How to Drain Your Home's Hot Water Heater

It can be good to occasionally drain the tank to your home's hot water heater to keep minerals from clinging to the side of the tank and remove rust flecks and other debris. It's not difficult to do this on your own, but you need a hose that will fit the hot water heater valve and which is long enough to reach a drain in the bathroom floor or a nearby utility sink. Once you have that, and have shut off the circuit breaker to the tank, note the next steps.

Close the supply valve

The supply valve is located along the pipes of the hot water heater, and this controls the fresh water coming into the tank; this needs to be closed while you're draining the tank. If you're not sure which valve is the right one, turn on a hot water faucet in the home and then try the different valves you see on the hot water heater; choose the one that stops fresh water from coming into the tank.

Connect the hose

There should be another valve located near the bottom of the hot water tank, meant specifically for draining; it may even be marked as the drain valve. If you're not sure which is the right valve, hook up your hose to a valve before testing it; once you open the drain valve, all the water in the tank will start to drain out around you! Be sure you also have the opposite end of your hose safely located near a drain; tape it into place if needed.

Draining the tank

Once you've found the drain valve and have your hose hooked up, open that valve and allow the water to drain away; be careful about touching the hose, as this water will be very hot at first. Once the water stops running through the hose, open the fresh water valve just slightly so that fresh water can come in and flush out the tank. Let this run for several minutes and then close that valve; keep the hose in place until the tank empties again.

Refill the tank

After the tank is empty, you can remove the hose and close the drain valve. Next, turn on the circuit breaker for the heater and then open the fresh water valve again. Be sure you stand watch for several minutes while the tank refills, in case you didn't close the drain valve properly and to ensure the tank refills and heats the water as it should.

If you feel you cannot do this on your own, contact a professional plumber that works on hot water systems, such as those at Peninsula Plumbing S.A..