Water Heaters - quick flushing question

i'm flushing the hot water heater. . . first time it's been done. . . and when i open the spigot past a certain point it starts whining very loudly. is this normal or am i gonna blow something up?

also, the spigot is a straight plastic piece that the hose threads onto and then both turn to open. does anyone know if this will stop at any point, some sort of safety measure, or if i just have to be careful not to unscrew the whole thing and spray scalding water all over myself?

thanks

describe what you have hooked up, where the water is going in and where it is draining out.

Bud

it's a simple, threaded drain towards the bottom of the heater. there is a plastic "cap" if you want to call it that, also threaded, that opens/closes the valve. hooked-up a length of hose to this "cap", opened and began flushing. when i open the valve to a certain point, it begins to whine. wondering if this is just from the pressurized air inside the tank being released and nothing to worry about, or. . . ?

And do you know if this valve would have a stop point of opening. don't really want to figure it out myself and find that there isn't one.

There should be a stop point, though I never had one with one of the plastic valves. You shouldn't really have to open it all the way, a couple of turns should be enough.

Oh, and you did turn off power (if electric) or set to pilot position (if gas), right?

I didn't find a stop point and it didn't come all the way off either, thank goodness. As for the whining, one or two turns past where it started, it stopped.

"Oh, and you did turn off power (if electric) or set to pilot position (if gas), right? "

No. I wasn't aware that I needed to when all I was doing was flushing the tank. In all the tips I have read, nothing was said about that until now. Hooked up the hose, opened the valve, ran until clear, closed the valve. Done.

Well, no problem. Depends on how/where you read flushing instructions. When I was able to do it with a new WH, I turned off water supply and power or turned down pilot...opened a hot faucet then opened drain. Bleed it down some (maybe 1/2 way), then open water supply, and flush til clear or a few minutes whichever it needed. Then close drain, refill tank, open all hot faucets to remove any air, restore power/gas.

Just the way I did it...seemed to work, maybe it was overkill.