Replacing Your Cottage Or Vacation Chalet Hot Water Tank

Water heaters at the lake or cottage have the ability to either spring a leak in the spring or almost it seems some of the time spontaneously. At your vacation spot the repair person or plumber may be rather inaccessible, costly or both. Have no fear or daunting. To replace a water heater is nowhere as difficult as it might appear.

To replace a leaky or broken water heater is not a difficult process. It boils down to two steps. First to remove the older piece of equipment. Next to install your new replacement water heater. Of course as well you will have to find a way to environmentally dispose of heater number one.

What are the steps? First of all we are assuming that in most cases you have a standard ac electric power water heater rather than a natural gas or propane one.

To start off turn off the ac electric power to your water heater. Turn off the power breaker on the control panel in your cottage or lake chalet. If you are unsure if the power is totally turned off you can either turn off the main breaker to the whole residence or if you have the knowledge or a friend with the equipment and knowledge use and electrical tester to check the wires coming into the heater for current. At the worst you can turn off the main breaker again.

Once you are certain (for sure) that there is no electric current whatsoever coming into the heater, then disconnect the wires that enter the heater. It never hurts to tag these wires on the old heater with colored tape or tags just in case you have to reverse your repair or need a model to refer to.

Similar to turning off the current to the water heater you now want to turn off the water coming into the water heater. Otherwise you will have a “flood”. As well it is very dangerous to work around electricity with loose water present. You have several choices.

You should easily find the tap for the input of water into the water heater. It will be the single cold water line in. Simply follow that cold water line that is flowing into the hot water heater. Not far along you will find a standard garden type water faucet. Close it (clockwise). Next to be on the absolutely safe side, shut off the main water tap that leads into your abode. It never hurts to play it safe and be redundant. Better safe than sorry.

You will have to drain the waste water from the water tank. You could leave it in.

However the water tank will be very very heavy and unwieldy to cart away. As well it will leak more come next spring, when it unthaws – wherever it is lying. Take a standard garden house, of proper length. Attach the end of the garden hose to the outflow of the water heater (close to the bottom and base of the tank), and drain the tank outside. The end outlet of the hose of course must be lower than the tank drain.

After the tank is empty and drained simply unscrew the water pipes of the hot water heater. To unscrew you will need a good strong wrench turned counter clockwise. The inlet pipe may be labeled “cold” and the outlet pipe “hot”.

Now all you have to do is “pull out” the heater. If you live in an earthquake prone regional location, you may find that your heater is “strapped in”. You will have to undo the straps. It is not unlike undoing a belt. However it may be heavier and may require the assistance of more than one person.

Now that your older, broken or leaking water heater is removed you will now have to do the reverse and install the newer device. It is basically the same procedure as removing the old one, only in reverse.

First the new water heater is placed in the same place as the first one. This is assuming that you do not want to change the location or plumbing. After all why make life more difficult than it need be.

Clean the pipes thoroughly before attaching them to the new water heater. A wire brush can do the trick easily.

Once you have the two pipes attached (cold one intake, hot one is output), you will need to fill up the tank with water. The trick is to empty the hot water of air at the same time as you fill it. Otherwise when the hot water is turned on, the air and water may gurgle out of the tap. Simply turn on both the water inlet tap (at the bottom of the tank) and at the same time run a hot water tap in a sink in your cottage or chalet. Just remember to turn off the tap when you are finished.

Lastly attach the electrical power wires to the tank. Just to make sure once more – check that the power breakers are in the off position. Ensure thoroughly that everything is dry in the area around the water heater. If you are unsure wait a day or so. With the breakers off and unpowered attach the electrical power cables to the water heater (exactly as they were before on the old tank). After that is done and checked turn on the breakers. It may take more than several hours to heat up the water fully, especially if the water is stone cold well water in the spring time.

You now have completed the procedure of replacing your electric water heater at your lake or cottage. Stand back and admire your handiwork. If you are leaving your retreat for a good time period, it might be a good idea to both turn off the water and power if you are going to be away for a good spell until your next return. Enjoy your retreat.