On Sat, 26 Dec 2009 19:04:23 -0500, Nate Nagel
wrote:

Roger Shoaf wrote:
"Puddin' Man" wrote in message
...
Others have commented well on tankless.

If you tinker at all, I'd recomend tinker unless you're extremely
pressed for time.

It has a drain spout? Get a pan, drain some to get a handle on sediment.

If it has an anode rod, I'd carefully finesse it out for inspection.

Etc, etc.

While it's a good candidate for immediate replacement, you don't really
know what the current problem is. It's possible you could get another
5+ years of use from it. Unless it's extremely inefficient energy-wise,
I'd guess it's worth investigating.

P
Good advice, I will add to be sure if you are going to drain the WH, don't
have the power on when the elements are not submerged, this will kill them
in short order.


And do it while your local hardware store is open, in case the drain
valve doesn't shut again. (have had that problem several times.)

nate
Just make sure you have a "cap" that fits the thread on the valve to
seal it off if it doesn't close properly. And if it doesn't - don't
try to REPLACE the leaking valve - just get fittings to put a second
valve in series with the defective one. Attempting to remove the
original drain valve UWSUALLY proved futile.

When I drain sediment from a water heater I GENERALLY use a garden
hose to direct the sediment/water either to a drain or outside - so a
small leak when shut off can be temorarily dealt with by sticking the
end of the hose down the drain.