Water Heater Cleaning Tool, Improves Hot Water Supply, Removes Hard Water Sediment, Flushes Gas & Electric Tanks, Pro-Grade DIY Solution

This is a great little tool, which does what it claims to do and seems to be pretty durably made. I have just used it, and my experience leaves me with a warning I should submit for others.If you're using this for regular maintenance, this tool definitely does the job. Be ready for some water to flow out while you're swapping the valve for this tool; as long as the valve at the top is closed not much should come out, but you'll definitely need an old towel and a shop vac or carpet cleaner vacuum isn't a bad idea for pulling up water. Go slow with the drill, and I found it helpful to start in reverse at first, and switch rotation directions from time to time, going forward most of the time to bring in debris a little faster. I had the hose going outside at ground level, with the end in a location where the sediment wouldn't be a problem.This is probably going to be a workout for your drill, if you've got a significant build-up of sediment. It was a good 45 minutes of running my older 18V Ryobi brushed drill in 1st gear -- didn't take more than a quarter of the battery to do the job, but the drill got quite warm. Most of the job was at a partial squeeze of the trigger. I ended up using a 90 degree chuck adapter (one that maintains the same output speed, 1:1 gear ratio) and that made the job more comfortable, but wasn't necessary.The warning is for those using this as I did, in a situation where the water heater had not been properly maintained. In this case sediment had built up significantly. I needed to drain the tank to replace the lower element which had failed, and the sediment was complicating that process (and may have contributed to the failure) so I purchased this tool to help. When I finally got the tank cleaned and drained, I pulled the heater element only to find that what I removed was just the base of it, with two severed stumps of the element sticking out. The corroded and weakened element had been completely ripped off the base by the tool while I was cleaning the tank, and that discovery started a frustrating hour-long adventure with a borescope and grabber tool, to fish for the mangled element and pull it out of the hole.Overall I'm pretty impressed with the idea and execution of this tool. It's clearly manufactured to a cost and it feels like something that will last a few jobs and will then need to be replaced. And even so I'd call that a great deal at this price. Apparently this tool was manufactured from ABS until recently, when they switched to polycarbonate, and I think that was a fantastic choice. Polycarbonate is an extremely tough material, and it appears they did not skimp on it for the dimensions and thicknesses of the tool. It did jam a few times during operation as it attempted (and mostly failed) to injest very large chunks of what looked like anode rod material (I need to replace that too), which I dealt with by reversing the tool briefly. That said when I removed the tool after the job was done, a couple of these chunks were still lodged in the inlet where the agitator spring emerges and had been grinding away at the tool for an unknown time. Perhaps the designed shape of the water passage through the tool will evolve over time to make these jams less likely.No idea if the manufacturing would be feasible, but I'd easily pay 3-4 times as much for an improved "pro" model made from stainless steel, with clear polycarbonate windows in appropriate locations.

This item works awesome. I can not say enough about how well it to performed to remove the buildup inside of the tank in the hot water heater.

Works “ok”. It’s a of trouble getting the old drain value out and installing this one. To then have to change it all back out at the end.

Easy to use. Seems well constructed. I’m not sure how much build up I had in the tank. First cleaning since moving in. WH ran clear when drained. Bucket was milky after running it in there. WH 8 years old.

This is a great tool to have even though you will only use it once or twice a year. This product breaks up and flushes out any build up in your hot water tank.

My gas water heater was cracking and popping really loud when it was reheating water after each use. I tried to flush out the system, but that did nothing to solve the issue. I thought I would have to replace my water heater. I did some research and came across this tool, and thought I would give it a try. I followed the instructions and the tool worked like a charm. it removed probably 98% of the buildup from inside my heater. There were only a few remaining large chunks of build up that were too big to fit through the hole at the bottom of the tank, but I was able to remove those after breaking them into smaller pieces. After I was finished, there was no more popping/crackling sounds from my water heater. This tool worked great, was easy to use, and I would recommend it.

Be careful with this tool. Does it work like the description? Well,yes and no. Yes it will go into the drain hole and feed in the spring cable but first you have to remove the valve. Easy enough you think. But wait, I can't drain the tank first because it"s plugged,right? So, let me get this straight, I'm supposed to take the valve out,if it will come out, poke a flexable spring into the sediment,thread this tool into the hole than hook a hose to this tool then a drill? What about the 55 luke warm to hot water in the tank you say? Before you get the spring all the way in your gonna have 55 gallons of sludge, limestone and water all over the floor! Then after you call your adjuster,you can hook it to a drill and bang it around inside the tank which by now has poured most of the scale all over the floor! And if you go wild with the drill you are at high risk for breaking the glass inside the tank! Hmmmm.,.. Sounds to me like you shouldn't waste your money because you are going to have to find a way to drain the tank from the top or call a plumber and enjoy a cold beverage while it's done. I had to give it one star because zero wasn't an option, so yes you can thread it in and connect a drill and hose but if you bought the tool, came to the realazation of the afore mentioned info, had to drain the tank from the top eiter by the water connections or anode hole, take the elements out, vacuum the limestone out with a wet or dry vac, finish flushing it with water pressure through the cleaned out valve, what did you need the tool for?