Draining a Water Heater can take a long time. So sometimes customers don't mind doing this simple step to allow their work to get done earlier in the day so they have a tank of piping hot water later that evening.
The most important thing is to make sure power to the heating element is turned off. If the heating element is not covered in water, and turned on, it will fry in less than a second, guaranteed.
1) Turn off power at the circuit breaker or the disconnect. Circuit breaker is easier and better.
2) Turn off solar pump (usually mounted on tank) by unplugging it. if it is a 240V pump, you can't unplug it, but turning the heater breaker off will remove it's power.
3) Close the 3/4" Ball Valve on the cold water supply to the pump. If there are ball valves on both hot and cold pipes and you don't know which is which, then it is usually just fine to close both. Perpendicular to the pipe is the closed position.
5) Lift the P&T Relief Valve handle to a straight up position, this lets air into the tank, which is necessary
for the water to exit.
It could take 30 to 60 minutes to drain, longer if the bottom is heavily sedimented.
It may take some time for water to show at the end of the hose, but if none shows after a few minutes, then best to call Steve to discuss possibilities---cell is 808 265-5971
