Water Heater Drain Pan Drain completely cloged

[Fried Chicken]

As titled... I tried putting compressed air through it, no dice. I tried putting a vacuum on it, no dice. I tried poking at it, and it's completely full of dirt or something.

The issue is, I only have like 2 inches to get into it w/o moving the water heater, and I have absolutely no clue where it drains to. I don't expect I'll ever need it, but it's there for a reason, so I'd rather have it not be clogged.

Any ideas?

 

[Section VIII]

As titled... I tried putting compressed air through it, no dice. I tried putting a vacuum on it, no dice. I tried poking at it, and it's completely full of dirt or something.

The issue is, I only have like 2 inches to get into it w/o moving the water heater, and I have absolutely no clue where it drains to. I don't expect I'll ever need it, but it's there for a reason, so I'd rather have it not be clogged.

Any ideas?

Did you try using a wire coat hanger to poke to break up any dirt? It sounds like an object is stuck in the drain if it's completely clogged. Maybe a small ball?

The drain pan should drain to the exterior of the house. Some drain into a sump or crawl space (which they shouldn't).

 

[Fried Chicken]

Did you try using a wire coat hanger to poke to break up any dirt? It sounds like an object is stuck in the drain if it's completely clogged. Maybe a small ball?

The drain pan should drain to the exterior of the house. Some drain into a sump or crawl space (which they shouldn't).

I tried with a piece of copper romex, but it wasn't stout enough. I'll try the coat hanger, that's a good idea.

It must drain straight down, but the house sits on a concrete foundation. The pressure relief valve does drain, but also no clue where. Perhaps into the drain system? It's to a copper pipe.

 

[dwaugh]

I tried with a piece of copper romex, but it wasn't stout enough. I'll try the coat hanger, that's a good idea.

It must drain straight down, but the house sits on a concrete foundation. The pressure relief valve does drain, but also no clue where. Perhaps into the drain system? It's to a copper pipe.

Can you post a picture? This is a water heater? The pressure relief valve would typically drain down through a copper pipe on the side of the heater and into the a drain pan with an exposed end. The drain pan is hard piped? Into a slab?

 

[Fried Chicken]

Can you post a picture? This is a water heater? The pressure relief valve would typically drain down through a copper pipe on the side of the heater and into the a drain pan with an exposed end. The drain pan is hard piped? Into a slab?

I'll get a picture tomorrow, the hot water heater is soaking in vinegar right now in preparation for its first ever flush (~10 years old). I tried simply flushing, but the despots clogged the valve (I got it unstuck by backflowing water). The anode is removed.

 

[Fried Chicken]

So I've put myself into a pickle here.

The limescale buildup on the bottom is so bad the drain/flush valve immediately gets clogged. I had vinegar sit in it overnight but it's made seemingly no difference to the limescale, at least on the bottom near the drain valve.

I'd like to remove the drain valve and physically poke at the thing to clear it, but the basin drain is clogged, so if it frees the water will have nowhere to go. I can't move the unit b/c it's full of water that I can't get out, and I can't really do much to clear the basin drain b/c the unit is in the way.

Ideas appreciated, I have my own brewing I will try (Remove the hot water supply from the house, attach the garden hose, and flush it through there).

 

[Fried Chicken]

I could flush the tank through the hot water supply, but almost no calcium scale came out, and it doesn't solve the underlying issue.

Now I'm seeing this nifty gadget that I don't have:
https://www.amazon.com/Sediment-Buster-Cleaning-Draining-Flushing/dp/B0CNN19BTM

It might work for what I need it to, but I'm dubious. I did notice pushing water I could get it to work. There are other gadgets advertised on youtube.

 

[dwaugh]

Can you snake the drain line from the other direction?

 

[Fried Chicken]

Can you snake the drain line from the other direction?

I have no clue where the other end is

I checked the side of the house and found nothing. It might just go underneath the foundation? II just have absolutely no clue

 

[dwaugh]

If you have a fish tape for pulling wire in electrical conduit it will be stiffer than a spring type plumbing snake to clear the line from the pan side. Can you feel the clog with a wire coat hanger?

 

[Fried Chicken]

While I can't offer this forum a supporting membership, I feel I can offer some amusement.

I like the idea of the sediment buster, unfortunately it's not available locally today or even in the foreseeable future. Amazon has low stock, I don't have prime, it would ship from Florida via eBay and not be here until next Monday.


And so, I present my today solution:




The cherry on top? It cost exactly $40, the same as the Sediment Buster.


Wish me luck.

 

[Fried Chicken]

Wow. I think it actually works brilliantly. This might actually be a work of genius.


I would recommend the sediment buster over this abominable contraption, but it seems like it actually works exactly as advertised.

 

[Fried Chicken]

Update:

It worked perfectly. It worked better than perfectly. I legit thought "no way no sir no how", right up until I opened the compressed air valve and heard the air gushing and gurgling into the tank.

It didn't just work to flush the tank, it actually let me quickly drain the tank completely by pressurizing it and filling it with compressed air. Still took a while because of the stubborn deposits, but all the **** got a beating and the flow resumed. Wow. A++++++++ idea. Genuine American ingenuity.

I was legit stumped. I had no idea how I could get this to work whenever the first vinegar flush didn't do ****.

Here you can see all the sediments that came out:



and once I got the tank completely drained, I put another gallon of 9% vinegar in, and filled it from the top up to re-release any leftover sediment and do hopefully one final super flush.

This should significantly improve the efficiency of the hot water heater, and ensures I can easily do annual proper flushes as the valve shouldn't be clogged up. I have one more hot water heater to go, it's in a godforesaken location, so having built/tested this system to clean the hot water heaters, hopefully I can get it knocked out in not too much time.

 

[Fried Chicken]

If you have a fish tape for pulling wire in electrical conduit it will be stiffer than a spring type plumbing snake to clear the line from the pan side. Can you feel the clog with a wire coat hanger?

I can feel the clog with my finger. Now that I can drain the water heater properly, I can maybe move it to get some clearance

 

[gggGary]

Replace that drain valve with a straight 3/4 ball valve so you can get access THROUGH the valve.
With both top shut offs closed and nothing else open to air water will come out of the heater so slowly you can do an element, drain valve or T&P valve replacement without draining the heater. ;^)
Milkstone remover found at the farm store is a VERY effective lime dissolver.

 

[Marley5]

I know the feeling.
My 1st house " early 80's " had water so hard from limestone that the the bottom element needed replaced yearly.
What I did was tape a section of rebarb to the end of a shop vac and kept digging away and back flushing until all was clear.....it worked.

 

[Sidecarflip]

Replace that drain valve with a straight 3/4 ball valve so you can get access THROUGH the valve.
With both top shut offs closed and nothing else open to air water will come out of the heater so slowly you can do an element, drain valve or T&P valve replacement without draining the heater. ;^)
Milkstone remover found at the farm store is a VERY effective lime dissolver.

We have hard well water here as well. I also replaced the hose bib valve with a full port ball valve as the original valve being a by pass valve was worthless. That way I can use a wire coat hanger through the ball valve orfice to remove the built up scale if necessary but not required as I DRAIN OFF THE BOTTOM OF THE TANK EVERY MONTH TO REMOVE THE SCALE BUILDUP. I use the full port valve and a garden hose to remove the scale that has collected during the month.

Water heaters in general should be flushed / drained every month. I don't drain the HWH, just blow off the sediment in the bottom. Problem is, you don't do that regularly, in my case monthly. eventually the collected sediment will eat through the bottom of the tank as well.

Like I said, gets drained monthly, well not drained, but the sediment blown off. Do that on my rentals as well. HWH's are expensive today. why not maintain them correctly????

 

[thenne1713]

As titled... I tried putting compressed air through it, no dice. I tried putting a vacuum on it, no dice. I tried poking at it, and it's completely full of dirt or something.

The issue is, I only have like 2 inches to get into it w/o moving the water heater, and I have absolutely no clue where it drains to. I don't expect I'll ever need it, but it's there for a reason, so I'd rather have it not be clogged.

Any ideas?

Most likely clogged by dirt dauber wasp nest; you will have to find the other end of pipe. After clearing put some screen over end w/ a hose clamp.

 

[Fried Chicken]

Most likely clogged by dirt dauber wasp nest; you will have to find the other end of pipe. After clearing put some screen over end w/ a hose clamp.

I'll have to take a good hard look. I have no clue at all where it is

 

[Sidecarflip]

If you only have 2" to access the drain valve, all I can say is it's a pizz poor install. Like I stated, the stock drain valves are useless. It needs to be replaced with a full port WOG valve. Time to drain the HWH, disconnect the plumbing and fuel supply and rotate it so you can have access to the valve and then replace it with a WOG valve. I 'blow' mine off monthly, actually, when I change the inline sediment filter between the bladder tank and the main supply line. I use a 'Cumo' industrial type cannister type filter and 'Melt blown' cartridges. We have a lot of sediment in out well water and the 5 micron cartridges I use gets most of it before it gets into the house plumbing and the HWH. I also inject Hydrogen Peroxide into the raw water to precipitate off any dissolved iron and the cartridge filter traps that. Been doing that for at least 15 years now.

Our raw water sucks big time and has to have a pre treatment or it stinks from sulfur dioxide and stains everything from the iron in the water. Using H2O2 as a pre treatment as well as the cartridge filter removes 90% of it but I still have to drain off the HWH monthly as the sediment collects in the bottom of the heater. Part of living in a Karst (limestone) region. Everyone out here does it or they put up with the stink. Problem with sulfur dioxide is it will eventually destroy electrical equipment as the airborne sulfur dioxide attacks electrical contacts and destroys them.

Pulling water from a 150 foot deep well, full cased.