Keep Your Business in Hot Water: Care, Maintenance, and Selection of Your Startup's Water Heater

The other day I happened to be standing near our hot-water heater as the thermostat cycled, calling for heat. It started as the rushing hiss of a gas flame, and soon turned into a low rumble like distant thunder. While such a noise might not normally be detected in the deafening din emanating from the recesses of most eating establishments, it nonetheless comes as a warning to the owner that something is amiss.

In fact, before long, the rumbling would turn to a trickle of running water, signifying the end of the hot-water heater's life. We never even saw a problem until the tank had failed completely. It was one of those bad days, when the water ran cold, and tempers flared. Not a great way to start a business day.

Like most water heaters, ours had not seen a moment of preventive maintenance since the day it was installed. And why should it? It always worked just fine. What we had not realized is that over the years, sediment had accumulated in the tank, and the rumbling thunder noise we heard was the water beneath the sediment, overheating to the boiling point, and then violently bubbling through. If we had known a bit more about these "neglected stepchildren," we could have saved ourselves some money, downtime, and loads of aggravation.