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Last night while taking a shower, my shower head started spraying like something had plugged it up from the inside. Before I took it apart to see what it was, I thought it was merely pieces of rubber from one of the gaskets. I was wrong, it was small metal chunks! Some of this same thing also came through my kitchen faucet.

My question is: is it possible that this is something that could have come from the (gas) water heater? Or is it more likely to have been something from the main waterline from the street?

Any ideas?

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Nearly 12 years with this same water heater, and all this time I've owned this house, I never knew that water heaters need to be flushed periodically. This "chunk" turned out not to be metal, but rather mineral stones. Not surprised, the water here really isn't the best.

Thankfully, though, flushing a water heater isn't a difficult process. But when the bottom drain valve leaks after you've closed it, well, that's about a WTF moment :/

My fix? Leave the garden hose attached to it and keep it pointed into a large bucket. Cheaper than messin with the ole gal I guess :/

Seriously though, anyone else not realize that water heaters are supposed to be periodically flushed? This whole thing has left me feeling at least 2% retarded