Dirty hot water

[Joe]

Posting for a friend, so I don't know all the details.

The problem is the natural gas water heater is producing dirty hot water most of the day (a few days now). The thing is the heater was fine until after a gas related repair was made. Actually, I believe all that was done was the gas was shut off for a few minutes (the water heater pilot had to be relit), so I don't know how that could have caused the dirty water problem. The heater now also makes a strange popping/gurgling sound when it is heating.

Does anyone know what could've happened? Thanks in advance.

[D-]

Joe wrote

The burner may be getting a better gas feed with more pressure and is boiling the water causing all the deposits to mix with the water. Have the gas pressure to the burner checked and make sure it is not over fired. An over fired burner could damage the tank. In time the debris should clear up. Darrell

[mark Ransley]

you have a buildup of sediment and or hard water deposits in the bottom of the tank, turn off the water heater let it cool, hook up a hose to the drain valve run it to a drain, open valve and flush out tank, a tank should be flushed out yearly, some old valves can get corroded shut or leak, know where your water shutoff is incase you develop a leak at the valve and have to repair it

[Gary Slusser]

"Joe"

With the heater now working as it should, it sounds as if you now have the thing burning hotter as it should and hard water scale has trapped water under it which turns to steam which sounds like explosions; which it is. This is not good for the tank and will eventually cause it to leak. Scale is not good for a water heater and increases the fuel costs substantially; especially with oil and gas fired heaters. A softener might be a good solution.

Gary Quality Water Associates

[Joe]

Thank you all very much. We're definitely going to drain/flush the tank.

Please forgive my ignorance, how do we set the gas pressure to not over fire the burner? I'm curious as to why the burner is getting a better gas feed now. I'm not sure if the temp setting on the water heater was changed--I believe it's set at 140.

Something else I forgot to mention is that the water pressure is a bit lower now too, does this relate to everything that has been suggested?

Thanks again.

[mark Ransley]

some sediment is probably cloging your faucet screens, lower your water heater thermostat 20 and see that the temp stays even, a bad thermostat could raise the temp to much causing the pressure release to leak