Flushing series water heaters

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AngelM

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I recently bought a home with 2 water heaters connected in series. I'm trying to do the annual drain and flush on them both. (skipping some steps to keep the post shorter) I think I'm supposed to shut off the cold water inlet then drain the upstream tank until empty then flush it and fill it. Repeat with the downstream tank.

Is this right?
 

Reach4

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I am not sure which order I would do the two tanks in. Your upstream first sounds good.

Water heater (WH) flushing can be done different ways. The simplest I would use is to
1. Turn off the WH water, and put the WH in vacation mode, if it has one. Otherwise off.
2. Open a hot water tap to pass air.
3. Drain the WH completely. Usually you would use a hose to direct the water.
4. Turn the water supply on fully for a few seconds, and turn off. You are trying to cause turbulence to the bottom of the tank.
5. Do steps 3 and 4 a few times. If you have a way to monitor the drained water, you could judge by what you are getting out.
6. Turn the water and WH back on. Close the hot water tap once the air has been expelled and just water is coming out.
 

Master Plumber Mark

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you would be wise to leave them alone ... draining a water heater is totally overrated
and can actually be detrimental... We get calls all the time from folks who cannot get the
heaters to re-light after they go though this draining process .... or the elements start to sing after it
is re-filled...

the best way to flush out your heaters is to enlarge the drain ports on the bottom of the heater
with a full 3/4 brass nipple and a full port ball valve on both of them with the proper hose adaptor on
the end of the ball valve... (short nipples preferred)
Attach a garden hose to this ball valve and place the other end on the driveway
or down a drain in the home... Turn on the ball valve with FULL PRESSURE and blow out all the sediment
inside both heaters... turn it on and off a few times to stir up the water and keep flushing.... You would see
the results out on your driveway.....

If you really want to go crazy nuts doing this you can totally turn off the water to the heaters and depressurize them,,,
Then open up the full port ball valves.... water will come slowly out the valve and you can reach into the heater through the ball valve with a long coat hanger with a hook on the end and scrape around the bottom of the heater to drag out more sediment if you wish.....
short nipples to the tank work best for this process...

knock yourself out.....




 

Reach4

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If you really want to go crazy nuts doing this you can totally turn off the water to the heaters and depressurize them,,,
Then open up the full port ball valves.... water will come slowly out the valve and you can reach into the heater through the ball valve with a long coat hanger with a hook on the end and scrape around the bottom of the heater to drag out more sediment if you wish.....
short nipples to the tank work best for this process...
If I were doing it over, instead of a nipple, full port ball valve, and garden hose adapter, I would consider Rheem AP12231C-1 which does those all in one.
What I am wondering about is the difference between "full port", as my ball valve is, and "full flow". Full port gives the big hole.

ap12231c-1-1.jpg
 

Master Plumber Mark

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you want the big hole so the lime and sediment come out easier and you can literally take a pencil sized
stick and poke it all the way through the tank to the other side if you wanted to....

thats a nice valve set up but the nipple should be as short as possible as not to restrict your
tool when you reach through into the heater.....
 
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