How to Find Water in Your Home
In a disaster, water lines are often cracked or broken and impure substances can pollute your water. In this case, you need to turn off the water to your house. This poses a problem if you do not have enough water stored for your emergency needs. There are several other sources of water if your water is turned off – water drained from the hot water heater (most tanks contain 30-60 gallons of usable water), toilet tank (not the bowl), melted ice cubes, canned fruit and vegetable juices, and liquid from other canned goods. However, your supply of extra pure water is by far the best resource.
The biggest source for water should be your stored water. In case you haven’t completed this, you water heater is the next biggest source. The best way to find out how to get water from your water heater is to go the manufacturer’s website for instructions. You will also need the model number of your water heater. For my water heater I went to http://bradfordwhite.com/supportserv_faq_systemmaint.asp. Here are the instructions to flush out my water heater. In order to get the water out just skips steps 6 and 7.
INSTRUCTIONS TO FLUSH YOUR WATER HEATER
1. On a gas water heater, turn the gas valve to the off position. On an electric water heater, turn the electric off to the heater.
2. Shut the cold water off to the water heater.
3. Open a hot water faucet.
4. Connect a hose to the drain valve on the heater and run to a drain.
5. Open the drain valve and allow the tank to completely drain.
6. Turn back on the cold water into the water heater.
7. Allow the water to run through the water heater and out of the drain valve. Do this for approximately five (5) or ten (10) minutes.
8. Close the drain valve and allow the tank to refill, keeping the hot water faucet open. When water comes out of the faucet, the tank is full.
To ensure that the water in your water heater is useable, you should flush your hot water tank once every 6 months. If your local water is harder or contains more minerals, you may need to do so on a more frequent basis.
Related Posts
