In 1992 my wife and I were managing a condominium complex in Glendora, California while we were working me through school. I took care of all the maintenance for the 30 units and the place was just old enough that it occupied most of my free time. I noticed steam coming out of one of the exterior service closets and inside I found hot water coming out of one of the water heater temperature relief valves.
I heard popping as the flames tried to heat the unit and I knew that meant there was a lot of sediment build-up on the bottom of the tank. I knew things weren’t right, and I tried to reset the T&P valve to get the leaking hot water to stop. I turned the flame off as I figured it was time to flush the unit out. I made some key mistakes at that point and I hooked up a garden hose to the plastic drain valve and started to untwist the lower tank flush valve.
I still remember being thrust back against the wall by a rush of hot water. Images of Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible when he ruptures the fish aquarium comes immediately to my mind. The valve exploded out as I was untwisting it and I was unaware that this unit was actually telling me that it was malfunctioning to the point that without the working T&P valve it would have exploded and leveled the condominium. But why was I unaware?... I must admit that I ignorantly ignored the warning signs and just assumed that this was yet another leaking T&P valve, of which I had encountered at least 6 others in the same complex.
I never expected to be thrown back and scalded by the water which had reached its flash point. I have been gun shy about flushing water heaters ever since that afternoon in 1992.
There are some simple steps to avoid my near fatal catastrophe.
- 1) Turn the pilot off, or at least turn it down to the lowest vacation or pilot setting.
- 2) Turn on a hot water fixture inside the home and let it run for a few minutes. This will take some of the hot water out of the tank and replace it with cool water.
- 3) Then head outside and hook-up your drain hose to the flush valve and go through the draining process.
- 4) Reset the pilot thermostat when you are done draining the system as needed.
PLEASE NOTE: My near fatal experience happened because of the over-heating explosive pressures built-up inside the tank. My experience was a rare occurrence and definitely not the normal situation faced by homeowners. But I caution you not to ignore the warning signs when you are considering the test described by A.O. Smith above. |
