A drain valve comprising a body, an inlet for fluid to enter the drain valve, an outlet for fluid to exit the drain valve, a piston member having a piston head and a piston shaft, a seat against which the piston head seats in a closed condition of the drain valve, and a rotatable member that is rotatable relative to the body. The rotatable member is rotatably retained with the piston shaft, such that rotation of the rotatable member in one direction causes the piston member to move in a first linear direction away from the inlet such that the valve head is unseated from the seat to open the drain valve and, in use, allow fluid to enter the drain valve via the inlet and discharge via the outlet. Rotation of the rotatable member in the opposite direction causes the piston member to move in a second linear direction toward the inlet to seat the valve head on the valve seat to close the drain valve and, in use, prevent fluid from entering the drain valve via the inlet.

An automatically flushing water heater maintenance system may be provided, the system including a water heater and a water heater controller. The water heater may include an inlet, an outlet, and a flush outlet having a first control valve in flow communication therewith. The first control valve may be configured to control a flow of water and sediment through the flush outlet out of the water heater. The water heater controller may be configured to communicate with the first control valve by transmitting a first control signal to the first control valve, the first control signal configured to cause the first control valve to open or close as part of an automatic flushing process. As a result of the flushing, the useful life of the water heater may be extended, and/or water heater leakage alleviated. Insurance discounts may be provided based upon using the automatic water heater flushing functionality.

A tank cleaning tool is disclosed for cleaning sediments and debris out of a tank. The tool has housing with an inlet end to connect to drain hole of the tank, and an outlet end to discharge slurry out of the tool. An agitator is present at the inlet end, and can be inserted through drain hole of the tank to agitate sediments and debris inside the tank to pull sediments and debris into the inlet end when the agitator is spun. The tool may preferably include an auger connected to lower end of said agitator where the auger grinds sediments and debris inside the housing to form slurry. The tool may also include a grinding chamber between said outlet end and said inlet end to grind the sediments and debris inside said housing to form slurry. A drill can be used to rotate the auger and the agitator.

Water heater (10) comprising a gas burner (11) being configured to combust gas if a heat demand is present, namely if heated water is requested by at least one water consumer (24), further comprising a heat exchanger (17) being configured to heat water using the thermal energy provided with the combustion of the gas, wherein the heat exchanger is a condensing heat exchanger, further comprising an input pipe (18) being configured to provide water to be heated to the heat exchanger (17), further comprising an output pipe (19) being configured to provide water heated by the heat exchanger (17) to the at least one water consumer (24), further comprising a siphon or trap (22) being configured to collect condensate resulting at the condensing heat exchanger (17) during operation of the water heater (10), further comprising a first connection pipe (21) and a valve (23) acting together with the first connection pipe (21), both the first connection pipe (21) and the valve (23) being configured to guide a water heated by heat exchanger (17) from the output pipe (19) to the siphon or trap (22), and/or to guide water not heated by the heat exchanger (17) from the output pipe (19) to the siphon or trap (22).

A water heating apparatus includes a burner, a heat exchanger for heating hot and cold water with use of heat from the burner, a scale detector for detecting occurrence of scale clogging in the heat exchanger, a notifying unit for notifying an error when the scale detector detects occurrence of a scale greater than or equal to a predetermined amount, and a controller performing a control of allowing the notifying unit to notify an error and prohibiting combustion operation of the burner when the scale detector detects occurrence of a scale greater than or equal to the predetermined amount. The controller is configured to start a cleaning mode for cleaning inside the heat exchanger when the controller detects shifting operation to the cleaning mode after the combustion operation of the burner is prohibited.

A controller for a tankless water heater is programmed to perform a descaling procedure that includes: closing a bypass valve to prevent fluid from bypassing a heat exchanger of the tankless water heater; activating a pump to cause a descaling solution to circulate through the tankless water heater; monitoring a flow rate of the descaling solution; and deactivating the pump responsive to one of: i) an amount of time that the pump is active exceeding a time limit, ii) the flow rate exceeding a first threshold, or iii) a change in the flow rate exceeding a second threshold.

An automatically flushing water heater maintenance system may be provided, the system including a water heater and a water heater controller. The water heater may include an inlet, an outlet, and a flush outlet having a first control valve in flow communication therewith. The first control valve may be configured to control a flow of water and sediment through the flush outlet out of the water heater. The water heater controller may be configured to communicate with the first control valve by transmitting a first control signal to the first control valve, the first control signal configured to cause the first control valve to open or close as part of an automatic flushing process. As a result of the flushing, the useful life of the water heater may be extended, and/or water heater leakage alleviated. Insurance discounts may be provided based upon using the automatic water heater flushing functionality.

A siphon is adapted for thoroughly cleaning fluid vessels. The siphon is capable of elevating discharge waste fluid through a transfer of kinetic energy provided by a pressurized fluid source, thereby obviating any need for undesirable electrical, chemical, or other mechanical power sources. An inlet couples pressurized fluid to a divider that splits the pressurized fluid between a jet port outlet and a tank flush source conduit. A siphon return conduit is operative to carry waste fluid from the fluid vessel, with the cleaning attachment protruding from the siphon return conduit. By slightly protruding, the cleaning attachment operatively blocks the siphon return conduit from being held by siphon vacuum against a surface of the fluid vessel while developing a beneficial eddy current flow path. A drain conduit is provided, as is a mixing chamber at a junction between the jet port outlet and an outlet from the siphon return conduit.

A hot water supply device 1 includes a fin-and-tube type heat exchanger (21) that applies heat to fresh water with combustion gases, and a heat exchanger casing (22) for housing the heat exchanger (21), and in order to be able reliably to determine by a simple method whether the hot water supply device is clogged by lime scale, there are provided a temperature detector (31) for detecting the surface temperature of the heat exchanger casing (22) and a control unit (7) that determines that scale has built up in the heat exchange tubing (27) of the heat exchanger (21) when the temperature detected by this temperature detector (31) is greater than a set temperature.

A control unit includes a scale detection unit for detecting, while the a burner provides combustion, occurrence of clogging with scale in a tube of a heat exchanger, and an output unit for outputting a result of a detection by the scale detection unit, a storage stores information including a numerical value representing how many times a surface temperature of the heat exchanger measured by a temperature measuring unit exceeds at least one of a plurality of threshold values. While the burner provides combustion when the surface temperature measured by the temperature measuring unit exceeds at least one of the plurality of threshold values the scale detection unit adds a predetermined value to the numerical value in the storage and when the numerical value attains a defined value or more the scale detection unit detects occurrence of clogging with scale.