How To Drain And Flush An Electric Hot Water Heater

The water in your heater and many of the pipes connected to your water heater will be very hot.

How to drain and flush an electric hot water heater. Locate the water heater s drain valve typically found near the bottom of the tank. So learning how to drain a water heater and flushing offers a payback in lower energy bills and extended heater life. Find the drain valve on the side of your water heater and attach a hose. Open the drain valve and allow the tank to completely drain.

How to flush a water heater. Do this for approximately five 5 or ten 10 minutes. And in both sediment buildup can clog the drain valve. If you turn the power on without filling the heating element can be damaged.

Drain and flush it at least once a year fall is a good time and you can extend the length of your water heater s useful life to avoid the cost of replacement. Turn back on the cold water into the water heater. Open a hot water faucet. Let the tank cool after turning off the heating elements.

Open the hot water tap in the bathroom to bleed air. Do not turn on the power yet. Quickly learn how to drain and flush a hot water heater to remove sediments and prevent corrosion. If you don t.

On a gas water heater the sediment creates hot spots that can damage the tank and cause premature failure. Open the hot water tap on the bathtub or wash basin and wait for a full stream of water. Attach a drain or garden hose to the drain valve on the side of the tank. Extend the life of your water heater with these basic but.

Most homeowners should flush their water heaters every six months or so but if you have extremely hard water you may want to do it more often. Don t drain scalding hot water. This can take up to two hours for some larger water heater tanks. Before you tackle any service to the water heater turn off all of the electricity to the unit including the breaker.

Close the water heater drain. Turn off the cold water supply and allow the heater to cool this may take a couple of hours. Dave moody a plumbing pro with service experts suggests you may need to drain your water heater more frequently if your water source is a well or if your municipal. With electric heaters scaling can burn out the lower heating element.

Let the water cool. On an electric water heater sediment buildup can cause the lower heating element to fail. Connect a hose to the drain valve on the heater and run to a drain.