, the pipes for hot and cold water, the gas pipes. I put insulation on the steam pipes. I know how to drain the water from my boiler, and when.
Friends and I labeled the circuit breakers so that I know which breakers go with which rooms. I know where the drains are, and clamber onto the porch roof and the back flat roof to get rid of the leaves. (The gabled roof I leave to the pros.)
You want to own a house? Unless you have a handyman on a retainer, you'd better know what's what.
Anything can happen, and some things I can't deal with myself, but there's no reason for a house to be a mystery.
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You don’t need a friend to label the circuit breakers. I used 2 iPhones and FaceTime. I let the readers to figure out how to do it.
I do not have (or want FaceTime, and we labeled the circuits before there was a FaceTime.
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@PaulN
I did mine before Facebook was invented.
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How did we every take proper care of our homes before all this technology?
I guess back in the analog days the owners were smart, not the homes.
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@B Dawson
How did we ever drive from point A to point B without GPS?
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@Paul
We used maps and triptiks provided by AAA
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@Paul,
That’s why AAA was popular.
4
Another resource is any number of landlording apps, which generally have a wide range of maintenance schedules built into the apps and the ability to track your costs.
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