First off, I’m new to home repair. I’ve lived in apartments for the last twenty years until I recently bought a house.
Yesterday, the drain valve on my (10-15 year old) hot water heater started leaking. No problem. I go to the local Home Despot and get a replacement. Get home, shut it down, drain the tank, turn off the water inlet and outlet, replace valve. I turned the inlet back on, fill the tank, turn the outlet on and relight the pilot.
Well, here’s the problem. I now have hot water, but only in the tank. It’s not going to the house. I’ve tried the outlet valve in every position and googled for a solution to no avail. The one thing I noticed is the outlet valve only takes a quarter turn from closed to opened while all the others take multiple full turns, but it looks like it might have been replaced at one time
Do I have to prime it, wait longer for the pressure to build, or something else so simple nobody should have been able to miss it? Any advice or suggestions are welcome
Does the outlet valve have a flat handle instead of a knob?
If it does, it is a ball valve and will be open when the flat handle is lined up parallel with the pipe. If the flat handle is at a 90-degree angle to the pipe, it’s closed. These only move 1/4 turn to go on/off.
If the valve is not equipped with a flat handle, but has a round knob, then it’s gonna have to turn several times before it is open. A 1/4 turn won’t open this type of valve.
Order of events, once your repair is done (from How to Replace a Water Heater)
Once all the connections are made, it’s time to fill the water heater up with cold water and turn the unit on.
Turn on the cold water supply valve to the water heater and turn on the main water supply valve at the water meter if that was also turned off.
Close the faucet near the water heater that was opened when you drained the water heater.
Fill the water heater tank. One way to check when it is full is to turn a hot water faucet on in a remote bathroom or the kitchen and when water comes out of that faucet, the tank is filled. The water will still be cold.
Once the tank is filled turn power back on at the power panel by reinstalling the fuse or resetting the circuit breaker (if an electric model); If a gas model, make sure the main gas valve is opened and light the pilot.
Set the thermostat to a temperature between 110 and 130 degrees.
I hate to say this, but your first error was trying to patch up a very elderly water heater. Generally, if you get anything more than the listed warranty period, (usually 6, 9 or 12 years) you’ve done well. If you get 15 years use out of a heater, you’ve done quite well.
Is water passing through the heater at all? ie: can you turn on a hot faucet in the house and get any water flow? If not, my best guess is that the shutoff valve on the heater’s outlet has failed and won’t re-open. It’s not common, but sometimes the internal works break loose from the handle.
All hot water heater tanks have a sacrificial anode. They eventually disappear (they get sacrificed). When that happens, the tank starts to rust out. The anode can be replaced, but most people don’t bother. If you are successful in getting your hot water heater to work you are likely to find a large pool of water in your basement in the not too distant future.
Replace the entire hot water heater. Probably best to let a plumber do it.
You’re right that it’s probably a ball valve but they can have any shape handle.
Open a hot water faucet to bleed out the air in the system and then open the valves to/from the tank.
If you think the valve is stuck shut then start by trying to identify it.
An industrial ball valve (not a decorative bathroom valve) tends to have a long handle.
A globe valve that would use a flat washer and require many turns to full open and can control the flow of water.
A gate valve. designed to be full open or full closed.
If you don’t have a ball valve then it will take many turns to open the valve. If you have to muscle a gate or globe valve it may start leaking at the stem. If that happens you can tighten the nut under the handle which will squeeze the packing material underneath it (it’s called a packing nut for that reason).
Maybe the valve is faulty?. For some reason it is not letting the water out of the tank. Check to see if you have any other shut offs in the closed position. I would replace the valve.
The main water shutoff in my house is a gate valve. When I open it, the first half-turn or so is easy, as I take up the slack in the mechanism. After that, it gets very hard to turn as the gate begins to open–and one can imagine that a person inexperienced with valves might think that that was all there was. However, if you persist through the hard-to-turn, it gets easy again, and then it’s several turns until full open.
I think this hard-to-turn spot is because of the pressure load on the gate, and once you get the valve cracked open, the pressure equalizes on both sides of the gate and the operating force lessens.
Thanks for all the help and advice. It turned out to be a stuck outlet valve. As for buying a new one, thats in the works. And, yes, I’m having a pro install when I get it. I know my limitations.
Hot Water Heater is a redundancy.
That is the only help I can give you.
Hope this helps.
they’re not hugely difficult to install if you know someone who has done it before. If you have it done than insist on new ball valves while the water is off. I’ve been slowly replacing them as I work on my house.