Ken Hall wrote:
I've just had a new water heater installed and I have some questions.

Question 1:
I read you should replace the cheesy plastic drain cock with a ball
valve so you can get full flow when draining the heater. But,
there's
some kind of safety cover over the drain cock that prevents putting
ball valves (which are larger) on them. So, if you can't do it, why
is it recommended?

Question 2:
This is a self-cleaning unit. Do you drain self cleaning units? Is
so, doesn't that mean they're not self cleaning?

Question 3:
My old unit had begun to leak. It's in the attic and I REALLY didn't
want a sudden dump, so I turned off the supply valve at the heater,
connected a garden hose, opened a couple of hot water faucets and
drained it. I left the hose connected. When the plumber arrived left
it connected saying it still needed to be drained. I asked him why
and he said, "You can't drain it without opening a water connection
at
the unit." Sure enough when he cracked open one of the connections a
lot more water drained out. Why does a connection at the heater
have to be opened to get it to drain completely?

Question 4:
I would like to be able to replace the anode in a few years, but when
I've tried to remove anodes on heaters in the past I simply couldn't
get them to come loose (unscrew). Would it be better to remove it
now
while it's new, and put some Teflon tape or something on it to make
it
easier later?

Ken