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The water in Florida tends to be quite hard because of all the limestone.

Flush your heater annually to limit the scale build up.

[HotHunt]

We have installed expensive filters because of our well water content. And I've drained enough water heaters over the years in my rentals to fill a swimming pool.

Thanks to the internet, we've saved a ton of money on plumbers. We learned to troubleshoot them and replace parts (i.e. thermostats, heating elements and high temperature cutoff switch) in them over the years. They are actually pretty simple appliances and almost all of them have the same parts on the inside.