Hot water heater questions

[Black]

I had visions of getting my watering done with the water from the tank, but no go. I can't get it to drain at anything more than a trickle.

[davester]

Black wrote:

Seriously, I'm wondering why they're all failing in the same year.

Should be easy to figure out. The label you showed indicated a 5-year warranty, which means only one anode rod. If the heater is much older than 6 years (manufacture date should also be on the label) and you didn't change the rod, then that's why it failed. You can look at the failure date minus the manufacture date and get a rough idea of what the longevity of the rod is under your water conditions. All of your other water heaters in the area will also fail at the same point in time if you don't change the rods.

[GGD]

Black wrote:
I had visions of getting my watering done with the water from the tank, but no go. I can't get it to drain at anything more than a trickle.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/4850/saturday-...ive-urigro

[Plumbking]

Black wrote:
I had visions of getting my watering done with the water from the tank, but no go. I can't get it to drain at anything more than a trickle.

Sounds like an air lock.

You need to introduce air into the system.

Open a faucet or two. Open the T&P valve. Disconnect the flexes on top.

[lafinfil]

Black wrote:
I had visions of getting my watering done with the water from the tank, but no go. I can't get it to drain at anything more than a trickle.

You will need to break the vacuum buy removing incoming and outgoing connections at the top of the tank.
It still might be slow due to build up of sediment at the bottom of the tank, especially with the OEM gate valve.

[Anthony]

I love Macresource.

[Winston]

Racer X wrote:
Why houses were built to hide stuff like furnaces, water shut offs and water heaters, instead of making access easy, is completely beyond me.

We had a door on the small room where our water heater is located. Discovered that they must have put the door (and its framing) in after the water heater was installed. The opening was too small to get the old water heater out. Too bad, as it had a nice louvered door. What replaced it was about the cheapest thing we could do. (It's in a partially finished basement room.)

We also have a water shut off that was sheetrocked over with no access.


Good luck.

- Winston

[Black]

Plumbking wrote:
[quote=Black]
I had visions of getting my watering done with the water from the tank, but no go. I can't get it to drain at anything more than a trickle.

Sounds like an air lock.

You need to introduce air into the system.

Open a faucet or two. Open the T&P valve. Disconnect the flexes on top.

lafinfil wrote:

You will need to break the vacuum buy removing incoming and outgoing connections at the top of the tank.
It still might be slow due to build up of sediment at the bottom of the tank, especially with the OEM gate valve.

This was after disconnecting everything but the drain hose.

The problem ended up being stupid . . . I couldn't get the sprayer off the end of the hose so I had it at the far end locked on open position.
I gave up with about 1/3 still in the tank and used the hose to water, at which time it became clear the sprayer head had clogged with junk.

Will have to take another shot at it tomorrow night.

[Black]

Hey, look at that cool box thing that happens when you quote two people in a row.


Plumbking, if you're still following . . . I bought a cock but ultimately couldn't work it into the mix-- the flare to 1/2" adapters that come on either end of the flex pipe ended up crooked when tightened down.

This one:


Can it be used with straight 1/2" threaded ends instead of flare-ends?

Otherwise, everything is back together, no leaks. I used a bunch of this on the gas connections:

And couldn't see any evidence of leaks.

Hope my headache is gone by morning.

[Black]

Oops- should clarify-- "back together" means new heater in place and functioning.