cleaning electric water heater scale

[J]

I have an electric water heater that is just over 5 yrs old. I found the scale had built up high enough to bury the lower heating element. (Yes, I now know about cleaning it out on a regular basis.) This caused the heating element to burn out. So I spent some hours cleaning as much of the scale out via the hole for the heating element, and put in a new element. It's heating water fine but I know it's just a matter of time before I burn the element out again. This is a Kenmore Power Miser 9 that has a 9yr tank and parts warranty, so I expect the hardware has some life left in it if I could only clean all the scale out. Any ideas on how I can clean it out?

Thanks!

[hallerb]

you could try acid but the trouble is the cost of the acid to do the job properly will be high and the scale might be clogging a leak, so get it all spiffey cleaned out just to have a leak:(

whats a new DIY tank cost? 350 bucks divided by say 10 years 35 bucks a year is pretty cheap less than one candy bar a week for the year.

[hallerb]

get a water softener and end the scale buildup but the costs for softener will exceed the savings on the tank, but reportedly save you money on detergents etc

[Mamba]

I dragged mine outside last spring and removed the lower tap as well as both elements. I used a garden hose and a pressure washer tip in various holes until things seemed to be clean inside. By tipping the heater with the tap edge down I was able to ensure I got the scale out. Mine were loose particles, not sure if you mean that in your case they are adhered to the sides of the cavity?

You could also drain or partially drain the tank periodically to remove some of the scale if it has accumulated in the bottom. My problem with this was that small bits of scale would sometimes get into the tap valve, so when I turned off the drain tap it sometimes leaked.

When we had a softener, we added small amounts of acid to our tank monthly to help dissolve scale. If you're not going to flush it regularly, this is probably your best bet.

[J]

By 'lower tap' do you mean 'drain valve'?

I like the idea of shooting pressured water in there to possibly break the scale up. I'm wondering if the internal lining is in any way fragile where I could do damage buy sending in high pressured water? I understand the tank is steel but has a glass liner to keep rust out of the water. I guess I don't want to damage this liner.

[hallerb]

if you mess with the tank be prepared to instantly replace it. if its located where a leak can do damage just replace it.