The Super Official Homeowners Thread

[Steve85]

That heating element and junk in the bottom of the tank look very familiar. The old house (well water with softener) had electric water heater and when I replaced the lower element that's exactly what it looked like.

I did, and they recommend, bypassing the outside hose bibs but I don't think you can or should bypass the toilets. The hard water will take its toll on the toilet valves, seals and flapper. The toilet feeds come off the same plumbing as the vanity and shower so it would require re-plumbing all of that to separate out the toilets. Outside feeds are usually started pretty close to where the main line comes in the house and plumbed separately from the rest of the house making them easy to bypass. If you look at my fourth pic, the bottom blue valve feeds the filter/softener and is just above the two lines with the brass valves that feed the hose bibs.