Water Heaters - draining/moving water heater

I want to be able to re-floor and also finish out the walls in the small old pantry room where this water heater is located. Obviously I will need to move the water heater out of the way to do it. What might be a good method to drain most of the water out of the water heater so it won't be so heavy to move around? I suppose I could drill a hole in the floor and attach a hose to the drain at the bottom of the water heater and run the hose through the crawlspace of the house and then out somehow. Or, does anyone have any better suggestions, how would it typically be done? Any comments/advice appreciated.

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb153/sgull1/waterheater1.jpg
http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb153/sgull1/waterheater2.jpg

can't you just run a hose out a door ?

can't you just run a hose out a door ?

Yes, I suppose I could, there is a door to the outside only 15 feet away. But I assumed that since the water heater drain spigot is so close to the floor like it is that that there wouldn't be any/enough downhill slope to the hose for the water to run out. Is my assumption incorrect?

Drill operated pump:

http://www.drillspot.com/category/8192/Hand_And_Drill_Operated_Pumps

Drill operated pump]

Hey I actually have one of those in my tool shed. Duh! Never even thought about using it for this. Thanks Michael Thomas.

What are some good suggestions prior to disconnecting/draining the water heater and also after reconnecting it and turning the water back on, etc.
Not having done this before, I would like to avoid the possibility of overlooking some important steps, like when to open faucets to drain water out of plumbing lines and when to turn the faucets back off or how to bleed air pockets out or whatever. thanks

Looks like a 50 gallon tank, so when full it weighs in excess of 500 pounds! You will have a heck of a time moving that around if you don't drain it. I think that base has been covered.

To drain, close the cold water inlet, and open a hot water tap somewhere wide open. ( if you have single control taps, move the handle all the way to HOT. If you leave it on WARM, you will feed cold water across back to the WH). When refilling, do the same thing. Leave on or more HOT taps wide open, open the COLD fill valve, and let it run until you get solid water from the hot taps, with no sign of air bubbles.

Did I mention....turn off the juice before draining, and DO NOT turn the power back on until you are sure the tank is full and all air bled out.

Thanks 594tough, exactly what I needed to know.:thumbup:

I want to be able to disconnect this water heater and move it out of the way as reasonably possible while I finish out the walls in and otherwise remodel the little room that it sits in now. But I want to be able to continue to have hot water in my house provided by this heater during the fixup period, which will likely take me several days to complete. My thought was that I might be able to disconnect the flexible copper lines (in picture) and replace them with some other longer appropriate line or hose, maybe about 8 or 10 feet longer, after I disconnect and move the heater out of the way. Similarly, I would need to extend the electrical line (enclosed in shiny gray hose in picture) a longer distance, so I need to figure out the best way to do that too. Any comments/suggestions appreciated.

For each water line, you need a 3/4" (or whatever the
appropriate size) copper pipe with two male thread
adapter soldered at each end. You can connect the pipe
to your current flex connector (after WH removed).
Obviously, you need another flex connector to connect
the WH and the pipe. Do the same for the other water line.
By the way, it seems that your hot water line did get
proper insolation. It is quite cheap to have it done.

The problem is the electrical cord. Connecting such a
big cord may not be easy. You might need to find a
socket with large enough capacity so you can plug in
the plug. Use large gauge wire connecting the socket
to a new plug which can be connected to the WH.
I am not sure about this though.



I want to be able to disconnect this water heater and move it out of the way as reasonably possible while I finish out the walls in and otherwise remodel the little room that it sits in now. But I want to be able to continue to have hot water in my house provided by this heater during the fixup period, which will likely take me several days to complete. My thought was that I might be able to disconnect the flexible copper lines (in picture) and replace them with some other longer appropriate line or hose, maybe about 8 or 10 feet longer, after I disconnect and move the heater out of the way. Similarly, I would need to extend the electrical line (enclosed in shiny gray hose in picture) a longer distance, so I need to figure out the best way to do that too. Any comments/suggestions appreciated.

Perhaps the pictures in this post can better clarify the situation. It looks as though the two copper flex connectors are compression fit into threaded male fittings at each end, so I was thinking if I could acquire two other 8 or 10 ft flexible 1" lines or hoses (not sure what material) to temporarily replace the existing flex connectors, that I could then move the water heater out of the way far enough to keep it out of the way of my remodel work yet still operational. But what kind of hose would work okay especially with the hot water, and what kind of fittings be on the ends?
Insofar as the electrical connection, I could probably just disconnect it at the water heater and splice in a temporary extension to the existing wire and reconnect. Comments/advice?
http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb153/sgull1/waterheater3.jpg

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb153/sgull1/waterheater4.jpg