**Replacing a Water Heater Valve**

When it comes to replacing a water heater valve, it's a job that requires some technical know-how and caution. In this article, we'll walk through the steps involved in removing and replacing a water heater valve, including the tools needed and tips for success.

First things first, you need to turn off the water supply to the valve by locating the shut-off valves and turning them clockwise. This will prevent any accidental water flow while you're working on the valve. Next, you'll want to open the drain valve at the bottom of the tank to allow any sediment or debris to be drained out. It's a good idea to use a bucket or container to catch any water that may spill out during this process.

Once the water is drained, you can proceed with removing the valve. This typically involves loosening the handles on the valve by turning them counterclockwise. Be careful not to turn the valve too far, as this can cause it to leak. If the valve has an escutcheon, also known as a gasket, loosen these first before attempting to remove the handle.

Next, you'll need to pull the handle straight off the valve. This may require some force, so be careful not to apply too much pressure. Once the handle is removed, take a look at the valve body behind the wall and locate the valve stem. Loosen this by turning the valve counterclockwise until it reaches the bottom of its range.

Now that the hot water side of the valve is off, turn on the cold water supply and check to make sure the valve is working properly. If it's not, you may need to adjust the valve or replace it entirely. To do this, use an adjustable open-end wrench to loosen any retaining rings or screws that hold the cartridge in place.

Once the cartridge is removed, take a look at the screen and clean out any debris or sediment that has accumulated over time. You can use a small brush or toothbrush to remove these impurities. Next, soak the cartridge in a mixture of vinegar and water to help break down any calcium deposits that may be present.

After soaking the cartridge, it's time to rebuild. To do this, simply reverse the steps you took to remove the valve. This will involve placing the cleaned and soaked cartridge back into its housing and tightening the retaining rings or screws to secure it in place.

Finally, turn on both the hot and cold water supplies and check that the valve is working properly. With a little practice and patience, replacing a water heater valve can be a straightforward process. By following these steps and using the right tools, you'll be able to replace your valve with confidence and efficiency.

**Common Issues**

One common issue that may arise when replacing a water heater valve is sediment buildup in the tank. This can cause problems down the line, such as legionella or giardia contamination. To avoid this, it's a good idea to flush the tank regularly and consider installing a master filter to help keep the water clean.

In some cases, the valve may not be adjustable, which means that the cartridge cannot be removed or replaced without taking apart the entire valve body. This can be a more complex process and may require professional assistance.

**Tools Needed**

To replace a water heater valve, you'll need the following tools:

* Adjustable open-end wrench (also known as a crescent wrench)

* Socket wrench or adjustable wrench

* Channel-type pliers (optional)

* Needle-nose pliers (optional)

These tools will help you loosen any retaining rings or screws that hold the cartridge in place and provide access to the valve stem.

**Tips for Success**

Here are some tips for replacing a water heater valve with success:

* Make sure to turn off the water supply before starting work on the valve.

* Use a bucket or container to catch any water that may spill out during the process.

* Loosen any retaining rings or screws slowly and carefully to avoid stripping them.

* Use an adjustable open-end wrench to loosen any stuck parts, such as the valve stem.

* Consider soaking the cartridge in vinegar and water to help break down calcium deposits.

By following these steps and using the right tools, you'll be able to replace your water heater valve with confidence and efficiency.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enthere's probably a water tower like this in your neighborhood do you know how they work a water tower generally is positioned at the high point of a town and it's filled with millions of gallons of water the weight of water in that tank pushes down through a pipe and provides water pressure to all the houses in the local community so how do you get enough water pressure in a place like new york city even if you could fit a water tower here it would only be tall enough to provide water pressure to the bottom third of most of these buildings so if you look around manhattan any apartment building over five stories has to have a water tank like that to provide water pressure to just that building and not to an entire town or region today's project is all about solving a problem caused by the water tank on the roof of this building right here in midtown hello arlene hello welcome to new york thank you come on in so how long you been here uh we've been here about six years my wife and i moved in shortly after our son was born condo it's a co-op what's the difference it's a strange new york thing co-op allows you to buy shares to allow you to live in your apartment okay and a condo you actually own the four walls of your apartment so is there any advantage one over another yeah buying into a co-op is cheaper on the front end on the front end and you can still build equity and you can transfer absolutely okay cool well by whatever name you call it it's terrific thank you very much you're right here in midtown i mean i can look over and i can see christ the building but it seems like everywhere i look now all i seem to see is water tanks because that's what i'm looking for they're everywhere and they're part of my problem new york city requires buildings like ours to clean the water tanks once a year and flush them right out yeah and the process in the process all this gunk flows through and it basically lowers our water pressure throughout the entire apartment what do you do well i've learned to clean the kitchen faucet clean out those little areas they're good and i managed to get one of those giant wrenches that gets me into the inlet look at your washing machine yeah there's a little filter inside those washing machines exactly but my main problem is in the shower in the master bath take a peek there so the problem with the shower is when we renovate it they put in this fancy new unit thank you um but as you can see there are no screws here so i don't even know how to get in it right so i have to call a plumber every single time okay and plumbers aren't cheap they're about eight hundred dollars a pop every alternative bring them in but i gotta tell you it's in new york city it's a big deal just before i came here today i had to fill out a certificate of insurance write a letter of scope or work on on letterhead and i had to find and find a place to park and park the thing it's not cheap by the time i end up but i get it i get what you're saying but i think what we could maybe do today is maybe to teach you how to take that apart carefully okay you went up for that absolutely all right so let me let me just check around before i do anything silly great thanks kevin on the step so look what happens i got poking around your building and look what i found the water tank pretty cool you got up here before never okay so here is the water tank for the whole building you look at it looks like a big wine cask looks like they have pine boards they're all held together by these hoops and it sits at the very top of the building and you can hear the water running you hear it oh yeah so at the top it has two floats and when it needs to the floats bring on a pump and the pump pushes water gradually up to the top you can hear it and it fills this tank and now the size and geometry of this tank and the height determines the water pressure for all the people down below the low eagle in the building the more water pressure it gets so a lot of these things sit outside but somewhere along the line they built this building around it and i thought it was a cool place right it's also good people know where their water comes from all right so you ready to get back to work let's do it we need to turn you into a plumber i'll follow you so when they flush that tank on the roof and that sediment comes down looking for a place to clog you'd think it would be right here in the shower because here's a hand shower there's small holes there or a shower head but it isn't the place that it happens actually think about before the water gets here it has to pass through this very complicated shower valve right here with a tight little passageway so this is probably the clog point so now we're going to take this apart but i'm not going to do it you're going to do it i'm going to coach sounds good so so when you look at this it freaks you out because you go i mean how's how's it go together well remember somebody after this was tiled somebody had to put the plate on put the handles on so if they can put it on we can figure out how to take it off okay right now sometimes on these things there's a little pry off thing here a little index and underneath it might be a screwdriver slot that doesn't look like it so feel around there there should be some sort of you feel something okay so that has an o-ring just try to pry it out and if you can i can okay now i'm really glad that we actually have a drop cloth so these don't drop down the drain so this should be two more one on each one that one yep okay so with the covers off now inside there there's probably a hex head and this is a european valve so try that wrench right here it's a 2.5 millimeter and loosen it but you don't have to go all the way and and now now careful without turning the valve on because the water pressure is still on loosen it and then just pull it straight off good this first one all right next one should be right below it get a get a good bottom into that get the thing in and now loosen okay that's good all right so now try pulling that one straight off two okay loose enough yeah okay so give it a straight tug back okay good so there's the three handles are off and you look at this plane you know why hasn't fallen off well it's being held on by these escutcheons right here so let's try loosening these counterclockwise okay there you go okay there's one and try the bottom one okay now does that plate wiggle around does it come off yes okay careful look at you all right so there's the valve body behind the wall so what i want you to do is to carefully take this screwdriver clockwise again ready until it gets all the way to the bottom and that should shut off the hot water side okay all right so try the cold now same thing get that small screwdriver slot turn it clockwise until it bottoms out and then give it a good little snug to make sure we hold the water back just snug it okay got it so now we assume these are off but the way to test it is you put this on the handle right here and no pressure we're going to turn this on if it doesn't hold i'm going to get soaked so go ahead turn the lefty good thank you i didn't need a shower okay so the water is off and it's time to take the cartridge out so this is an adjustable you can take an adjustable open-end wrench also called a crescent wrench and you see the little shoulders on there yeah so get it on there now and now get a good bite now you're going to give this way you're going to go counterclockwise you might need good good okay i'll get another bite and that wrench is great because it doesn't scratch that shoulder up good now okay looks now before you pull it there could be a little water in the valve body so just i'm going to put a rag right here so just ready get ready pull it out look a little bit yep good now look at so look at this here's this cartridge you see this this screens right here and look it's starting to starting to mess up right there so it's not clogged yet but it's on its way good so we'll clean that up good you're going to be a pro and just take that brush and just clean off all the impurities that are on that fine mesh then what i want you to do is actually soak that cartridge in a mixture of vinegar and water that will help to break down the calcium that might be inside that screen let that sit for a couple of hours at least all right now it is time to rebuild so there's your cartridge all cleaned up okay just put it in it's just the opposite of everything we did before so that's got it righty tighty okay here's your adjustable open end now an important step is to turn the hot and the cold back on see there's your screwdriver all right so both hot and cold are on good so here's our plate there's a bottom on the top yep if the logo is down there so that's the bottom here's your top escutcheon right there that way okay yeah no what do you know they both work perfectly i had every confidence in you yay nicely done ricky thanks coach okay we'll see i have every conference you'll be able to do this every single time right i hope so thanks for coming to new york and thanks for teaching me it was great you were awesome thanks you are a good coach thank you so why so much sediment is that normal well a big tank like that sitting on the top of the building it sits there and all the particulates that are in the water can settle to the bottom and that becomes a collection point and you have another tank like this in anybody's house which is a water heater same thing happens sediment goes to the bottom then they go to flush it you know with with good intention they want to flush it the co-op people want to flush it so that it doesn't become a problem with legionella or giardia but you know then it becomes this issue down through the building yeah so you she could wish that they put a master filter on but that's beyond her control that would have to be the co-op board okay well good information thank you thanks for watching this whole house has got a video for just about every home improvement project so be sure to check out the others and if you like what you see click on the subscribe button to make sure that you get our newest videos right in your feed\n"