draining water heaters

[LCHIEN]

Sadly I've not done this basic task.
One reason is that the water heaters (both of them) are located in the attic above the second story.
So I've got to run a hose from the WH drain to somewhere (one of them across the attic), down the attic stairs, down the hall, down the entry stairs and out the front door. And then to the street becaue 120 degree water will kill the grass between the door and street.
If going thru the house then I will need a couple of lengths of clean new hose(so as not to mar the white carpet with mold and mildew that exist on my outdoor hoses), more than I have and hope any joints don't leak on the carpet. I will also need to leave the front door open and let the mosquitos in, a bad, bad thing in houston.

My other choice would be to let the hose drain into the tubs in the 2nd floor bathroom next to the attic stairs - I think they are ceramic over steel, not fiberglas - Is this a bad idea? Will i have to clean a lot of sediment out of the tub and or will the heat damage the tub? I would think that normal Hot water heater temps will not damage the tub since we can run fully hot water into the tub from the faucet.

Any comments?

[wardprobst]

You'll be fine running it out of the heater into the tub, much better solution. The heater will be off as you drain so it won't affect the tub. If you wanted to be cautious, just turn off the heater and let it sit for an hour then do it. Run the hose through at hole the high side of a bucket. Cover the top with filter material or a screen to keep the trash in the bucket. The water will flow out of the top of the bucket.
Hope this helps,
DP

[Daryl]

Since it is in the attic, I would expect it to be setting in a pan, with a drain. Another thought, is your vent stack handy. Maybe add a sanitary T with a threaded plug to put the hose in. With that being said, I have always seen advisements to NOT drain the tank unless it has been drained regularly. My experience is the drain valve will leak, also be aware that the sediment in the tank might be covering a small hole and it will leak after emptying.

[radhak]

Now I never knew this was a task one was supposed to do - yet another think I got to worry about, thank you very much Loring!

Why is a water heater drained, and how often?

[tfischer]

Never done it. My WH was installed in 1989 according to the sticker so I think j won't change my routine.

[RAFlorida]

Radhak, if it's an electric WH, you have to drain them to change out the heating elements.

[atgcpaul]

Never done it. My WH was installed in 1989 according to the sticker so I think j won't change my routine.

Yeah, I figure all the sediment in my 1996 heater is what's preventing it from leaking. Whenever I get around to replacing mine, I tell myself I will work this into the yearly schedule. Mine is in the basement and there are no floor drains so I've got to get creative.

[capncarl]

How often you have to drain and clean the sediment depends on the hardness of the water. My parents water heater went 40 years without having t be cleaned on city water from deep wells. My previous house had its own well and I had to drain and clean it every year or so. Not just drain, but remove the bottom element and scoop out the calcium with a long spoon thing. To drain down in the tub I would recommend catching the calcium in a painters filter sock and not let that stuff foul your drain pipes. You might be suprised how much comes out! A trick I learned to drain the tank and blow out the calcium was to close off the water supply valve and hot water out valve and using my small pancake compressor with a water hose to 1/4" air line adapter I would charge the water heater tank through the drain spigot with a healthy dose of compressed air. Turn off the drain valve and remove the compressed air fitting and hook up a water hose and open the drain valve and flush the tank quickly. It flushed out enough of the calcium that I did not have to actually dig it out but every 5 years. Water heaters I'm the attic are another of my gripes with builders. I bet they don't put them there in their personal houses.
capncarl

[BadeMillsap]

... Water heaters I'm the attic are another of my gripes with builders. I bet they don't put them there in their personal houses.
capncarl

+1 on that! My daughter and SIL bought a newly built two story home in the Houston area a couple of years ago ... these were very nice expensive homes in affluent neighborhoods ... and everyone of them being built (and there were literally hundreds) were gas heaters in the attic!!! I was flabbergasted and dismayed (is that flabbermayed or maybe disgasted ...??? ) We all know a water heater (of the tank kind) is going to fail at some point it will either need to be drained OR it will rust thru the bottom and leak (I've personally experienced both issues in my home of 32 years - very hard water). Why in the wide wide world of sport do builders insist on putting these things in the attic?

[LCHIEN]

Now I never knew this was a task one was supposed to do - yet another think I got to worry about, thank you very much Loring!

Why is a water heater drained, and how often?

It depends on your water harness. If its hard you get a lot of sediment. In fact if you don't drain it for several years you can hear it clunking around when the heat is applied and the water in the bottom rises its sounds like a small bowling alley. Around here they recommend draining it every year or so.

In my hot water into the tubs my wifes been complaining about fine black soft grit which I suspect is carbon granules from the water company activated charcoal purification filters. It normally is small and in suspension but accumulates in the larger volume of the water heater, so I'd like to flush it out.

[gjat]

It depends on your water harness. If its hard you get a lot of sediment. In fact if you don't drain it for several years you can hear it clunking around when the heat is applied and the water in the bottom rises its sounds like a small bowling alley. Around here they recommend draining it every year or so.

In my hot water into the tubs my wifes been complaining about fine black soft grit which I suspect is carbon granules from the water company activated charcoal purification filters. It normally is small and in suspension but accumulates in the larger volume of the water heater, so I'd like to flush it out.

The black grit would be sulfur, believe it or not. It's not the carbon granules. I had that issue for years with high-sulfur well water. I would get it out of the hose after just the settlement tank as well as after the softener and charcoal filter system. I've never complained bout "city" water since.

[capncarl]

I run a sand filter that is just a really fine screen and a whole house charcoal filter on my well water and have not seen any sign of calcium buildup in my water heater. Knock on wood. The sign of buildup I am watching for is reduced hot water output. My well has a history of pumping a lot of sand, maybe sand filters out the calcium?
capncarl

[Kristofor]

After having a tank fail from a fully consumed anode (which I hadn't been monitoring regularly) I've been more proactive about that and flushing the tank with my current unit.

Before placing it in service I replaced the spigot with a quarter turn ball valve, NPT to GHT adapter and wrench tight plug cap to keep the kiddies from being burned if they were to play with the valve (this is the not the thermal expansion protection valve, people who plug those are the ones whose heaters explode and level the building). My heater is in the basement about 15 feet from the utility sink so I just run a hose to there. No issues with hot water and in fact, the cold water inlet runs down to near the bottom of the tank so when flushing the water will quickly turn cool even though the water at the top of the tank is still hot.

Normally when starting to flush the tank there will be just a little bit of small crud that comes out (probably more if it's an every 15 year deal rather than every year). However, at one point the venturi in the water softener was partially fouled and instead of making consistently soft water at times it would only drop to ~20-25 grains (our tap water is quite hard at ~38 grains). After realizing the issue and fixing the problem (intermittent for a number of months) I drained the tank and there was a significant amount of additional sediment that was flushed. Whether doing this prolongs the life of the heater remains to be seen, but I've read that it makes them more efficient when the heat source isn't covered with a thick layer of sediment.

On the upside the Hach 5B hardness testing kit I bough when I was trying to figure out what was wrong with the softener was more professional scale than I realized. It has enough reagents for hundreds of tests (~$20) so the kids (7 &3) enjoy doing the titrations to test water hardness everywhere we go (family's houses, lakes and streams when we're camping, etc.) there's probably at least a little educational value for the 7 year old and the 3 year old likes to "make the pink turn blue"...

[capncarl]

Water heaters has been one of my pet peeves with manufacturing since the first time I had to drain and clean one. I know that water heaters have not been around in there current state for as long as some of the things we live by, but give me a break, improve some thing guys! #1. A drain valve that doesn't work. ( how about a 3/4" boiler valve? ) #2. A machine that inheritantly clogs up with no obvious way of cleaning it. ( how about a small removable hatch or a large threaded plug?) #3 Electrical heater elements that once fouled you can not get out through the hole they were inserted in. #4 A safety device that vents when the pressure limit is reached but does not cut the power off to the machine! #5. No warning sign that says DO NOT INSTALL THIS DEVICE IN THE ATTIC STUPID! #6 Installing a computer with a $300 board on one of the most basic appliances in the house. #7 Gas water heaters with no attempt to recover the waste stack heat for house heating. (Copy someone elses design, they have been around for centuries)
What did I miss?
capncarl

[leehljp]

I loved my "On Demand" @ "Each Location" hot water heaters in Japan! Our last two houses had 3 each: one for each bath and one for the kitchen.

"On Demand" in the USA usually means one central unit that still looses water in the pipes between the unit and the outlet.

This thread is a helpful reminder of the need for maintenance. We have 2 hot water heaters in the attic of our house. The HW on one end (master bedroom end) is making some minor noises when the shower is being used. Sounds a little like low level thunder. Maybe I need to drain it, or is it too late? (It is gas.)