Weird goo from draining old water heater

CBRob

Drained an old heater..
This goo was in the bottom.
Eww

kcopp

That a reaction to the Aluminum anode rod I bet.... May actually be a form of bacteria.

rick in Alaska

Every water heater I drain looks like that. I am pretty sure it is the anode rod also. The stuff is slimy enough it makes it hard to drain them though.
Rick

hot_rod

A glacier blue gel looking goo? Let it dry out and usually it turns into a crusty white particulate, calcium and magnesium most likely. ,

Larry Weingarten

Hi @CBRob , Have a look at the head of the anode. For most heaters, if the head of the anode is flat with no bump in the center, it’s an aluminum rod. Rheem breaks that rule of thumb. Aluminum does make a bluish slimy mess.

Yours, Larry

mattmia2

Some aluminum and magnesium salts make a slimy goo.

EdTheHeaterMan

The Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtles may have the answer! They are all about Slime and Goo

Larry Weingarten

Hi @EdTheHeaterMan , they probably do and I'd love to hear it! In the meantime, being a water heater nerd, I collected the stuff, (see photo) and now it lives at the General Society to confuse and hopefully educate future generations.

Yours, Larry

ChrisJ

I've drained my 50 gal tank heater several times in the past 9 years and never saw any kind of goo. Not even much sediment.

I'm feeling really lucky right now.

hot_rod

H

ChrisJ said:

I've drained my 50 gal tank heater several times in the past 9 years and never saw any kind of goo. Not even much sediment.

I'm feeling really lucky right now.

It’s not so easy to flush that goo out the small opening drain cock. Remove the drain valve from the tank and power flush and most old tanks will have some, maybe gallons of that crud.

Unless you have been running pure H2O. Anodes break down, minerals and silica are in most all water supplies.

psb75

I recently had a disconnected old indirect DHW tank that I couldn't move out of the basement...even after draining (the water only) from it. It was too heavy from the "goo" that wouldn't drain out of the bottom. The "goo" could best be described as the exact consistency of light, tan "OATMEAL". It dried to an off-white crusty powder (outside of the tank). The stuff that remained in the tank was gallons of heavy, wet "oatmeal."
I had to apologize for leaving the tank in the cellar. Too heavy to pull up the stairs w/ handtruck.
The previous hot water had a bad sulfury smell. I put in a new tank and changed out the supplied aluminum anode for a magnesium. It seems to have fixed the sulfur problem.

ChrisJ

hot_rod said:

H

ChrisJ said:

I've drained my 50 gal tank heater several times in the past 9 years and never saw any kind of goo. Not even much sediment.

I'm feeling really lucky right now.

It’s not so easy to flush that goo out the small opening drain cock. Remove the drain valve from the tank and power flush and most old tanks will have some, maybe gallons of that crud.

Unless you have been running pure H2O. Anodes break down, minerals and silica are in most all water supplies.

Unless I missed it.
A few weeks ago I removed the drain to install my recirc setup. I didn't see anything in the bottom of the tank when I looked in.

ChrisJ

The only pictures I took.
The one is of the inside of the original brass drain.

HVACNUT

> @Larry Weingarten said:
> Hi @EdTheHeaterMan , they probably do and I'd love to hear it! In the meantime, being a water heater nerd, I collected the stuff, (see photo) and now it lives at the General Society to confuse and hopefully educate future generations.
>
> Yours, Larry
> (Image)



That's water heater sediment samples? And pardon my ignorance, but what's the General Society?

hot_rod

> @ChrisJ said:
> (Quote)
> Unless I missed it.
> A few weeks ago I removed the drain to install my recirc setup. I didn't see anything in the bottom of the tank when I looked in.

So you had a borescope and looked inside and around the recessed dome?
Unless you water is 0 grains of hardness and you never applied heat to the water I suspect there is sediment in that tank🤫
Have you performed a recent hardness test?

Got a tea kettle with some years of use, glasses come out of the dishwasher crystal clear? Shower glass and plumbing fixtures get water spots? Those are a few places mineral deposits show up.

ChrisJ

hot_rod said:

> @ChrisJ said:

> (Quote)

> Unless I missed it.

> A few weeks ago I removed the drain to install my recirc setup. I didn't see anything in the bottom of the tank when I looked in.



So you had a borescope and looked inside and around the recessed dome?

Unless you water is 0 grains of hardness and you never applied heat to the water I suspect there is sediment in that tank🤫

Have you performed a recent hardness test?



Got a tea kettle with some years of use, glasses come out of the dishwasher crystal clear? Shower glass and plumbing fixtures get water spots? Those are a few places mineral deposits show up.

Funny you ask that.
I have a borescope I just bought, a Klein I think.
And I even thought about doing that with it but I didn't feel safe putting it in the tank because it was still fairly hot.

I'm sure there's sediment in there, I just didn't get any out that I could tell running bursts of water. Also, I didn't see any goo or slime. That's all.

I have no doubt there's mineral build up just like in the drain valve.

JUGHNE

ChrisJ, because you have drained you tank several times over the years, you may not have noticed any great amounts coming out.

Here I have seen "small curd translucent cottage cheese" in some tanks. This stuff may not be seen.
The last old tank I relocated would not drain out the factory bib.
A female X female hose connected to the washer supply was used to back blast the junk out of the WH bib to get drainage.

Also when I am sure the WH bib is open, I power flush by opening and closing the CW valve. The dip tube putting water into the bottom seems to blast junk out.....sometime even plugging the bib again.....repeat the back blast as above.

Larry Weingarten

Hi @HVACNUT , Yes those are sediment samples. You can often get clues about the water supply piping, softening, water quality and stuff inside of the heater by looking at sediment. I didn't really understand that until I had collected some samples.

And the General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen is an amazing place in New York City: https://generalsociety.org/ Part of the joy is that both of "our" Holohans are part of it! Dan, in his "retirement" is currently president and it's where Wetstock was last held. The General Society holds many stories!

Yours, Larry

Zman

Larry Weingarten said:

Hi @HVACNUT , Yes those are sediment samples. You can often get clues about the water supply piping, softening, water quality and stuff inside of the heater by looking at sediment. I didn't really understand that until I had collected some samples.

And the General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen is an amazing place in New York City: https://generalsociety.org/ Part of the joy is that both of "our" Holohans are part of it! Dan, in his "retirement" is currently president and it's where Wetstock was last held. The General Society holds many stories!

Yours, Larry

It is an awesome place! Any Wally finding themselves anywhere near NYC should visit.