Should we drain our water heater???

I know many of my past customers use this blog as a tool for making their homes more efficient.  During all of my final walk throughs, 30 day walk throughs, and even the one year walk through with my past customers I mention emptying their water heater yearly.  While most don't ever even touch this appliance once it is turned on, there are some very inexpensive things we can do to make it last much longer than the typical life expectancy.  To drain your water heater, simply turn the switch to the unit off.  It is typically located near the floor where you would also adjust the temperature.  Once it is shut off, find the main line of water into the water heater.  This is located just above the water heater usually.  Now that the power and the water source is off to the unit, attach a garden hose to the screwed outlet on the water heater.  Once the hose is attached and ran to the floor drain, take a flat head screw driver and use it to open the valve next to the screwed outlet.  It typically doesn't take long to drain the water out, but by doing it this way the sediment on the bottom of the water heater leaves as well as the water.  This sediment is typically what accumulates over time and will eventually cause the water heater to rust from the bottom.  Once the water heater is drained of the water, screw the valve closed completely.  Then open the water valve on the top of the water heater back up to fill the unit up.  Remember not to turn the water heater on before any of this.  Doing so can damage the water heater due to how fast the elements can heat up.  Once the unit is filled and no water is leaking from the valves, turn on the water heater switch to start the heating of the water once again.  This is really that simple to do and it will more than likely add years of worry free operation to your homes water heater.