John,

I'm new to home ownership and want to drain the hot water heater. I've
done it before with a standard "outdoor hose hookup" style valve. The
hot water heater in my new home has one of those "straight through"
designs you're talking about. I've never seen this style before and
can't find much info on the internet about how they work. Is it as
easy as hooking the hose up to it and turning the outer ring to open
the valve? From your reply May 7, 2003 to someone, you stated you
could take out the valve stem ... could you provide more detailed
information on how to do that? Thanks for the help.

Steve