Tip & How-To about Heating & Cooling
You may just think that you need to clean it out or you may be getting cloudy dirty water from it. Anyway, you want to clean out the hot water heater but have no ides how to do it.
Here are the steps you need to take to get the job done.
Before beginning it is a good idea to have a new pressure and temperature relief valve and a new drain valve on hand to use if needed. If you don not have a valve on your cold water line going into the hot water heater then you need to install one or have one installed.
First you need to shut off the gas or electric to your hot water heater, which ever way you heat your hot water.
Next hook up a hose to the bottom drain valve of the hot water heater. Run this hose outdoors or to a floor drain.
Open the drain valve to start the water flowing out of the tank. The relief valve will then need to be opened to allow air to go in to replace the water going out. If you do not allow air to go into the tank it will air lock and no water will flow out.
When the tank is empty you can then start the cleaning process. To do this you will need to open the cold water valve full on for a half minute or so. Then let the water and sediment drain out. Reopen the cold valve again and then drain. Repeat this process until you get clean clear water when you drain the water. Then you know that the tank is clean.
If the drain valve gets plugged when empting the water, you may need to use a wire to unplug it or even replace the drain valve.
The relief valve will often leak after opening it to allow the air in. It is best to replace it to be sure you will not have a leak.
Be careful of the hot water as you initially drain the tank.
Refill the tank and open a hot faucet to release all the air from the tank as you fill it.
When you get water out of the hot faucet again, you can restart you heater by lighting the burner or reapplying power to the heater.
You now have a nice clean hot water heater again!!
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