Advice for draining water heater

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How old is your house?
Does it have copper or iron water pipes?

It may have nothing to do with your W.H. at all, hot water lines tend to build plaque long before cold water lines do. Which is the main cause for low pressure in hot water lines.

I'm a retired Union Steamfitter/ Plumber of 40+ years, if I can help, let me know.

Even if you have copper pipes, someone may have used steel nipples between the piping and the angle stops, if that's the case you may need to pull off each angle stop and replace the nipples with brass nipples, like it should've been plumbed to begin with.

By the way, whoever said that draining water heater sediment into your waste lines would harm them is completely wrong, it won't hurt a damn thing.

If I can help, let me know.
Dan
 
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THANKS AGAIN!

All good info. Agree 20 years is a good run. Never heard of a tank splitting. Gonna keep that in mind. House is newer (to me LOL) 1960. All copper. I will say that low water pressure due to limescale does not make sense to me. Not ruling out plaque for sure. 90ppm alkalinity here. Here's some pics. Got a manual now that I have the info. At this point thinking I will drain this weekend and see what happens for giggles. The hot line is the anode. Might pull and have a look see. Great idea to check out some videos! I've seen a few people put some things down that hot line opening to get the limescale back into suspension to drain. Like a drain snake. That's about as far as I will go and will get a pro from there. We are contemplating an addition that includes getting laundry on main floor and plan to relocate the hot water so would not like to stick any money into it for now.

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Yeah, mine has a plastic drain. I have had to replace lower unit multiple times due to the lime build up in tank. I am on a well and everybody around has lime build up in theirs to some extent. Every time I try to get as much out through the hole as I can. I am prob going to have to replace mine soon. I installed it when we bought house about 10 years ago. I put shut off valves above the heater in case i have to change it again.
 
Manual has pretty good instructions on draining.

Any guesstimate on how long to fill and heat back up?
 
Make sure all the air is out or you will fry a element, takes about 1 hour for a 50 gallon to recover they say
 
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Can send a pic of the top connections?
Is there a valve on the inlet to cut-off the water?

Keith
 
I don't think there is a shut off valve for it as main is nearby.
 
When filling leave the hot side faucets open as well, when they all start running water you know it's full. Start early...then you have time for parts run if things go wrong.

Ryan
 
When filling leave the hot side faucets open as well, when they all start running water you know it's full. Start early...then you have time for parts run if things go wrong.

Ryan
Exactly! And especially a tub faucet if you have one. No aerator to get clogged up..
And since it is a gas unit, I would run the water thru the tank and out of the drain to try and wash out any of the deposits.
I was a plumber/electrician specializing in repair work.....a lifetime ago🤣
Shoot me a PM if you have any issues.


Keith
 
Exactly! And especially a tub faucet if you have one. No aerator to get clogged up..
And since it is a gas unit, I would run the water thru the tank and out of the drain to try and wash out any of the deposits.
I was a plumber/electrician specializing in repair work.....a lifetime ago🤣
Shoot me a PM if you have any issues.


Keith
Pull your pants up...don't you know Crack kills? :emoji_laughing:

Ryan
 
SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING. Gonna delay messing with it as I want the anode in hand AND there is no FN way I will be able to get the anode in there without cracking all the connectors to lean it so that's where I am at. So happy I boned up on it before I went for it. Learned LOTS. THANKS.
 
SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING. Gonna delay messing with it as I want the anode in hand AND there is no FN way I will be able to get the anode in there without cracking all the connectors to lean it so that's where I am at. So happy I boned up on it before I went for it. Learned LOTS. THANKS.
The anode I just replaced mine with is molded in sections around a cable that allows replacement in very tight spaces. Kind of like this...
1664747659068.png

Or this...
1664747695023.png

Search the interweb for "Flexible anode rods for water heaters". Also, be sure to hold the tank solidly or you might break all the connections when trying to remove the old anode if the tank is allowed to twist...
 
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Thank you Charles, but my anode is the hot line so no can do. Curious if pros offer a water heater service like drain, clean, and anode or is it just RNR?
 
I would think you might get someone to do that for you but for the cost and how old your water heater is I don't think it would be cost effective.

Ryan
 
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