Water heater replacement with coolant lines...

Some People make this into a big labor operation and messy. As Old Biscuit stated, just clamp off the 2 lines with needle nose Vise Grips. The fluid that will leak out when removing is about 1 cup worth. This is a good time to install 2 cut off valves, so in the future you can cut off the hoses easily when doing any type repair to the water heater. Doug