I have a question regarding relocating my water heater. I am trying to connect the piping in the new location but am running into a snag. The original installer used very short connections for the hot and cold coming out of the tank. Too short for me to cut and sweat on a coupling. So I would like to unthread the adapters that go into the tank and start over. But it doesn't look like the original installer used teflon tape and they look a little rough w/ light corrosion. I through a wrench on them and put a little bit of pressure but they didn't budge.
Can I really bear down on these or will I risk damaging the taps to the tank?
Will liquid wrench or something else help me break the threaded connection?
I don't want to sweat off the connection to the adapter in place as I read that applying heat too close to the tank could damage it.
I really would like to get these off and start from scratch opposed to cutting or sweating off as all connections are poorly done.
Thank all for your help.
Jason

Hi Jason,

Can I really bear down on these or will I risk damaging the taps to the tank? Put some muscle into it and get those adapters out of there.

I don't want to sweat off the connection to the adapter in place as I read that applying heat too close to the tank could damage it.
If you put heat on the cold water inlet you will melt the plastic dip tube.
How I get around this is to take two 3/4" male adapters and solder a 6" piece of copperr on each one. After they cool you can wrap the threads with Teflon Tape and install them. This way you can solder on a elbo without harming anything. Good luck and thank you for raying my answer. Tom

Use large pipe wrench. The larger the easier it will go.

You can use water heater flex connectors to connect heater and pipes. They come in lengths up to 24".