photography, artwork, stories, thoughts, words by hcmorris77
October 1, 2020
According to “This Old House” you should do this twice a year, but my plumber said I probably only need to do it once. When ever the water starts to turn brown, the tank should be drained. I try to do this in the fall, usually later than now, but with the way things are going this year, I figured I better do it sooner rather than later. If it needs it in the spring, I will do it then as well.
Reasons to have the hot water tank drained…
First thing’s first…hook up the hose to the drain valve. I have to use a screwdriver to open it. Some tanks have a spicket, or you can have one put on by your plumber. When the pump kicks on, close the drain valve until the pump kicks off.
Most sites will tell you to turn the water off, but when I do this, I can’t get the water to drain out. Maybe you will have different luck.
When the pump kicks off, open the drain again. Keep doing this til the water runs clear. For me, it’s usually four or five times. This time, it only took three times, plus one for good measure. Then I waited an hour or so and drained it one more time, after the water had settled.
If at all possible, use one hose! Otherwise, you will [probably] have a mess to clean up afterwards. It is just water, so no major damage done…
I use a twenty foot hose and a fifty foot hose, connected together so I can put the one end outside the basement door. If I had a sump pump, I would just put the end of the hose there. But this house doesn’t have one…
The hoses don’t fit together tight, so there is some water clean up to do afterwards.
Here is an image compare…
The image on the left is when I first started draining the tank, the one on the right is the final drain. And if I must be honest, I hadn’t been able to get the water that clear when draining the tank in a long time.
when to replace the hot water heater…
That’s about all I have for today, or at least the time being.
Hope you have a great day!
Thanks for stopping by!!
take care
stay safe
much love
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