How to drain gas water heater

[AHSCA]

I recently bought a house and I want to draw off some water out of the gas water heater and see if there is any sediment buildup (I don’t think the previous owner would have done things like this). My problem is that there is no hose bib on my heater, there is a pvc-like pipe with a collar on it and threads on the outside but it’s just an open pipe, with no obvious way to let the water out. I know this must be where you drain the water because occaisionally this pipe will drip small ammounts of water. But how do you get this valve open???

[GuestParticipant]

Here is a site that shows the valve and a solution:
http://www.kwikkleen.net/easytodo.htm

The threads on the plastic are to attach a hose to run the dirty water somewhere other than on the floor. After a hose is connected to the threads, grab the large plastic collar around the threads and move your hands to your left in a normal unscrewing motion. The valve will open until it hits a stopping feeling.

(The picture on the above site shows a wrench on the pipe behind the collar to remove the valve after it has been opened all the way.- Do this only after the heater gas is off and the tank is completely drained – if and when you are installing their device.)

[SylvanLMPParticipant]

Can I remove water from a water heater? by Sylvan Tieger : PlumbViews >> MasterPlumbers.com – The Largest Plumbing Resource
http://www.masterplumbers.com/plumbing/plumbviews/1999/waterheater_maintenance.html

BE CAREFUL

[GuestParticipant]

Wat a nutti bunch of ansers. The guy ask about how to drain an then sez he wants to take out a little , then the next guy trys to sell a weerd valve to drain , then the exspurt says be careful about draining the whole thing. Who ever herd of this? Just open the plastic valv and drain some dirty water without doing anything else, nothing happens. Thousands of homowners do this all the time.

[Author]

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