How long does it take for a 40 gallon hot water tank to drain?

Question

I am changing out my hot water tank and it seems like its taking forever to drain is that normal?

Answer 1

    Take a long screwdriver and put it up the drain and see if it's partially plugged if so, then try and knock some of the stuff out.

Answer 2

Turn off gas, Shut off cold water, open up all hot water faucets in house.   Water heater will drain alot faster. Galvanized pipes corrode very easy, so this would obviously slow process.  When your done replacing the water heater check all the faucet aerators.  

Answer 3

Depends.  I assume that you are using a garden hose to go to the outside of the house.  Make sure that the drain valve is open all the way.  Also, crack open one of the fittings on top of the heater to let air into the tank otherwise you may be developing a vacuum inside the tank that can slow the draining dramatically.  I would guess that a 40 gallon tank should take less than 10 minutes to drain.

Answer 4

If the tank is full of mineral deposits it may take quite a while as the drain port may be restricted by that stuff.  

Old water heaters can be quite heavy due to massive accumulations of these deposits, so be careful - you might be able to lift the new water heater by yourself, but the old one might require two people to even budge it.   IOW, try really hard to NOT knock it over on top of yourself!