Water Heaters - Broken Drain Valve

Hello,

My drain valve on my water heater was leaking quite badly (approximately 3-6 gallons per day). After reading through the forums here I found that this could be replaced once the tank had been drained. Unfortunately I have found that the knob for the valve has been broken off (it was very cheap plastic). Obviously I need to drain the tank before I can replace the drain valve. Does anyone have any advice on how I can open the valve when it has a broken knob?

Any assistance is appreciated.

Thanks.

When you say the knob is broken do you mean the part with the garden hose thread is no longer attached or do you mean that you simply cannot turn the drain with your hands?

Pictures would help. Pictures need to be posted to a photo hosting site and the URL posted here.

I cannot turn the knob because it has physically snapped off. I made the mistake of thinking (before I saw on this site the reason for the leak) that I simply needed to tighten the valve to stop the leaking. Apparently I didn't know my own strength (or how weak the knob would be) and broke it.

Since the knob has snapped off I need an alternate way to open the valve so I can drain the water out prior to replacing it. The knob had a plastic step that went down into the valve and that it what snapped off. Unfortunately I do not have a camera so I cannot provide a picture.

Thanks.

When you say the knob is broken do you mean the part with the garden hose thread is no longer attached or do you mean that you simply cannot turn the drain with your hands?

Pictures would help. Pictures need to be posted to a photo hosting site and the URL posted here.

I hate to tell you but it sounds like you're screwed. If enough of the plastic is sticking out of the heater jacket you might be able to get a small pipe wrench on it and unscrew it. Unfortunately it sounds like the end with the hose threads is now gone so the water will simply spill out onto the floor.

Depending on whether or not you have a floor drain nearby this might not be a serious problem. You could use a shop vac hose to help direct the water flow. You could also use a wet vac and slurp up the water as it ran out. You would have to be able to also close the stub of a valve with the pipe wrench during the time it took to empty the shop vac.


If you can do this then you will be able to install a REAL drain valve. How old is the heater and is it gas or electric?

I replaced my cheap dripping plastic drain valve without draining my water heater. I just turned the burner to 'pilot', turned off the incoming water, opened a hot faucet at the basement sink briefly to relieve pressure in the system, then just loosened the old valve to the point that it was just hand tight. I had my new valve ready with pipe joint compound on the threads. I finished unscrewing the old valve and quickly started the new valve by hand. Since there was no vent open to allow air in the water heater, I probably did not lose over a cup or two of water during the switch-over.