Filling the water heater with water – rules and safety

In the summer season, there is often such a problem as turning off the hot water for a long time. 

Image by Werner Weisser from Pixabay

Therefore, many are trying to buy home water heaters for such cases. It would seem that installing and connecting it is as easy as shelling pears. However, this also has a number of peculiarities.

First filling of the water heater with water

In order to understand how to properly fill a water heater with water and correctly operate it in the future, you should know the principle of operation. Consider the features of storage water heaters.

Internal arrangement of the water heater:

1. Cold water intake.
2. Electric heating element (TEN).
3. Hot water intake.

The water in the tank is heated by natural convection. The cold water intake pipe and the heating element are located at the bottom of the device, and the other pipe is exposed at its upper part. Cold water flows from the water supply through the lower branch pipe. Since it is heavier than hot, it always heats up from below and pushes the hot coolant up. In this way, uniform heating of the entire contents of the tank is achieved. As cold water flows in, hot water enters the mixer through the upper branch pipe.

It is important to read the technical manual prior to installation. It provides a detailed description of the device, how to use and install it correctly.

Many modern heaters are already equipped with non-return safety valves, you can find out about this in the instructions. But for reliability, an additional external check valve can be installed. It is necessary so that in the absence of pressure in the water supply system, water does not go back into the pipes. Otherwise, the heating element can heat up the empty tank and burn out.

After installing all valves, valves and connecting pipes, the water heater is ready for the first filling with water. The cold water hose is connected to the cold water supply and the hot water hose to the mixer. Make sure that the water heater is not connected to the power supply. Next, we check the correctness of the connection of the piping of hot and cold water, as well as the operability of all safety valves.

After making sure that everything is working properly and functioning correctly, you can start filling the inner tank with water. It is necessary to expel the air from the inside. To do this, open the mixer tap, make sure there is no leak in the tap.

Then we open the cold water valve installed on the heater pipe. The aqueous medium begins to uniformly fill the container and bleed air through an open mixer. The faucet will “sneeze” or “hiss”, this is a clear sign that air is coming out of the heating tank. Tap water can sometimes contain air bubbles in it. Therefore, you need to drive the water until the tap stops “sneezing” from the air outlet. The presence of air in the tank has a bad effect on the operational qualities of the water heater.

As soon as cold water flows from the tap without any extraneous sounds, it means that the water heater is full and ready to work. Now you can shut off the mixer and check the pipe connections for leaks. If they are not found, you can safely connect the device to the network and set the desired temperature of the water filling the tank. It is not necessary to set the maximum temperature immediately, as this can lead to damage to the thermostat.

Safety measures during the operation of the water heater

All electrical devices require careful handling and safety measures. Since the device is connected to an electrical supply network, it represents a special hazard class, in which injury from electric current is possible.

Therefore, you should always follow the requirements to avoid injury and damage to the device:

1. It is forbidden to remove the heater case with the plug connected to the socket.
2. The socket to which the heater will be connected must be grounded.
3. Do not plug the tank into an outlet if there is no water in it. You can check its presence by opening a hot water tap. If she is running, then the tank is full.
4. It is necessary to carry out timely maintenance of the tank: cleaning from scale and other impurities. This will keep him safe from damage.

It should be remembered that the most vulnerable elements of the heaters are the heating element and the storage tank. It is they who are subject to the greatest loads of aggressive environments.