trying to flush my water heater.

[gorcorps]

You DON'Tneed to drain it with the valve shut off.

You DON'T need a bigger valve (WTF?)

Just hook up a drain hose and flush the hell out of it; it's not rocket science.


Most of your problems come from not having done this regularly in the past. By the time it's making noise, the problem is probably too far advanced for flushing it out to make any difference. The bottom of the tank is already plated with calcium carbonate and whatever other minerals are in your local water supply.


Furthermore, if your supply is running out too quickly, you probably have a broken dip tube.


Holy smokes there's a lot of confusion and bad/useless advice in this thread.



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I disagree on the bigger valve. The copper oxide buildup has clogged my stock valve in the past, and I need to find a better way to drain it. Bigger orifice size on the valve will do just that

 

[slag]

News means fact. It happened IRL.

If the drain valve is plugged, it won't explode. That's why there's a pressure release valve higher up. If the pressure release valve is bad or defective, it can cause issues, but a plugged drain valve will not cause any issues, other than the lack of being able to drain your water heater.

EDIT. I see you were using the wrong words originally and meant pressure release valve, not drain valve.

 

[herm0016]

the symptom of very little hot water could also be caused by a broken dip tube. on the hot water side, there is a plastic tube that extends to the bottom of the tank so that you can use all the hot water, and don't end up with water going directly from the cold inlet to the hot outlet without heating up first. these are easly replaceable by unhooking the hot side and pulling out the tube.

 

[Blain]

People are flushing out their tanks religiously, but is anyone replacing their sacrificial anode rod?

 

[gorcorps]

People are flushing out their tanks religiously, but is anyone replacing their sacrificial anode rod?

I went to the local store to get a new valve and a new anode rod, and they didn't carry the anodes. This is why online shopping is trouncing the B&M options.

Anyway, I replaced the little plastic drain valve with a brass ball valve. The amount of copper oxides I got out of the tank was astounding, and there's no doubt in my mind that I wouldn't have got it out of there with the stock valve.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

I recently flushed my electric water heater, I should change the rod. We've owned the house 6 years and the heater looked moderately new when we bought. The anode rod is it a standard part except for maybe the length or do I need one specifically made for my heater? I noticed the fittings are all the same size.

 

[gorcorps]

I recently flushed my electric water heater, I should change the rod. We've owned the house 6 years and the heater looked moderately new when we bought. The anode rod is it a standard part except for maybe the length or do I need one specifically made for my heater? I noticed the fittings are all the same size.

Length is all you need to worry about. 44" length is pretty standard and would probably be all you need unless you have a short tank or something. They make flexible ones these days which are just several shorter rod lengths held together with steel cable. So it shouldn't be nearly as annoying to install as a long continuous anode... especially if you don't have a lot of room above the water heater.