Draining water heater

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

I have a newer water heater (about 4 years old). I've heard you should drain them every year.

Would it help at this point? Besides opening the bottom valve, what else do I do?

[UMDSportsman]

for draining them i'm pretty sure that there is usually a valve on the top of the tank that you open to let air in. and the obvious, you are probably going to want to hook up a hose to direct the draining water to a drain.

[Bobby Bass]

No valve on top, Turn off power to heater, turn off water to heater, open hot water at a sink and attach hose to bottom valve. Drain heater and sediment, that is why you are draining it. Refill tank halfway, drain again (flushing tank) remove hose, close facet, turn water back on and when full restore power. Pretty simple basic mant.

[delmuts]

I asked my plumber that question a while back. He told me that they just run a hose from the tank to a drain and open the valve. The force of the water running thru it flushes out the [PoorWordUsage] in the bottom.( I did this to mine, letting the water run for about 20 minutes.It seemed to help) They do this to water heaters that they are going to replace so they aren't so heavy.

[Tom7227]

Well do you want to drain it or do you want to flush it?

The valve you refer to is the pressure relief valve and it opens if the unit gets too hot. It's there to prevent the unit from blowing up. Some recomment opening it once a year or so to prevent scale buildup. If you open it and it continues to drip you have to go and buy a new one and replace it - get one with the same temp reading.

If you want to drain the heater you can turn off the water, open a faucet high in your house, put a hose on the outlet at the bottom of the heater and open the value. The unit should be turned off - both gas and electric - if you're going to do this for some reason.

If you want to flush it you can simply put a hose on the valve on the bottom, direct it to a drain and open it up. It will only take a short time to flush it out. 2-3 minutes is enough most of the time.

If you are installing a new water heater you may want to consider putting shut off valves on both the inlet and the outlet pipes. That way you can switch it out without shutting down the whole house.

[youngie22]

Don't touch the pressure vavle on top, unless you want to replace that soon because its leaking. First hook up your hose, keep pressure on the tank. Open valve on bottom by hose connection. let water come out for a few seconds, the pressure will help drain and possibly break up some calcium and junk. Turn off inlet tube. Most have valve atop of the water heater. some may have to turn off whole house. open a valve or 2 on each level, 1 may work more will only help. Like Tom said, if installing new, 2 shutoff valves is very nice, as are dielectric unions to connect appliance to copper pipes. This will help w/ electrolisys in your pipes and also make your next water heater replacement take about 20 minutes.

[Tom7227]

What youngie22 said - the electrolisys means that gunk will form on the pipes and screw things up - for you non-chemistry majors.