Thanks a lot to all for your good advice. If it hadn't been for the
pain in his groin and the trip to the doctor tomorrow, I'm sure he
would have been more able to handle this.

In alt.home.repair on Tue, 31 May 2005 02:14:27 GMT "Stormin Mormon"
posted:

"Jeff Wisnia" wrote in message


The OP said the water heater was in a basement, so chances are he can't
drain it completely with a garden hose unless the ground slopes down
away from the house somewhere, 'eh?
CY: Or if there is a sump pump. Or French drain.

Either before or after I first posted, I talked to him on the phone
and suggested draining into the sump. He said it was in another room.
I'd forgotten how many rooms there are in that basement. I suggested
drilling a hole to pass the hose through (since they are both what I
would call storage rooms). He didn't seem to want to do that.

And, I'm dubious about how he can get a bucket under the drain valve on
a typical water heater, they're usually only a couple of inches above
whatever the water heater's sitting on.
CY: Right. I'm with you. Pan or tray more likely.

He did have a big triangular plastic pan that fit underneath, but
shortly after that, he bought into draining the tank and went outside
to get a hose. I saw the light go on outside and opened the basement
door to talk to him. Someone else had turned on the light but in the
outside stairwell leading up to ground level, I saw a drain at the
bottom. We used that. (He had forgotten that he had it.)

We changed the water heater once a little over 7 years ago, and were
able to turn off the water, but this time it took a big wrench on the
handle, and I think it was still running a bit.


He could use a hose and a bucket to drain the tank and the household hot
water piping down to the height of the bucket without spilling any on
the floor. That's better than dumping it ALL on the floor, I suppose.

We were going to siphon from the heater to the sink, which would have
gotten out more than half of the water. He has a 40 gallon tank.

The OP is either a troll or someone with a limited ability to fully
describe the instant situation so he could get some really useful
advice. His referring to it as a HOT water heater bespeaks that.
CY: I suspect Mierman is a "she". But, I could be mistaken. Perhaps S/He
will clarify.

Oh dear, I get so flustered when my sexuality is in dispoute.

Jeff


Meirman
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