Electric water heater tip

We need more information, if we are to walk thru this problem to its solution-- so I have to ask a few questions:
1.) Any Water Softener in the system?
2.) If your water is 'hard'-- (meaning too many minerals, like Calcium)- the Hot water heater will cause the minerals to settle out, just due to the heating. This causes sediment to settle in the bottom of the HW tank-- And it sounds like you are getting this settling-out condition-- right?
3.) Are you on Well water?-- If city water-- are your neighbors using water softeners to reduce the 'hardness' of the water in your home?
Tell me more-- let's see if we can walk thru your Hot Water system, and see what it at the root cause of the minerals settling out. Mack B

turn off breaker to heater if it is electric, turn off gas if not. turn off water supply to heater. Hook up hose to bottom drain (if one is not all ready piped to outdoors). Open water drain valve at bottom then open any hot water side of the faucet. Tank should drain down, taking some of the buildup with it. Once drained, close faucet that was opened, turn water supply back on and flush out remaining deposits. It may be neccesary to replace the anode rod from the top of the heater if you have excessive build up.

If you have not done so already then turn thermostats up to 140 degrees. You may also try to drain and flush tank to clean out any mineral deposits that could be hurting your effiency. To do this shut off electrical power to heater then connect garden hose to drain valve on the bottom of tank. Run hose to floor drain or other safe area and open drain valve. If it drains good with the water on then let it flush for a couple of mins. then shut incoming water supply off. Let tank drain as far as it will. You may need to open a faucet on the hot side of nearby fixture to break vacumn.
Drain it completly then close drain valve and hot side of faucet.Turn water supply back on and let tank refill. Do this 2-3 times to get inside of tank as clean as possible. Hope this helps you and thanks. P.S. You may need to replace thermostat also.

It is possible that the bottom element is covered with calcium, and other deposits fro the Minerals i the water settling out, in the heating process-

How old is the unit?-- and how hard is your water?-- any water softener in the system?

Are you interested in digging into the repair enough to: Shut off the water, drain out all the water in the tank, (opening a faucet somewhere, allowing air into the system, and getting the water out of the tank)
to disconnect power, then the wires to the element at the bottom, remove the element, scrape out the solids settled there, clean it out, and re-install the element, and re-wire it?

Let us know how far you want to go with this repair...

Mack B

The first thing I would do is turn up temp control on gas valve.Control is located on front of gas valve at the bottom front of heater.They usually have a indicator dial on front with an arrow pointing direction.Turn dial to higher setting when burner is not on and this should turn burner on and provide hotter water. The control is normally turned clockwise to increase temperature.If control is already turned all the way up then water heater may need to be replaced.Depending on water quality in your area heater may have a large amount of mineral build up and it may not be capable of producing enough or hot enough water. If this the case all I can suggest is to try to drain tank and flush some of the deposits out. If you have installation manual it will give you instructions on how to do this. If not see if you have working shut off valve on cold water line ,if it works shut it off and connect drain hose to drain valve on bottom right side of gas valve. Put hose to floor drain or sump basin if you have one. Turn control knob on top of gas valve from on to pilot,this will leave pilot light on but prevent burner from working while draining. Open drain valve ,flow rate may be slow or not at all. Open hot water side of some faucet to provide air to help draining. You may try opening water supply valve to heater a few times to aid in draining. If you can get it to drain,shut drain valve off when done,turn cold water supply back on and shut off hot water outlet. Then when tank is full open hot water vavle to bleed air out of heater and piping. Turn control knob on top of gas valve back to on position. This should bring burner back on .It will take about 1/2 hour to heat. If you can't get it to drain or this doesn't help you might consider getting a new 40 gallon heater. Hope this helps. Thanks