…… Need help...Draining my hot water heater! NOT!

[Warren Bone]

Whoa!

About a month ago our local water dept. shut the water off down the street from me; was off for a couple hours.

Well...when they turned it back on (after repairing whatever was wrong) guess what?

My hot water pressure was really weak; lots weaker than before. And we have really good cold water pressure here at the house.

So by asking around at Lowe's (where I work) the plumbing experts tell me that happens all the time: shut the water line off; turn it back on and here comes a bunch of trash/rocks/pebbles, etc., and they get stuck in the water heater somewhere, reducing the flow.

They advised me to drain the water heater to see if that would dislodge the trash...

Now HERE'S MY PROBLEM I NEED HELP WITH:

When I hooked up the hose to the water heater and opened the valve to drain it (and yes I shut off the waterline in, and turned off the gas, and opened about three hot water outlets at the sinks so it could get some breatheing) ... NOTHING WOULD COME OUT! NO DRAINING!

I even removed the hose and opened the drain valve and nothing came out!

When I turned the cold water back on to let it flow into the water heater, the water would flow through the water drain and out the hose.

So...why the heck won't this thing drain? Could the trash be stuck in there somewhere to prevent the thing from getting any air at all?

I'm lost.

Got any ideas?



warren.

 

[sparkky]

you may try it again while holding the little pressure relief handle/lever to open it up.

don't know, but may be worth a try.

 

[wanderer]

You must allow water or air into the tank to replace to volume of hot water being removed. Opening the valves at sinks/lavatories simply allows gravity to work. If the sink/lavatory valves are at about the same level as the water heater you will not get much/any flow.

Try this.

1) return system to normal.
2) turn off gas, or at least turn it to low simply to prevent wasting gas.
3) open the drain valve at the bottom of the water heater tank.

The pressure of the cold water supply will flush your tank as much as can be done.

 

[Dennis Olson]

You should open a hot water faucet in the house somewhere, to allow air to bleed back into the line as you attempt to drain it.

 

[Publius]

Does your local water have a lot of sediment! like Lime, this can settle in the bottom of the hot-water heater and will clog the drain and even cut off the flow of water over time and often will destroy the lower heating element with electric hot water heaters. Not knowing how your pluming is setup its hard for me to tell you how to fix this. Do you have a portable air compressor see if you can make a setup to blow air into the drain that may clear the obstucion so it can be drianed.

 

[Fisher]

Warren,

If you've had that hot water tank for a while I would guess it is full of sediment and needs to be replaced.

I've seen it happen a lot of times.

Fisher

 

[Warren Bone]

Thanks...all good ideas to try.

I did run the cold water into the tank for a while, and it did rush out the drain hose.

Maybe I'll try opening that pressure relief valve and see if that won't provide the air needed to drain it. I did open that valve momentarily just to make sure it was functional. Then I had to sop up the water it dumped out on the dusty pan below the heater!

And I never thought about those sink faucets being at the same level as the heater. Makes sense.

(I'm humbled to know I'm not the smartest person on the planet after all!)

Any other ideas appreciated. I have two water heaters. Both were installed in the house when it was new, about eight years ago. I'm afraid it won't be too long before they'll need replacing anyway. But why rush it?

warren.

 

[SurvivalRing]

Thanks...all good ideas to try.

I did run the cold water into the tank for a while, and it did rush out the drain hose.

Maybe I'll try opening that pressure relief valve and see if that won't provide the air needed to drain it. I did open that valve momentarily just to make sure it was functional. Then I had to sop up the water it dumped out on the dusty pan below the heater!

And I never thought about those sink faucets being at the same level as the heater. Makes sense.

(I'm humbled to know I'm not the smartest person on the planet after all!)

Any other ideas appreciated. I have two water heaters. Both were installed in the house when it was new, about eight years ago. I'm afraid it won't be too long before they'll need replacing anyway. But why rush it?

warren.

Great Googly Moogly...

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=flushing+sediment+out+of+water+heaters

Rich

 

[wanderer]

Try back flushing.

1) Connect hose from yard hydrant to drain valve of water heater.
2) open hot water valves at sink/lavatories
3) open valve at yard hydrant connected to water heater.

Be warned this may push debris into hot water line feeding your house and result in obstructed hot water supply to house.

Warning: manual operation of pressure relief valve is not a good idea. This often results in causing the valve to leak.

Additional ideas to consider.

Disconnect water heater from supply to house and then backflush.
If water heater is ten years old or older consider replacing water heater.

 

[Handyman]

are all faucets effected? some faucets have little screens in them at the faucet to protect the seat,

is there a "union" on the hot line coming into the hot water heater if there is one could loosen it there and see if it would drain,
I have had the die electric coupling built up with sediment and block the flow on a hot water heater one time, repipe most of the house and there coming out of the heater the little brass fitting was built up with sediment.

when cold water is pushing the draining water, is the contents of the hose clean or is it look like gravel or sand or other in the water coming out?

 

[Warren Bone]

are all faucets effected? some faucets have little screens in them at the faucet to protect the seat,

is when cold water is pushing the draining water, is the contents of the hose clean or is it look like gravel or sand or other in the water coming out?

I have three faucets that run off that one heater, and all three are equally weak/slow. So I figure it's not the screens.

I'm going to try tomorrow opening the pressure valve to see if that will allow it to drain (the owner book does say to check that valve manually once a year or so).

Just FYI...I have to give my three dogs a bath tomorrow and I'll need some hot water for that chore; so I won't drain the heater until all that's done (if I have any energy left).

warren.

 

[SurfaceTension]

Try back flushing.

1) Connect hose from yard hydrant to drain valve of water heater.
2) open hot water valves at sink/lavatories
3) open valve at yard hydrant connected to water heater.

Be warned this may push debris into hot water line feeding your house and result in obstructed hot water supply to house.

Warning: manual operation of pressure relief valve is not a good idea. This often results in causing the valve to leak.

Additional ideas to consider.

Disconnect water heater from supply to house and then backflush.
If water heater is ten years old or older consider replacing water heater.

I STRONGLY DISAGREE with this, unless you limit to no more than a second...The last thing you want is to stir up even more sediment and force into your pipes. Opening the pressure release valve is fine, as is allowing cold water pressure to blow the water out.

If there is sediment caught in the piping, allowing the hot water system to completely drain down (open upstairs hot faucet & drain water heater) might do the trick. When refilling, leave the same faucet on & crack all others slightly so air is pushed out.

 

[Grim]

I could be as simple as you have a backflow preventer somewhere in the system. Open the pressure release valve and that should allow you to drain the tank. A couple things to keep in mind 1- sometimes when you fool around with an older pressure release valve it will not reseal properly, maybe have to replace it. 2- I doubt this will solve you problem, however it is a good place to start. I am trying to think of some other ideas let us know how things are working out.