Accessing Water From A Water Heater In An Emergency And Other Water Facts During SHTF

35 yr Master Repair Plumber here to try and assist others on this topic, as there are some misconceptions concerning this.

Is there water in there? Yes. Is it easy to obtain? Maybe. Is it healthy to drink? Maybe, but odds are it needs to be filtered first.

Let's start. The water you normally shower with and use from the water heater will NOT be the same "quality" water you are using come time of an emergency. The water you will be getting is coming from accessing an area not quite as appeasing. The bottom.

This is the area that accumulates rust and sediment and sludge and well, all kinds of yucky stuff. The severity of the deposits is going to vary more or less directly to the age of the heater. The older the heater the worse the sediment. More on this later.

Let's next talk about pressure. In an emergency, SHTF situation, water pressure will still be available, even AFTER the power goes off, for a certain amount of time depending on many factors.

That's because water pressure is NOT delivered directly via electricity, but rather indirectly via pumps that DO run on electricity and pump the water up and into a water tower. From there, gravity takes over. Think of a rain barrel full of water with a hole in the bottom.

This tower also serves as a water "reserve" or storage area. So when the rain stops, your barrel still has water right? Same thing.

Now, depending on just how many people are trying to use water will have a direct relation on how long that tower lasts before it runs out. My guess is pretty darn fast and with no electricity to power the pumps to replenish, it won't take long. Still, my point is that if SHTF, be first in line for filling up those bath tubs ok?

Now the good news is most municipalities have backup generators to run those pumps because, well, water is a VERY important thing to have. So if you're lucky, water will continue to flow into your home for quite sometime. Still, let's not chance it shall we? Fill up tubs, buckets, every glass, if it holds water, FILL IT. Most people can go without many of life's daily essentials, water however, is not one them.

Wouldn't be a bad time to take a fast shower either, no telling how long it will be until a hot shower comes along again, so while the heater is still hot.. But no immediate rush. If SHTF you're probably going to be a bit overwhelmed with other things in life and grabbing a shower is probably not one of them.

Still, if you're all packed up and there is a calm, you're going to be surprised just how long water stays hot and then warm, long enough to take a shower. They are insulated and even in cold weather you should be able to get a shower with warm water 24hrs later.

Ok so now it's been a few days, weeks, whatever. The water has long stopped coming into the home. You've depleted all your bathtubs and containers. You're getting thirsty. What's one to do? So back to accessing it. Inside you have anywhere depending on size, from 30 to 80 gallons of water sitting in a tank.
Now you have to get it!

FIRST thing I want everyone to think about is air. Take a straw and stick it inside a glass of water and put your finger on the top and what happens when you remove the straw? It's full of water right? Now remove your finger and the water flows back into the glass. Same thing here with the WH. It's an enclosed system and if you want the water to flow well, you need air.

So you need to cut both pipes going into the top of the heater BEFORE you try to drain it. If you lack the tools to do this, remember you don't have to do it nicely. Just take a hammer and break them off. Still if you happen to be totally useless and have no tools in the house, you can try opening every single faucet in the home to increase air flow.

Next on the bottom of the heater there is a valve. Open this valve. But don't be shocked if absolutely nothing comes out because it could very well be plugged up with sediment! Now here is where a big problem can start. What to do next?

In the field when we install new heater, the FIRST thing I do is attach a hose to the bottom of the old heater and then open the valve while it is still under pressure and it will blow out all the sediment for me. I do this for a minute or two. That ONE thing can save me 30 solid minutes of trying to get water to come out of the WH later on when then pipes have already been cut. This is a trick of the trade so to say.

On old water heater's that sediment can be many inches thick and solid as concrete! You pay the devil sometimes to get water to come out of that valve when you open it and it's so bad that even under pressure sometimes the water will STILL not come out to give you an idea!

So if you're a really smart person and you project you're going to be in your present environment for quite some time and you're not going to bug out, and you suspect water is going to be a need and concern, the intelligent person, once all possible containers are filled to the brim, will attach a hose to the drain valve opening while pressure is still available and flush all that crap out. Not only will accessing it be a piece a cake later, but you also won't be as concerned about having to filter out all of the crap so that you can actually drink it.

But everyone has a water filter anyway right??? There is no excuse for someone to not have a water filter of some type at this point in their life. Advancements have made them dirt cheap and pocket change can buy you at least a personal straw filter at a minimum! So not having this makes no sense. And if you're a prepper and don't have many, SHAME ON YOU

OK, so now let's say we don't live in a perfect world. That we are not going to have the mental capacity to be worrying about silly things like attaching a hose to our WH in the middle of Armageddon. What's next after we removed the two pipes on top of the WH and opened the valve and nothing comes out?

Try taking some wire, something stiff enough to shove into the valve opening but flexible enough to make a turn. A coat hanger normally does not work, and speaker wire is too flexible. Look around your house and see what you can come up with. If you have to, take something plastic and take some tinsnips or scissors and cut a thin strip and try sticking it in there and then pulling it in and out very fast many times.

Now keep in mind that when it comes it's going to come! Also keep in mind that once it starts to flow it can easily plug right back up once you remove your new WH unplugging tool so you may to have to do this multiple times until it flows consistently. This valve is normally too low to the ground to put a container under it like a bucket unless your WH is up on top of a stand. In that case your going to be at the mercy of the attaching a hose.

But if after trying absolutely everything you just cannot get the water to come out, don't worry, you still have 2 options to go. Next option is just take the biggest heaviest hammer you can find and whack it with hard sharp blows. If it's plastic it will come off in no time in fact you can take your foot and just whack it a couple times and plastic ones will snap right off. They are very brittle as they age.

If it's brass this will not be quite as easy. But it will still eventually break if you hit it a dozen times or so with something very heavy.

And if for some odd reason, you are unable to achieve that. If all hope has faded and you are dying of thirst, just tip the damn thing over and water will come pouring out of the pipes you cut. Now water is going to come gushing out everywhere when it tips so you better be well prepared to have some kind of containers ready to suck it all up!!!

Also they are easy to tip but once they get past the balance....you're going to have SERIOUS WEIGHT coming down on you, like anywhere depending on the size between 300 and 800 pounds, so be very careful and move out-of-the-way once you tip it! Also a good time to tell you that when you cut the pipes on top of the WH, leave about 6 inches sticking out of the top as they are great handles to maneuver it with and makes it very easy to tip it over with.

I know this may seem like overkill but I cannot emphasize enough that with older WH's, you WILL have NO water come out when you open the drain valve! Think of that rain barrel with the bottom 2 foot holding a thick soupy concrete mix. It's not something that may happen, this is something that's going to happen every single time.

The only difference is the severity of it. But you can plan on not having any water come out the bottom of the heater that's a given. How easy it is to get it to flow is the only difference.

And to reiterate, when you are at that point, that water is NOT, repeat NOT going to be drinkable because it's going to be very rusty and nasty, like radiator water. It is absolutely going to need to be filtered so don't even think about drinking it unless you blew it out while under pressure. If you don't have a real water filter...hopefully you drink coffee and you can use coffee filters to at least take the sediment out as and as much rust as possible.

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Accessing Water From A Water Heater In An Emergency And Other Water Facts During SHTF