On Friday, February 7, 2014 5:11:07 PM UTC-5, James wrote:
On Fri, 7 Feb 2014 09:37:07 -0600, micky wrote

(in article ):



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.





Very good points. I do not intend to waste time doing anything I don't need

to that may make things worse. I lived in another house near where I live

now (same water supply). Sediment was pretty bad in that home's w/h but I do

not know how long the w/h was sitting before I drained it. IIRC there was

about 2 cups of crap in it. Luckily the valve didn't leak when I was done.

Could have replaced it if it did I suppose.



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?





I see your point. But if it starts leaking just a little bit I won't have

the time to power it off, shut off the supply and babysit it until it drains

out by itself without a hose. Now if it suddenly starts leaking a quart a

minute and I am away then I will have bigger problems (I'm exaggerating of

course).

I just wanted to see if there was a way to get a hose on it without tearing

up the pan or causing other problems. I won't drain it just for the sake of

doing it if it's really not needed.



, 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



One thing I would do. Given that the WH is in a closet, I
would get two of those $10 battery water alarms that they
have at HD, etc. Put one in the WH pan and the other
one by the washing machine that's also there. They have
contacts on the bottom and the alarm goes off from water.
Since the pan is metal, you'll have to put a piece of
plastic or similar on the bottom for it to sit on.

BTW, another thought came to mind. We talked about the pan
having a drain connection. Is that at least closed off?
I don't remember from the pic. If not, I would tend to that
too. With it closed off, at least the pan will hold 2" of
water or so. It should have a pvc fitting that you can
cap off or whatever.