LESLIE: Art in Iowa, you’ve got The Money Pit. What can we do for you?
ART: Hi. Yeah, you all had mentioned a few tips for, you know, home improvements and keeping your house up-to-date. I was wondering, when you said about draining water heaters, does that apply if you still have a whole-house filter? Is that still necessary to drain a couple of gallons out of your water heater every six months?
TOM: If you have a filtration system? Is that what you’re asking?
ART: Well, I have a whole-house filter that just – you know, it filters out like sediment and stuff like that.
TOM: Well, certainly you would be less likely to build up any type of a mineral deposit in the bottom of the water heater.
LESLIE: But don’t you still end up with rust in the bottom?
TOM: Mmm, well …
LESLIE: Not so much?
TOM: Now, the rust would not be in the water part of it. The rust would be if it’s a gas-fired water heater you can get rust in the burner compartment.
LESLIE: In the coil. In the burner itself.
TOM: Right, and it has to be cleaned. You know, in the years I was a professional home inspector I would very often open up those burner compartments and see like a cone-shaped pile of rust; looked like a little volcano …
LESLIE: Mm-hmm.
TOM: … you know, on top of that burner. So certainly you’ve got to keep the burner clean and functioning properly and that’s something that you would do periodically. But in terms of draining it, it’s not a bad idea to drain it once every six months or so but, certainly, if you have a filtration system on your house then you’re a lot less likely to get a scale buildup. (Baby cries)
Ah! (Leslie chuckles) The baby crying in the background.
ART: (chuckling) Yeah. My little boy there. Well, thank you all very much. I really enjoy y’all’s show.
TOM: You’re welcome, Art. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT. Bye, little boy.
LESLIE: (chuckling) Future home improvement doer.
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