water heater sediment/calcium removal when you have plastic drainvalve.. fixed

A while back I reported that my water heater was making banging noises and that I did drain it and not much came out so I thought it was clean on the inside...I thought...

Today I finally got to replace the drain valve at the bottom of the water heater. I have done this before, except I would only replace the little valve, not the entire valve/pipe The heater had a plastic valve and they just don't hold up very well.. After a few years they start leaking no matter how good you tighten it. This time I unscrewed the entire pipe/valve from the heater tank. When I did that there was no water coming out ?.. I thought what the h*ck... then I looked in it and it turned out there was a layer of calcium completely blocking the opening ! After poking it with a screwdriver the water started running out. I stuck my finger inside the tank and I could feel a lot of sediment in there. I took a piece of 3/4 inch brass and screwed it in the tank. Water was still running out. While it was running out I repeatedly poked in with a screwdriver and tons of sediment came out with the water. When the heater finally emptied I put a new brass valve on the pipe, hooked up a water hose to the street and opened my main water valve to the house to fill the heater tank again. There was still tons of sediment coming out of the tank ! I repeatedly opened an closed the drain valve, causing more and more sediment to come out. A few times it even blocked the hose, it would then build up pressure and eventually the sediment would break open and shoot out of the hose. so to all people having these plastic valves on the water heater and THINK they are draining sediment out... you're not until you replace the valve with a decent opening.

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Reply to
Rein
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And anyone fooling around with a water heater that is old enough to have this much of a problem is likely headed for a flooded basement soon.

Reply to
Chet Hayes

?? You're supposed to drain the sediment. Besides, I don't have a basement :-)

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Reply to
Rein

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