Sediment in water heater. How can I remove it?

[Mark_P]

My electric water heater is 2 years old. The other day my lower heating element went out. I replaced the element and noticed about 6 inches of flakey sediment at the bottom of the tank.
Is there any way I can get ALL of this out?
I'm wanting to get a water softener and I'm told my hot water will still be hard with this sediment in my tank.

[majakdragon]

Mark P, Wecome to the DIY Forums.
I have included a link that describes in detail, how to flush and drain your water heater. If you have any further questions, reply back using the reply button at the bottom of this post. Good luck.

http://forum.doityourself.com/showthread.php?t=134483

[Mark_P]

Thank you very much. I'll give it a try. I guess when I drained the tank that's why all of the sediment stayed in the bottom.

[majakdragon]

Yeah, you got to drain and then get the sediment moving to go out the drain. Good luck.

[Mark_P]

I didn't work.
I let it flush for 10 minutes. I stopped flushing after 10 minutes because the water was very clear with no flakes. The first 15 sec. was brown water. Only a hand full of the sediment flakes came out.
When I had the lower heating element out there had to have been at least 6 inches of sediment in the bottom of that tank.

Any other suggestions would be appreciated.

[Mark_P]

I fixed it!
I drained the tank and took out the bottom heat element. I cut off a piece of garden hose and taped it to the hose onmy shop vac. It took awhile but we got 98% of it out of there.

thanks