It’s tedious but it’s one of those things you don’t have to do all that often, especially if you don’t have hard water… But if you do eventually all that crap that accumulates at the bottom insulates and then the water heater isn’t all that great at heating water, or it cracks the glass liner and then the tank itself starts to rust out.
Good habit just to shut off the water, open a hot water valve somewhere in the house, then open that valve on the water heater to drain it out, probably the same time you’re going around shutting valves for outdoor spigots and stuff (if you live in a place that freezes), just a yearly chore
If it has a valve on the outlet of the water heater, you can close that and flush cold water through the heater and out the bottom drain by opening the drain. This will also have more pressure and volume of water to flush with.
It’s tedious but it’s one of those things you don’t have to do all that often, especially if you don’t have hard water… But if you do eventually all that crap that accumulates at the bottom insulates and then the water heater isn’t all that great at heating water, or it cracks the glass liner and then the tank itself starts to rust out.
Good habit just to shut off the water, open a hot water valve somewhere in the house, then open that valve on the water heater to drain it out, probably the same time you’re going around shutting valves for outdoor spigots and stuff (if you live in a place that freezes), just a yearly chore
If it has a valve on the outlet of the water heater, you can close that and flush cold water through the heater and out the bottom drain by opening the drain. This will also have more pressure and volume of water to flush with.