I would like to drain my water heater and am wondering the best way and order of steps.

I read & hear:

Open the pressure relief valve. Wait... no. Leave it closed for a bit to push out sediment then open it.
Turn off the cold water. Wait... no. Same thing as the pressure relief valve.
Turn on the water in the house. No, that's not necessary.
Don't drain it at all. The sediment inside is the only thing holding the whole system together.
And on. And on.

I trust the collective wisdom of the HI board. What say you?

The heater is about 12 years old. We've lived here for 6 years and have never drained it. The house was a rental before then so I'm sure it was never drained prior to us either.

I lived in Wimberley for 11 years and had to clean out/replace lower element a couple of times due to the hard water. I just turned off incoming water, opened relief valve, drained through hose, and then removed element. Tediously removing the scale with a modified teaspoon was a 3-4 beer effort.

1. turn it off
2. attach hose
3. turn off water supply to it
4. open valve to drain
5. open highest hot water faucet in the house to let water in pipes drain through water heater and out the hose.

If your hose can't handle the hot temperature, turn heater off before you're going to drain it and run hot water through the tub until it goes from hot to just warm.

txag2008 said:

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If it's 12yrs old I wouldn't worry about draining it, I'd just replace it. (of course in the process of replacement you'll have to drain it)

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this

I would not attempt it on a heater that age that's never been maintained. If you open the T&P valve on something that old, it may not close. There could be so much sediment it won't drain.

I'd leave it until it fails or better yet go ahead and replace. 12 yrsis asking for a blow out in my opinion.

Then, drain the new one yearly. Close the cold water to start, connect hose and drain. Crack a hot water valve in the house to let air back in to fully drain it. Turn the cold water on once it's empty to flush the remaining sediment out.

Repeat yearly.

I've never drained a hot water heater, and I don't really see the point. I've owned a few, and they have all lasted between 8-13 years.

OP's water heater lasted 12 years with no maintenance. That's a pretty good run.

Replacing my two 13 year old heaters this week. Zero maintenance on either. Water wasn't getting hot on one side of the house so I went up to install a new element and found lots of corrosion around the lower element. Figured it's close to leaking (and both are in my attic) so I'm replacing with tankless. 13 years was a good run.

To answer OP, close cold water valve, open pressure relief, and open spigot at the bottom.

BMach said:

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Replacing my two 13 year old heaters this week. Zero maintenance on either. Water wasn't getting hot on one side of the house so I went up to install a new element and found lots of corrosion around the lower element. Figured it's close to leaking (and both are in my attic) so I'm replacing with tankless. 13 years was a good run.

To answer OP, close cold water valve, open pressure relief, and open spigot at the bottom.

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Just curious, but have you priced this out yet? I wondering the cost. I am in the same boat. Tank water heater in the attic that is 12 years old, and I am thinking about replacing it with a tankless, given the attic.

Anybody have an opinion on those hybrid heat pump electric water heaters? They are about $1200 but save $400 a year on electricity. That's a lot of dough! Wondering if they are any good.

helgs said:

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Anybody have an opinion on those hybrid heat pump electric water heaters? They are about $1200 but save $400 a year on electricity. That's a lot of dough! Wondering if they are any good.

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A 50gal WH should only cost $400 or less to run each year. (assuming TX rates of $.08/kWh for elec WH & $1.8/MCF for nat gas WH)

I installed a Rheem hybrid water heater in our new house. So far, I like it. Not sure how much of a difference it makes on operating costs since I didn't replace an existing electric unit. But it does dump a decent amount of cold air into my garage.

You do have to have adequate ventilation by either having a large enough space around the water heater or the Rheem unit allows you to duct in fresh air and out the exhaust air. I have mine in a small closet with the water softener just off the garage and ducted the air in and out from the garage.

Seisco unit is $913, I have to tie two systems together and run plumbing to my garage. Plumber quoted $475 in parts (pex, fittings, etc) and $1100 of labor (did not include the electrical). That seemed outrageous to me so I'm just going to run the plumbing myself. I also am doing the wiring myself. Keep in mind that these electric tankless systems require 200 amp service. If you don't have enough room in your current panel you may have to get a sub panel, which can be pretty pricey.

BMach said:

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Seisco unit is $913, I have to tie two systems together and run plumbing to my garage. Plumber quoted $475 in parts (pex, fittings, etc) and $1100 of labor (did not include the electrical). That seemed outrageous to me so I'm just going to run the plumbing myself. I also am doing the wiring myself. Keep in mind that these electric tankless systems require 200 amp service. If you don't have enough room in your current panel you may have to get a sub panel, which can be pretty pricey.

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Thanks for the info. So you are going with an electric tankless then? I have gas myself. I assume that will change things a little.

Yeah, I don't have gas at my house, so electric it is. However, if you have gas, it's definitely the way to go.