My water heater is empty.. I don't kniw what to do to fill it up? When I turn the top valve no water comes out.. what should I do?

Hi Tricia

Hmm, so many questions here... ;)

Why is your water heater empty?

How long has the water heater been empty?

Do you have a gas or an electric water heater?

Do you have city/town water supply or a well?

Is cold water going to all fixtures in the home?

Did you check further back on the cold water pipe to see if there is another shut off valve that may need to be opened? If not, check that.

Start there... post back with answers/results/thoughts, OK?

Mark

PS: Please try to answer ALL my questions... thank you.

Okay well I just bought the house so I don't know why its empty. I have city water, and the water heater is electric. Yes cold water is working in all other faucets and I haven't tried to mess with any valves because I don't know what I'm doing.. I tried flipping the breaker and there is a flat switch on top of the water heater, when I lift it I can hear water running but I don't know if I am filling up or emptying the water heater.

there is a flat switch on top of the water heater, when I lift it I can hear water running but I don't know if I am filling up or emptying the water heater.

That indicates water is going into the water heater.

Turn off breaker.
Open hot water faucet and wait.
When water comes out, turn on breaker..

Open a hot faucet in the tub or shower and see if air comes out. If it does, leave it open until a good stream of water come out, this will happen when the tank is completely full of water. Now the bad news. If you turned the breaker on to the water heater and it was not completely full of water, you will have burned out the top element. So before I even filled the water heater, I would shut the water inlet valve off, check both top and bottom elements, replace one or both elements, then fill the heater, and turn the power on. Should be all set after that. Not to be smart, but if you don't feel you know what you are doing, or don't feel comfortable messing with this, I would suggest contacting a friend that can handle it, or even a plumber shouldn't be to bad to get this taken care of. Good luck, and please let us know how things turn out.