How To Flush Your Hot Water Heater #howto #homemaintenance

[teddbentley]

Only one thing that might hold you up. You’ll need to introduce air into the tank in order to drain with that shut off valve closed. You’ll create a Vapor lock like putting your finger on your straw and not letting your soda fall out. Open your T&P valve, crack open a flex line or open the hot side to one of your faucets. Don’t forget to relight your heater after you refill then turn your gas back on. Good luck weekend warriors out there.

[symone]

Genius! Clear into the point I love it!

[frerichs]

Auto body guy here, I wash my cars with hot water using the water heater drain valve and a hose. I do it often enough that there has never really been sediment like you see in that bucket and it keeps my water heater clean. Try it if you get tree sap on your car. Too many people come to me and ask what chemical gets tree sap or bugs off the best. The best is HOT WATER! Two birds one stone

[TheSokodelic]

My god, this was the simplest demonstration on YouTube.

[indatubesurfer]

Better to leave the water on so it flushes out the water heater at the same time. Also I would run the hose outside so you can leave it running for good 15 mins to really flush it out good

[aaronwong]

Finally a clear video on what to do with a gas system. And air pressure didn't seem to be mentioned? I'm assuming it's still important...

[koryyyy]

Goood guide. I watched several guides an all says "wait one or more hours to cold down" Why not just turn off the water heater and run a little bit of the hot water (before closing the cold inlet). Or take a shower, or do the dishes :D

[gregmccracken]

When you've drained the tank its also a good time to trip your emergemcy relief valve to make sure corrosion hasn't made it inoperable. Just remember to close it again before putting water heater back into operation.

[HVArctiC-Monkey]

You could also just turn off the heater and then run a hot water tap for a few minutes. It will push out the hot water, and dilute it with cold water.

This is much quicker than waiting for it to cool down In an insulated tank

[Hellsing]

What if my water heater has 2 drain plugs but only one valve?

[MattyManRC]

Question - I had a guy come out and "service" my water heater. All he did was turn the water heater to pilot mode, plugged in a hose, and drained the water from the water heater to the outside. He didn't do all these extra steps. Did he do it correctly? I also ask because while the water was draining outside, barely any sediment came out - A LOT less than in this video actually.

[soullessone_edc]

So can I keep the water on to flush it?

[josuedavila]

You'll need to open the PRV valve to allow air but if you want preassure leave the cold supply on.

[bae]

Mine would not come out. When the installer came in he said we had to unscrew the pipe that connects front the top.

[TheTwentySecondDegree]

Open a tap to really get all of it out

[zachkauffman]

Yeah, without opening a pressure relief valve or hot sink knobs... when you refill the tank &/or turn the heat back on, air will burst out in places you REALLY DON'T WANT!

[MartinNelson-mf]

Danger ! Be careful you don’t burn up your electric water heater !
This guy forgot to tell you that if you have an electric water heater, you need to make sure that it’s completely full again before you turn it back on or you will burn out the upper heating element !

[dbaxxxxx]

There’s steps missing in this post. Need to open a faucet in your house.

[bucknut]

It's not going to flow like that without water pressure.
You will have to open a fixture on the hot side to open the system for water to flow if you turn off the valve at the water heater. OR turn water off at the main water shut off and open hot or cold at a fixture

[bbrahbboul]

Yea I wish it was that easy mine is clogged,