DIY home guide: Summer
How to protect the value of your property, cut energy costs, avoid costly repairs, and spiff up your surroundings all summer.
Clean the tanks
Cost: $5 to $10 for a filter
Residue and other crud collects in your hot-water heater's tank. To clean out the sediment that settles at the bottom and decreases the heater's efficiency, drain the tank annually (cut the power first).
"If you don't, you can end up with a foot of sludge at the bottom," says Dick Edwards, vice president of Pacific InterWest Building Consultants.
To make sure contaminants don't get into your water softener, change the sediment filter once a year (or any time it's discolored).
NEXT: Patrol for pests (again)
Last updated January 28 2011: 5:22 PM ET
