If you live in Raleigh, Garner, or anywhere in Wake County, your water is hard — really hard. Falls Lake and Jordan Lake water picks up dissolved calcium and magnesium on its way to your tap, and every time your water heater runs, those minerals precipitate out and settle at the bottom of the tank as sediment.
Sediment sits between the burner (or heating element) and the water. That forces your heater to work longer and harder to warm the same water, which means higher energy bills and a slowly cooking tank bottom. Gas heaters can develop rumbling or popping sounds as steam bubbles fight through the mineral layer — that noise is your efficiency leaving the building.
A tank flush once a year removes most sediment before it hardens into scale. Let the tank cool, attach a hose to the drain valve, and flush until the water runs clear — for Wake County water, that usually takes several minutes. If scale has already hardened, a professional descaling or, on older tanks, replacement may be the better math.
For long-term prevention, a whole-house water softener or conditioner sized for your home's hardness (Wake County typically tests 60–120 ppm as CaCO3) dramatically slows new sediment formation and extends heater life by years.
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