No. Never. Ours is at the end of it's life--we purchased it over 20 years ago. What is this supposed to be doing for it?

Dinner ready, I'll be back tomorrow to answer your Q.........

I've never drained a water heater.

Never. I do try to have the sacrificial anode replaced every five years or so. I live in an area with very hard water.

With tank heaters, draining is supposed to lengthen the heater's life by removing accumulated sediment at the bottom. Probably more relevant for a gas heater than for an electric one, because with the latter, the heating elements are not at the bottom of the tank and the upper element is the one that's on the most anyway.

I've never done it, not even in a hard water area.

Replacing the anode is, in theory, a pretty good idea but I've never done that either.

Nope, the water heater than busted recently on me was really old. I wonder how long this one is going to last. I thought about replacing my very ugly, old fridge maybe next year and now I'm thinking I'll just keep it till it dies.

Never. Is this one more thing to worry about?

I drained my water heater in 2001 and my cat had a bunch of kittens that night, so never again for me.

My plumber once told me that draining it can stir up the sediment at the bottom, which won’t completely drain, but will disperse in the water as you refill it, and take a while to resettle.

We have a couple of filters on the water system. That settles the possible problem.

We have tankless so nothing to drain. But I've always been of the mind, if it ain't broke, don't fix it...

I'm back (no internet after dinner, my personal rule ;-). As Elmer posted above, draining a WH on a regular basic is to remove sediments and lengthen it's life, but it's one of those out of sight out of mind things. When we bought this old farm house 20 years ago it had an old AO Smith WH which was working ok at the time. After a couple of years the thermostat which controlled the heating elements failed so I emailed AO Smith to order a new stat replacement. They asked for the WH serial number which I sent them and they responded telling me (almost demanding) to buy a new WH asap and that mine was 37 YO.

I told them that it works fine and just needed a new stat, so they reluctantly sent me one which I installed and things worked ok. After reading up on WHs I decided that perhaps I should drain this old sucker since it was so old, bad idea. I turned on the drain valve on the bottom and only a tiny trickle came out. When I turned the valve to shut it off the trickle did not stop, ugh, so I had to add an end cap to the outlet to stop the flow. The water heater continued to work well for a few more years but when I replaced all the house plumbing I decided to get a new WH too.

Apparently the drain valve was blocked/clogged up by several inches of sediment over the years and to be able to remove this old WH I had to insert a hose into one of the inlets and syphon the water out from the top which took several to complete. I was amazed that this old WH had lasted for about 40 years and have to give AO Smith a big kudos for it's longevity. All this being said I will never again drain my WHs, we have 2 WHs now since we added on an addition with an expanded laundry room and a 2nd full bath.

That's an amazing WH lifespan!

I put in a new WH five years ago, when the one that was here when I bought the house, failed. Just, one day, no hot water. Called a plumber, he drained it, said the lower element was bad and put in a new one. Two days later, no hot water. Called him back, and he said the WH failed, and I needed a new one. Went to Home Depot and bought one, plumber came back and installed it. I had him pull the brand new element out of the bad unit, and saved it.

This summer, I heard weird noises coming from the room where the WH is located. Sounded like sizzling. There was a very slow leak, which caused droplets to fall on a heating element and sizzle. I threw the breaker. Called a plumber.

He drained this unit so he could take it out. Bought another WH, this one says lifespan is seven years. Well Water here, and I have a whole house water softener, but apparently it's not as effective as it could be, with all the gunk that's still making it's way to the WH. I suppose one of these days I'll need to replace it, too.

Sediment in a water heater takes up space in the tank, which reduces the capacity of available heated water..

Y'all are making me feel better. I've owned various homes for 30 years now, and never once drained a water heater. I always heard it's recommended maintenance, but somehow I just never think about it. I get my HVAC systems serviced annually, but that poor water heater just sits there all forlorn and unloved.

My 2 most recent water heaters (in 2 different homes) both lasted roughly 10 years. My primary home was built about a decade ago, and that water heater just went earlier this year. My secondary home came with a water heater also about 10 years old, and interestingly enough just last week that one also appears to be on its last legs.

I might drain it if we had an earthquake and we were out of water.

I do plan to drain the pool this year, but I don't do that every year. It's been four years now since I drained it, and so I think it is overdue. I should drain it every three years, I think, to get new water, as otherwise there is too much chemical accumulation.

I have heard you should drain a hot water tank periodically and have never done it. We have city water, not hard. In looking for something else one day with flashlight, I found about a quarter cup water under the hot water tank that serves laundry, kitchen, guest bath. I had it replaced the next week....PO had dated the tank - it was more than 25 yrs old.

Last Christmas morning I discovered the 80 gal tank for the other two bathrooms beginning to leak. 80 gal so the really silly jacuzzi tub for two in our primary bath that we have never used and never will use could be filled. I filled it once to see how well it worked and it was loud (like lawnmower motor loud), + we might be taking our lives in our hands trying to get back out over the tile surround if we did get inside and wet and slippery 😂 With the price (!) of a tank that size these days, I had it replaced with a more standard size. That tank too was more than 25 years old. I've been wanting to replace that tub with a curbless shower anyway, changing the tank size put me one step closer to pulling the trigger on a remodel. If I could just commit myself to having a contractor in our bedroom for several days...when peace and quiet, routine, has been more hard to come by the last year or so and I'm one who needs peaceful routine mornings.

" We have a couple of filters on the water system. That settles the possible problem. "

Not necessarily. It depends on what kind of filters you have and what's in your water.

It's not unusual for potable water sources to contain what's called "dissolved solids". These substances are often not removed with conventional filter systems and can collect in water heaters all the same, just like other physical sediments.

I don't believe complete drain to empty is necessary. Flushing the tank by connecting a hose to the drain valve and opening it full should be sufficient. Let the flush run until the flow runs clear. Accumulated sediment can block the drain valve to a trickle or no flow as vgkg relates above.

I accidentally ”drained” a previous water heater. I dropped something heavy and it sheared off the plastic drain valve. The water that came out all over the floor was definitely full of some kind of salt/sediment. We have very hard water.

If one is aiming to drain the tank, be sure to shut off the gas supply on a gas unit or the breakers on an electric unit before starting. Do not turn the breakers or gas back on until the tank is refilled completely and several faucets in the house are run until all the air is expelled.

Interesting…never heard of draining them. Our current house has two water heaters. Will ask our plumber next time I see him.

Mine is a couple of years over 20 years old, (replaced when my child was in high school, the closest I can recall to the date), never drained, and still working well.

(Rushes to find some wood to knock...)

I have no idea if this is true, but my plumber once said that if you don't do it about every year, then don't bother doing it (I can't remember why, sorry!).

I have thought about it, but the cost of water here (and gas!) is so high, I just mentally calculate how much draining/refilling would cost over the lifespan of the heater, and it comes out to about the cost of a new one.

Never

Thanks for the replies, apparently no one does it and for sure I won't be doing again it in the future. Thanks too dadoes for the very important reminder to shut off the gas or ele before draining it or working on a WH for any reason.

Used to drain our original gas water heater every couple of years or so. Our water is pretty good quality, not hard or soft. From a 50-gall tank would get about 3-4 gall of brownish-red sediment before it ran clear.

Tank lasted 23 yrs before it finally rusted out. The slow leak ended up causing a major remodel to our master BD suite on the other side of the wall, LOL.

Current 50 gall was installed 2015. Spouse started complaining one of our faucets was spewing out hot water with odd floating black speckles. This faucet was closest to the HW heater, almost directly above it.

Turned out when the city was flushing the main water drain, which they do every once in a great while, a very large glop of their pipe sediment ended up floating around in our HW tank. Our handyman had to flush the whole tank twice, then let it refill and reheat.

I’ve thought about it but have never done so, Now its 21 years old and I’d be afraid naybe it wouldn’t shut off and work again when turned on. We were just talking about replacing it next year.

I did drain the one that we just had replaced, for the first two years. But nothing but clear water came out, so I didnt do it again. WE just had to have it replaced this month . I am pretty sure that it was full of sediment and the plumber confirmed that. We went ahead and replaced it as it was 12 years old. It needed, I think, a new thermostat, but plumbers dont repair things like that anymore. We had four different plumbers out here and not a one of them was willing to do any repair or service on it. Not a one was even capable of diagnosing what was wrong with it. I thought that, at least, they would have some manner of something to diagnose the problem, like the guy who checks out the furnace does. But, they are all about just replacing, not repairing.

Oh golly! Replacing an electric hot water heater thermostat is something anyone that owns a screwdriver can do. New part available at Lowes/Home depot, etc.

Video

Since we're getting up in age, we have a contract for HVAC, and plumbing maintenance.

They empty the water heater, clean the AC unit, change the furnace filters, and any other repairs, as needed.