How to Do Water Heater Removal Right

Before you're subjected to cold showers, you need to know how to do water heater removal right. There's little more unpleasant than discovering your long, hot baths or showers are coming rapidly to an end. Water heaters fail from ordinary use, but also, can fail from leaks or worn components. In some instances, it's not a difficult fix, but if it's not repairable, you'll have to know how to do water heater removal right so you can replace it quickly.

How to Do Water Heater Removal Right

You might be dealing with a foreclosure cleanout situation, have an old appliance that just stopped working, or, have to replace it for a tenant in an income property rental. No matter why you are doing it, the good news is water heater removal and replacement isn't very difficult. You only need a few common tools and a little bit of patience to uninstall the old unit and put in a new water heater for the home.

Generally, most water heaters that are more than 10 years old should be considered for replacement. If your water heater is in a location that will not cause damage if there is a leak, you can wait until it develops a leak before replacing it, but that really is not recommended. If your water heater is in a location that will cause damage to your home, you should strongly consider replacing it after 10 years (or before, if any of the following symptoms occur). --Angie’s List.com

Another reason for taking out a water heater is to update a space in your home, like a basement conversion to add more livable square footage. While that's certainly a big home improvement project that will add value to your home, so will new appliances. When a water heater truly fails, it's usually the case it's done for good. Here's how to do water heater removal right so you can get a new unit in-place as soon as possible:

• Turn off the power supply. Water heaters can be electric or gas-powered and you'll need to shut off the circuit breaker or turn off the gas supply before you do anything else. It's very important for your safety and for the safety of others because each presents a serious fire hazardous.
• Turn off the water supply line. Next, turn off the water supply line going into the water heater so no more water flows into the tank. Once the power is secured and the water supply shut off, go into the house and turn on all the hot water faucets. This will help drain out most of the hot water in the tank.
• Drain out remaining water heater tank. There's a good chance not all the water will drain from the tank after turning on the faucets in the house. So, connect a garden hose to the drain line and open the valve. Let it drain completely before proceeding.
• Cut the hard-plumbed pipes from the unit. There will be hard-plumbed pipes going from the unit into the house. These will have to be cut with a saw, torch, or simply unscrewed. Be careful when doing this, because you'll need to reuse the pipes going into the house.

Once you have disconnected and uninstalled the water heater, just phone 800-737-5923 or visit Pro Junk Dispatch, and we'll come by to pick it up and haul it away. While we're there, we can also haul away junk garbage or help out with a big dismantle and disposal job.