[cfitz999]

I have low hot water pressure in the entire house. I have tried to flush the water heater to remove the sediment and succeeded marginally. A couple of questions. I turned off the cold water supply and opened all hot water faucets in the house until they ran dry, then opened the drain valve on the hot water heater and nothing came out. I released the pressure valve and water started flowing. I closed it and water stopped flowing. I turned on the cold water supply and water came out again. Now I believe water should come out of the drain because of gravity, so why isn't it? I know it is not clogged because I can get water to flow. I got about 10 gallons out of a 40 gallon tank and closed it back up. I turned on the cold water supply to fill it and kept all hot water faucets running in the house but as soon as I turn the faucets off the cold water supply stops filling. Now I have great pressure in the hot water faucet for about three seconds then it fades to about 50% again. I can't turn on my electricity because I don't know if the tank is full and I don't want to burn out the element. All my pipes are copper. Please help. Do I have a vacumn somewhere? How do I get rid of it? Thanks, Catherine

[doug238]

On the hot outlet side you will have to unscrew the pipe and use a screwdriver to poke out a magnesium clog at the hot port, then reassemble piping.