On Thu, 6 Feb 2014 18:51:37 -0600, James wrote:



That may not be possible in this particular situation but the pans are cheap
so if I have to kill it I won't be ****ed. Never lived in a house that had a
drain pan under the water heater so I was kinda surprised.

People, and vendors, are always trying to improve our standard of
living. Even if men don't care, women don't like it when every 20
years there is 40 or 50 gallons of water on the floor.

I thought
draining the water heater periodically was proper maintenance to remove
sediment in the bottom

What do you care if there is sediment on the bottom? It only matters if
the sediment is so deep it starts to surround the lower electric heating
element. Do you even have an electric WH? Or gas?

Assume it's electric. I have that too. When I, probably mistaking
thermostat or element problems for something more serious, junked my 8yo
WH. I cut it open and there was less than 2 tablespoons of sediment.
At that rate it would have taken over 80 years for the sediment to reach
the heating element.

Water varies by location. You need to talk to your neighbors and find
out if they ever drain the WH, how often and how much sediment comes
out. Some of them don't drain it, that's for sure. How long do their
WH's last. In the 10 years I've been reading, no one in this group has
ever reported good results from draining the WH, curing an existing
problem without creating a bigger problem. What they say often
happens is sediment gets in the drain valve, the pressure and flow are
not enough to flush the sediment out, and the valve won't shut tight
anymore and is always dripping hot water and the WH has to be replaced.

and it will need to replaced eventually anyway. In
reality it will have to be drained at some point

Why?

When it leaks it will drain itself. Why do you need to drain it before
then?

, so I do not understand the
snide remark or the questions about why I want to drain it. I'm here to
learn things.

Thank you for trying to be helpful