Drain hot water tank

S

smckean (Tosca)

New member
I decided to remove the heat element from the factory installed 6 gallon hot water heater in my CD25 (why is another story).

I learned some things from doing this. First off, the tank drains into the shower sump (I always wondered why those "extra" hoses lead to the shower sump); makes sense when you think about it. Second, the drain tap into the tank is higher than the tap into which the heat element screws. So when you attempt to drain the tank, there is at least a gallon left. I tried to soak up the overage with towels when I removed the element, but there was so much water, I just screwed the element back in to stop the "leak".

Does anyone have a simple way to truly drain that tank? My one thought was that I could drive the trailer up onto something like an 8" block on the starboard side; that might give enough list to the boat to keep the excess water in the back of the tank while I removed the element.
 
Never discount what your wife says: Her suggestion, is to put a tube into the point where the drain is, and suck the rest of the water out....Sounds like a good solution to me. For example I have a "water puppy" pump which has a set of adaptors for sucking oil out of crankcases. Or one of the small hand pumps with various fittings, which allows reduction of the size of the tubing. Even a shop vac with adaptors would work.

This involves unscrewing the drain petcock from the tank.

Another trick would be to make a metal or plastic funnel/box to fit right against the tank, where the element is screwed into the tank. Then collect the water in a shallow pan.
 
Oooooooo.....I like the idea of a Shop-Vac!

If I combine a couple of your ideas, it seems to me the easiest way would be to:

1. place the shop vac large hose business end under the element where it leaves the tank

2. unscrew the element -- you can control the water flow speed by how far you remove the element

3. just let the shop vac take all the water and clean up whatever little spillage with a surrounding towel.
 
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