Don't forget to turn off the heater and let its contents cool down before
draining it. You don't want 30 gallons of scalding water coming at you.

I remember hearing that you could do more harm than good draining an old,
undisturbed water heater; but that might have applied to the glass ones, not
the newer ones (that are fiberglass, I think).

That all being said, I've had water heaters older than that and they didn't
noticeably "slow up"; I think you have a different problem.

--
Regards,

Jerry Schwartz
http://www.writebynight.com
e-card JerryS https://ecardfile.com/