Built-up sediment can cause a blockage in water heater tank

My water heater is six or seven years old. When I drain water out of the tank, it does not drain, only trickles a bit. What is wrong?

JOHN, from Boxborough

It sounds as if sediment has built up enough to block the flow, and the anode rod has deteriorated enough to add to the sediment. We checked with Jim Tragakis of Watertown Heating & Plumbing Supply, who confirmed that it is sediment blocking the drain. Tragakis added that a coat hanger stuck carefully in the drain will break up the sediment to allow it to drain out with the drain water. And, he added, be sure to change the anode rod on a regular basis.

I loaned my Sears shop vac to a friend who sucked up some flood water mixed with sewage. The smell is pretty strong. Is there a way to clean it?

SMELLY IN ARLINGTON

I suppose you could make a strong bleach solution and suck that up through the vac. But if you have any doubts, then it is best to get rid of it and buy a new one. If you keep the old vac, there will always be that nagging thought -- did I get all the bacteria?

One of my downspouts was buried in snow, and the water drained down an alleyway into my back yard. Then the water froze, 10 to 15 feet up the pipe. I broke it up, which helped a bit, and now I plan to position the end of the pipe 2 feet above the snow so that thepipe drains in mid-air. But I have to keep breaking up the ice. How can I keep it flowing?

FRUSTRATED

Frustrated? Aren't we all this winter. But hope springs eternal and by now I think the worst is behind us. You could try installing a bigger downspout (3 by 4 inches instead of 2 by 3 inches), which wouldn't freeze up as fast. Or, put heating cables in the gutter and all the way down the downspouts to keep the flow going. Do not run the cables in a dry gutter or dry downspouts; the cables can be a fire hazard.

The bricks in the chimney of my 1850 house rotted out, and I replaced them from the bottom to 5 feet high. I also poured a floor where there never was one. Now I have a 1/16th-inch crack in the floor. There is no water. Can I fix it? Do I have to?

R.B., Plymouth

You did a lot of good things, especially replacing 5 feet worth of chimney brick. Good for you. The slab is good, too, and you do not have to do anything about that crack. There is not a concrete basement or garage floor that doesn't have a crack, even reinforced with steel rods or steel mesh. Ignore your crack and be proud of all the good work you did. If it leaks water, it is not the fault of the crack; this water is part of a high water table, forcing its way in under pressure. If it did not come through the crack, it would come through the joint between foundation and floor. A sump (hole in the floor) and a pump will generally handle this water.

To give you an example of the way concrete behaves, notice a concrete driveway that has a groove across it every 20 feet or so. This and other grooves are expansion joints, to allow the concrete to crack (and it will!) in the groove, where you want it to crack.

I am fed up with my gutters and I am removing them. I am thinking of replacing them with Rain Handlers, those devices that are set up on the eaves and disperse the cascading water from the roof into a soft, rainlike sprinkle. I don't think there will be a problem with water or ice backups. Would they stand up to window ice and snow and other bad weather?

RON STIDSEN, Chelmsford

The Handyman wrote about the Rain Handlers some 20 or 25 years ago when they were manufactured locally and called Rain Dispersers. Now they are manufactured in Bridgeport, Conn. I think they are sturdy enough to stand up to winter ice and snow and other tough situations, although they could freeze up and cause water to form icicles.

How can I un-warp a warped aluminum-clad wood door that is 15 years old? It is part of a triple door setup.

CHRIS HEAD, Marshfield

If the door is solid wood under the cladding, then you might be able to straighten it the same way that a wood door is: It apparently has dried out and contracted. Since it is probably an exterior door, you cannot do much with it until warmer weather, when you can take if off its hinges and put it on two sawhorses with the convex curve facing up. Put weights on the door to reverse the curve a little, and leave the door that way for several days to several weeks.

There are no guarantees that even if the door straightens out, it won't warp again.

There is, actually, something you can do now. If you don't use the door to come and go regularly, try this: Put a larger barrel bolt at the top of the door and the bottom. This will straighten out the door and, if you keep the bolts in place long enough, the warp may reduce a bit. You will also need a certain amount of luck.

My house has plaster walls. The plaster always breaks up when I drill holes to put in hooks for pictures and other things I want to hang on the wall. How can I hang those pictures?

PATTY HENN, New Orleans

Stop drilling holes for the hooks. That is overkill. You can buy picture hooks that come in different sizes for different weights. The hooks have nails of various sizes situated so that, when driven, they go into the plaster at a high angle, making them hold better than if they went in at right angles to the wall. But before you drive your first hook, put some duct tape where you locate it. This will prevent crumbling plaster.

Peter Hotton is available 1-6 p.m. Tuesdays to answer questions. Call 617-929-2930. Hotton also chats online 2-3 p.m. Thursdays. Go to Boston.com. Hotton's e-mail is photton@globe.com.