Hot water heater

[kingcat]

There should be a silver or brass colored drain cock at the bottom of the water heater tank with a threaded end. Hook a water hose to that and run it to a floor drain or, outside.

Open the pressure relief valve (T&P) Flip the lever into an up position. Completely drain the tank, which can be a slow process.

To flush the sediment, turn on the water supply inlet at the top of the tank for twenty seconds or so and let it stir up the sediment. Repeat the process a few times allowing it to drain. But..

On my heater I actually raked the solidified chunks of sediment out of the lower element base hole first. If you have as much in it as he claims it may be necessary. Then do the standard cold water flush to remove the rest.

This process needs to be done every couple of years regardless just to extend tank life. The stuff is really corrosive.

[KentuckyWildcat]

He tried to drain it, just didn't have any luck. Said I could try sticking something up the drain to loosen it. I think he was worn out and didn't want to mess it or with charge me for the time. He had worked all weekend.

[CitizenBBN]

A little air pressure in the right places will do wonders.

I do mean a LITTLE air pressure, do not want to blow the top off your tank with 15 psi like I did to a 10,000 gallon tank once upon a time. Top of the tank sailed away for about 50 feet before crashing to the ground. Hot water tank pressure should withstand a couple hundred psi, but it does not take nearly that much pressure to force the water out of the tank.

Use the air pressure to force the water out the hole in the top of the tank.

Mythbusters have blown up a bunch of them. I think they it about 340ish, but they go to a red zone I think at about 150psi.

I wouldn't push it though. When they do blow one up it goes through a 2 story house with ease.

[KeithKSR]

A little air pressure in the right places will do wonders.

I do mean a LITTLE air pressure, do not want to blow the top off your tank with 15 psi like I did to a 10,000 gallon tank once upon a time. Top of the tank sailed away for about 50 feet before crashing to the ground. Hot water tank pressure should withstand a couple hundred psi, but it does not take nearly that much pressure to force the water out of the tank.

Use the air pressure to force the water out the hole in the top of the tank.

Disconnect the water lines and it should keep pressure inside the tank from building much. I’d apply the pressure to the drain valve with an air compressor blow gun and give it short bursts to try to work the sediment loose.

I’ve got a couple like this one I use for stuff like that: https://www.lowes.com/pd/Kobalt-7-Pi...un-Kit/3421414

You could also put a 3/4” hose bib on the hot water side and run a water hose to a drain, then apply air to the drain valve. Even applying some air to the cold water side may help drain some of the water.

When full the heater will have 320 lbs of water in it for a 40 gallon tank, so plan on an appliance cart to move it if you can’t drain it most of the way before moving it.

[KentuckyWildcat]

After reading Dan's and Citizen's post....I think you guys want me to shoot this thing through my roof lol

[KentuckyWildcat]

You’ll have to give us a review of 5he tankless heater after you begin using it. I’ve been wondering about how they would do in a whole house situation.

Zero complaints so far. Hard to tell in limited use but it does not seem to be using a lot of propane. Wife has taken showers while I was filling up the tub for the girls. Hot water kept up Just fine.

If I want to be overly critical and picky. And this could be my imagination. It might take just a moment longer to get hot water to the faucets. And the water pressure might briefly drop just a little at times when turning on another faucet.



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[CitizenBBN]

I have a tankless, have had it for about 15 years. To service the house I either had to do that or put in dual gas tanks (my basement can't get a single larger tank in it), so I went tankless.

I did wear out my first one, just replaced it with another maker. Not ideal, but 15 years or so on one? Maybe not horrible, and my area has very hard water so that may be part of it.

I love it overall. First the negatives:

1) All tankless have a threshold of water flow to kick on, so you can't just have a small trickle and have it heat. Bigger the unit often the bigger the minimum flow. I think my current one is like .5gpm (gallon per minute) or something similar, which is actually pretty low.

2) I do think there's a bit more delay to get the hot water going, and that's b/c it has to hit a flow rate, then kick on and start up. It's seconds, not minutes, but there is a bit more lag.

Now the positives:

1) It's ENDLESS. You can have hot water all you want.

2) It's efficient. You aren't heating water till you need hot water.

3) Saves space. Not a big one for me but that tankless is smaller than a tank for sure.


As for the negatives, they are minor compared to the positives.

Caveats:

1) I have only ever used this unit with one shower or bath at a time, maybe with laundry running. You can pick a unit based on capacity. Mine is rated for like 2.5 simultaneous showers, but I prefer to rate in gpm. that's actually harder to get info on with the new units as they don't like to market with actual facts. But mine is somewhere between 8 and 10 gpm based on my math, which should be more than sufficient to run two showers simultaneously (federal limit on a showerhead is 2.5gpm, though that is passed on fancy systems with multiple heads).

2) you need to clean them, by backflowing them once a year to flush stuff. At least on my new unit. Haven't done that yet, but I assume it's not a huge deal.

3) NOTE***** If your unit has an electrical starter for the gas tankless, and the power goes out, you have no hot water unless you have a battery on it or a battery backup, so plan for that for that 4 day ice storm power outage. Mine has a battery on it.

[CitizenBBN]

Zero complaints so far. Hard to tell in limited use but it does not seem to be using a lot of propane. Wife has taken showers while I was filling up the tub for the girls. Hot water kept up Just fine.

If I want to be overly critical and picky. And this could be my imagination. It might take just a moment longer to get hot water to the faucets. And the water pressure might briefly drop just a little at times when turning on another faucet.



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I think both of those things are true.

The delay is b/c the unit has to hit the minimum flow rate, which takes a few seconds on my to actually turn on once I hit the faucet. Then of course it has to heat up, though these things put out so many btus that's quick too. But there is a small delay versus having hot water right in the line.

Mine is gas fwiw. I know they have electric units, but I would think they would have more issues on delay and heating up fast.

[KentuckyWildcat]

2) you need to clean them, by backflowing them once a year to flush stuff. At least on my new unit. Haven't done that yet, but I assume it's not a huge deal.

3) NOTE***** If your unit has an electrical starter for the gas tankless, and the power goes out, you have no hot water unless you have a battery on it or a battery backup, so plan for that for that 4 day ice storm power outage. Mine has a battery on it.

2) Plumber said the buy the "kit" to flush it out. Makes it easier. I have not done that yet but will.

3) Good thought on the battery backup. Need to see what size UPS could handle that. I have a generator that will power the tankless one, but would be nice to not have to hook it up.

[CitizenBBN]

2) Plumber said the buy the "kit" to flush it out. Makes it easier. I have not done that yet but will.

3) Good thought on the battery backup. Need to see what size UPS could handle that. I have a generator that will power the tankless one, but would be nice to not have to hook it up.

I got the "kit" with mine on this new one, but my year isn't up yet. I'll have my "guy" come walk me through the first one probably. he's extremely reasonable on price, and lives on the next street over. Tough to beat.

I'm going to do the same thing and wire an UPS inline to the unit. Or at least unwire the hardwire and go with a plug so in a crisis I can plug it into an UPS. I haven't really fooled with it yet, I was busy when he installed it but we discussed the issue, but for winter I want to get it set up. Mine has a battery but I don't want to have that as my only option. I'm likely to not change it out and in 3 years need it and not have it.

I really want a whole house generator but that will have to wait unless one comes free.

[KentuckyWildcat]

I really want a whole house generator but that will have to wait unless one comes free.

Same!

Thinking about just getting my house wired to plug in my portable for the short term. Maybe a whole house later in life when I am less able to get out and start a portable. If I had natural gas, I'd probably go ahead and bit the bullet.

[Darrell KSR]

All this talk about hot water heaters, and tonight I was watching an old Cheers episode. Carla is exchanging insults with her paramour, John Allen Hill. Hill says, "Ahh, Miss Tortelli. Is that a new hairdo, or did someone toss a toaster in your bathtub?"

He corrects himself, and then says, "What am I thinking...what would you be doing in a bathtub?"

I know it's dumb, but I keep laughing about that one and had to share it when I thought about this thread. P.S. I'm going to hate finishing the series. Not a real fan of going back to a lot of "today" television.

[KentuckyWildcat]

I was just thinking we have 70 plus post about hot water heaters. If I knew we enjoyed hot water this much I would have started this thread years ago

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[Doc]

Tankless!!! We put on in the new house. Unlimited hot water and minimal maintenace are two things that make me smile