It’s ok, you can admit it and in fact, I will start – I have not drained my water heater in a few years. Fortunately, for me the water is not that “hard” where I am. “Hard” water is simply sand, minerals, and other solids found in water. Now, if I still happened to live in Phoenix, I would be running into some serious issues. While small amounts of sediment that settle to the bottom the tank are not that big of an issue, over time they can start building up. In both gas & electric water heaters this can result in a loss of available water, can block the transfer of heat to the water and potentially clog the drain line making it almost impossible to drain.
Step 1: The most important step, that is most often overlooked (Orange)
Electric Water Heater (Left Side): Turn the power off to your electric water heater & tape the breaker in the off position. In some cases, your builder, electrician or plumber may have been nice to you & installed an actual outlet, so you can simply unplug it. If you forget to shut off the power & expose the heating element(s) you will more than likely burn them out.
Gas Water Heater (Right Side): There are two trains off thought here, some simply say that you need to turn the gas off, while others simply say that turning it to pilot is more than adequate. In my house, I have no problems with just turning it to the pilot setting, while in a customer’s house I will turn the gas off not only at the thermostat but also at the supply.
Step 2: Turn off the cold water supply to the tank.
Step 3: Attach a garden hose to the drain valve at the bottom of the tank. (Red)
A few quick words on this – cheap hoses tend become very soft and are prone to leak when hot water is run though them. Make sure you run the house to a convenient drain, sump pump, etc… and not simply into your crawl space. In some cases where a drain is completely unavailable or happens to be higher than the water heater, you can always do the bucket brigade or buy a pump to help propel the water out and away from the house.
Step 4: Time to drain the water
First, open up a nearby hot water faucet, and then the drain valve on your water heater. After you have done this, you should open up the hot water side of any faucet. Open up the drain valve on the tank and allow it to empty. Depending on the size of the hose and pressure, you can expect it to deliver 9 to 17 GPM. So if you have a 50 gallon tank, the water should be flowing at full pressure for 3 to 6 minutes – if the flow is slow, is trickling, etc… turn on the cold water supply to the tank. Turning on the cold water supply should hopefully help you blast through the clog.
Step 5: Rinse and Repeat
When the tank is finally empty, go ahead and shut off the drain valve. Turn the cold water supply back on & let the water heater start to refill. This will help loosen up some more sediment in the tank. Once the tank is partially filled, (about 1/2 to 2/3 full) let the tank fill partially and start the draining process again. Once the water starts flowing out, go ahead and turn the water supply off. If you have extreme amounts of sediment still in the tank, you may have to repeat this procedure a few more times. Look at the drain water… if it is running clear, you are done.
Step 6: The final few steps
Time to reverse the steps, well for the most part… First, you need to shut off the drain valve & unhook the hose. Open the cold water supply valve about halfway and allow the tank to slowly fill while checking for leaks. While this is going on, I suggest unscrewing the aerator on the open faucet & rinsing it off. Once the water starts to come out of the hot water faucet, the tank is full and you can turn off the faucet & re-install the aerator. Now, turn the cold water supply valve fully on, and then you can turn the electricity or gas back on to heat the water.
A few final notes:
Do you really need to clean out your tank yearly? It is a good idea, especially if you have well water or naturally hard water. If you are following our monthly maintenance checklists, we did list it as a yearly item simply because it is easier to remember than the ever popular, “Did I do it last year or not”?
Remember that with an electric water heater, you must turn the power off, because even a partial drain may expose the upper heating element to the air and permanently damage it! (Blue) As always, please stay safe; if you feel uncomfortable, do not understand how to complete a task, etc… please call in a professional.
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OK! In addition to reducing the available hot water in gallons, you also pay to heat the build up!
I got over this one at home. I now have a tankless heater. Good Information, Sean!
John
First off, thanks for the comment John. As I recall, you still have maintenance to do on those also, correct? I hope your having a great day
If you do not want to spend much on repairs or maintenance for your HVAC systems including your water heater, learning a thing or two on how to care for it will be very helpful. As our water heaters provide us with comfort whenever we use it for taking a bath or for other purposes, we should also do our part in properly using them to avoid damage or malfunction.
I object to turning off the power to the tank first off. You run the risk of dry firing the tank when thou turn it back on and have forgot to bleed all the air out of the tank. When you leave the power on and are draining the tank, you are also increasing the amount of energy you need to reheat the water in the tank. Next, only turn off the water shut off on top of the tank when you are attaching the hose to the drain valve. Most of the time the sediment is blocking the drain, and the pressure helps you to get it started draining the tank. If you drain out more than a third of the tank, you have now stirred up the sediment and are wasting water and time. You should consult a licensed plumber if you are not able to do anything with your appliance.
Thanks for chiming in but I guess we will have to agree to disagree as a homeowner following the directions above about turning off the power first, making sure it is fully filled before turning it back on won’t be ruining the element, etc…
Good point on the professional needing to be a Licensed Plumber
I object to turning off the power to the tank first off. You run the risk of dry firing the tank when thou turn it back on and have forgot to bleed all the air out of the tank. When you leave the power on and are draining the tank, you are also increasing the amount of energy you need to reheat the water in the tank. Next, only turn off the water shut off on top of the tank when you are attaching the hose to the drain valve. Most of the time the sediment is blocking the drain, and the pressure helps you to get it started draining the tank. If you drain out more than a third of the tank, you have now stirred up the sediment and are wasting water and time. You should consult a licensed plumber if you are not able to do anything with your appliance.
I object to turning off the power to the tank first off. You run the risk of dry firing the tank when thou turn it back on and have forgot to bleed all the air out of the tank. When you leave the power on and are draining the tank, you are also increasing the amount of energy you need to reheat the water in the tank. Next, only turn off the water shut off on top of the tank when you are attaching the hose to the drain valve. Most of the time the sediment is blocking the drain, and the pressure helps you to get it started draining the tank. If you drain out more than a third of the tank, you have now stirred up the sediment and are wasting water and time. You should consult a licensed plumber if you are not able to do anything with your appliance.
Thanks for chiming in but I guess we will have to agree to disagree as a homeowner following the directions above about turning off the power first, making sure it is fully filled before turning it back on won’t be ruining the element, etc…
Good point on the professional needing to be a Licensed Plumber
i have a question on the gas geyer on the right.
i have more of less the same type of gas geyser, for past week now, they is little or no pressure depending on the bathroom location in the house. the nearer to geyser have some water (the pressure is normal at the start than it goes as low as i turn the water on) while few other bathroom which is further than the geyser is also normal at opening the water then quickly the water pressure is like near or none water, but the hot water is their.
i have also drain out the water some what before i read this post. havnt tried it, since not sure it will work or not.
they were some rust or brown water came before clean water.
is my geyser busted or should i try this.
No issues with cold water? You could have some blockage in the tank near the Hot supply but I have a feeling it is an issue with the pipes themselves. One quick trick is to pull the aerators off at the faucets & see if that helps – sometimes those get blocked up – let the water run for a bit & then reinstall them. For the shower heads, you would have to take off the head. Next I would drain the tank & if that doesn’t work then it is time to call in a plumber to have everything checked
ok being stupid n noobs here . what is aerators? is it the dial to change the heat?
i am uploading picture of the top from where water is coming when i pull the lever up, n it is more pressure when i pull it up. first they use to be some dust or rust water before clear water comes it.
i had one plumber came today, n he opened the drain valve after closing the main water line. the water did not splash out but come out with a hipcups than he closed the valve and said that is ok. what he did later was increase the temp speed by removing the red dial n unscrew n rescrew after setting it very very hot. going to change that myself back. later he said, buy a new gas geyser, also i felt he was inexperience.
so i am thinking of calling another plumber tomorrow but i would like to try to fix it myself rather than pay another plumber more money.
Aereators are what is on the end of your faucets & they unscrew – they have a filter on them which if it gets clogged blocks the water flow.
Seeing you have CPVC piping the issue is probably not that & your unit could be full of sediment. Follow the directions above & yes reset the temp back down to around 120 degrees F or about 50 degrees C
also to let u know the cold water and hot water main line is the same and they is “T” where cold and hot is separated. and also as u can see the starting flow is fast but reduce quickly down little low than this for kitchen n two bathroom, while which are far from the geyser, the water is near dripping water while the water is near hot too, for showers and faucets
and also aereators are clean.
ok lot of broken black rust came out along with brown sediment came out. i did around 3-5 times and i am guessing they might be little left.
i did with running water and turning the water off too.
sometimes the water was clear i had to put a long steel stick n softly bang something inside the tank through the drain valve and more sediment started to came out.
now after closing it, they isnt any water coming out. any suggestion.
My good friend Paul at http://www.davinciremodeling.net/ had a similar issue before – what he did to fix it & some other suggestions can be found here: http://www.contractortalk.com/f9/low-hot-water-flow-148841/
i will try to remove the hot water connection from hot water outlet connection after the close valve which u can see in the picture tomorrow.
also the previous pressure of hot water is not gone, before i cleared it. even the water guaging is finish even in the kitchen sink and water isnt coming out far as before from the hot water nossle on top of which picture i posted earlier.
let hope removing the joiner in the hot water outlet helps.
also, i going to dedicated separate new pvp for water inlet for geyser so when i have to close the main valve cold water could still be in the flow.
ok this what happened to finally get my hot water back to normal. i do hope u add this too.
my water inlet line to geyser was jammed.
first closed the water line valve , then i dismantle the outlet for hotwater from the top and insert a steel rod to check if that was blocked or not. once it was cleared, i then opened thewater inlet line to the geyser from the top again, their was the problem since the rod got struck in the middle so i had to jammed it few times before i could touch the bottom while keep on moving rod few more times.
now, i was sure tht i found the problem, then i cleared the valve with water and then closed the inlet only(keeping the outlet still open). i opened the water main valve to the geyser and open the drain valve the pressure increase alot and all black stuff came out. (the water throw i can guess was around 3 to 4Ft)
then i closed the water main valve n stick a steel small rod n rub it inside the drain valve to let any small sediment left.
once that done, i now cleared the hotwater outlet valve and closed it up. i closed the drain valve, turn the near facuet on, n open the main water valve. also then turned the geyser to hot.
the water was splashing fast now. some sediment came out before clear water.i now opened all the tab in the house to make sure any sediment left in the line will be cleared.
after a while hot water came and now everyone is enjoying the hot water flow.
thx for all the tips, i will from now on clear my geyser yearly from the drain valve only unless i feel the pressure have reduce again.
i hope u will add this in ur main topic, so that who have this issue can solve it like this.
Glad to hear you got it sorted out & for letting us all know. Hopefully with regular maintenance you won’t run into this issue again. Have a great one and my pleasure
one last question 🙂
as they is bubble coming with the hot water, and i let them out before mixing with cold water. the plumber which came earlier also send to install a air let pipe (plain pvp pipie) on top of the geyser water inlet side (which is closed from the top). i agreed on it but the strange thing is he said that it need to be above the water tank?
is that necessary, reason i am asking is that my water tank is top of the second floor, n geyser is on the ground floor. distance roughly around 20-28ft high.
so what do u suggest.
If I am reading this correctly, I leave it to the plumber to recommend when we need an expansion tank here which is what it sounds like he might be suggesting but using a pipe only.
As for the bubbles in the line, yes that is normal after draining the tank / lines as air got into them – once water displaces the air that should be it
no expanision of the tank, just a air let for cold water coming in the geyser tank.but do i need the air let pipe on the top pf the pipe coming inside the geyser ? (even though the pressure of wter is great, better than before i can say too) and if yes, do it need to be higher than the water tank that is on top of the two storey building. or can it be just 5 or 10″ ft high, (which will be lower than the water tank above).
also now n then hot water do turn light brown water for few min. maybe they still are more sediment inside the tank.
I can’t really speak to what your plumber recommended or why he did, I would question him on the need. As for water turning colors, I am not sure exactly where you are located but it also could be what is coming in & if so you might want to look into a prefilter or more routine cleaning. For more on filters: https://thehtrc.com/2012/going-off-grid-water-filtration
This is great advice. What if the water is draining at a trickle or a very slow rate? How does one get it to drain faster and to remove the sediment if the sediment is not coming out?
You may wish to recheck the end of step 4 for a few tips – if you are still having issues, it might just be time for a new one
Whomever wrote this is full of shit. You are lucky to get 3gpm draining a tank.
Long hose – lower flow rate
smaller diameter hose – lower flow rate
blockage / junk in bottom of tank – restricted flow rate
kinked hose / numerous coils – restricted flow rate
Running up to a sink as compared to straight out & down – flow rate issues & you might need a pump
Numbers are legit just like your number is
OK! In addition to reducing the available hot water in gallons, you also pay to heat the build up! I got over this one at home. I now have a tankless heater. Good Information, Sean!John
First off, thanks for the comment John. As I recall, you still have maintenance to do on those also, correct? I hope your having a great day
If you do not want to spend much on repairs or maintenance for your HVAC systems including your water heater, learning a thing or two on how to care for it will be very helpful. As our water heaters provide us with comfort whenever we use it for taking a bath or for other purposes, we should also do our part in properly using them to avoid damage or malfunction.