Flushing hot water tanks

Larry Weingarten

... is a glass lined tank, so has an anode someplace. A serial number will give you month and year of manufacture. Ontario Hydro used to service their heaters, so yours could have some life left in it ;~)

Yours, Larry

ps. I like spending time at WaterHeaterRescue.com. Some fun stuff there.

Stephen C.

Flushing hot water tanks

What is the best preventative maintenance on hot water heaters?

Drain and flush annually?

Why is the drain valve on the bottom of the tank always such a POS? Can a full port valve be used to flush the crud out?

Mark E. in another thread mentions magnetic conditioners. Are they any good?

I just removed about five gallons of reddish crusty gunk from my tank to replace the element, what a mess. Bet my tank leaks now!

Thanks

Stephen C.

Stephen C.

Flushing hot water tanks

Oops.

Jim Bennett

H.W. Tanks.....

all your hot water tank questions are answered here!

http://www.waterheaterrescue.com/

Good site, Good luck,

Jim

lee_7

Yes you can change POS valve with a full port ball valve. Just need a valve and a3/4" x 3 or 4" brass nipple. and then a i.p x hose adapter for outlet side of valve.

Unknown

Or ......

We can answer them here

You're dead on about the crappy drain valves most heaters come with . I love the stupid one that came in the Ford heaters . Don't ever open it all the way cause you'd never get it to close again . Made of plastic too . Not the choice material for longevity on a pressure vessel . I like 3lees idea with the brass nip , ball valve and adapter for a hose . You could also buy an all in one ball valve boiler drain . How old is the heater ? Does it have anode rods and did you check to see if it's intact ?

Stephen C.

Hi Ron,

The water heater predates my ownership here. I bought out the rental contract on it from from Ontario Hydro in 1999.

It has the usual plastic drain valve on it that will never close again if you open it.

As far aS I can see there is no anode, just cold in the bottom and hot out the top with two elements up the sides. It is a Rudd electric heater.

I suppose my concern is that I would like to ultimately install a reverse indirect hot water tank connected to my oversize boiler but I am concerned about installing expensive hardware that will clog up PDQ.

I also have many clients with electric, natural gas, up to Viessmann indirect that I would like to be proactive about in terms of advice.

Thanks to all for ideas

Stephen C.

Unknown

Hey Larry,

I have a TT Smart 30 with no conventional drain.
Although the tank is SS, would that still not accumulate crap?
Do you have any suggestions on a flushing procedure?

Dave

Eileen Olive

Good question, Dave

I also have a Smart tank, the -40, and I have noticed there is no maens to flush/drrain the inner tank. Shouldn't there be a way to flush this tank?

lee_7

Look at installation paperwork, it will show how it was supposed to be piped o have a drain installed. Appears installers did not read very well.

Larry Weingarten

Indirects...

... are not common on the West coast. Still, looking at the installation guide, it seems they didn't make it easy to get sediment from the heater. I'd be tempted to find a way to get a tube down into the tank from the top and hook it up to a wet/dry shop vac to pull goo from the bottom of the tank. I don't see any other good way to levitate the "goo"ds :~)

Yours, Larry

Unknown

3lees

What are you talking about?
All the connections are at the top of the tank, do you know a way to flush a pressure vessel uphill?
If it were that simple mechanics would change oil from the dipstick tube!
Draining is one thing, flushing out crap is another.

Dave
BTW- I hear you there Larry.

lee_7

Most indirect tanks show you how to pipe a drain from top that actually acts like a siphon to drain tank. You say I'm nuts, give it a try. I did not believe it would work either. But it is the only way to drain tank. The indirects do not come with a fitting at bottom. The install paperwork shows proper pipind drawings to make work. Only other way I know to drain is tip it over or 12 gauge shot gun, but both make a mess and REALLy shorten tank life. -

Unknown

I didn`t say

that you were nuts, I took offense to you assuming I(as an installer) had not read the instructions.
Drain at the top it may be, but it is impossible to flush-out anything remotely heavy.
Have you ever looked at the dip tube?

Dave

lee_7

I totally agree that it is impossible to get big stuff out of bottom of tank, that is an inherent problem with indiredt tanks as they are designed now. But it is possible to drain and flush tje tank from the top. The nuts part was an attempt at being funny, you know drain tankfrom top, Haha. but it does work to drain tank and with tank empty, you can flush tank to the best of your ability, which is all that can be asked.