Freshwater tank leaking from drain valve

Thanks for the advice everyone. I pressed a 90° Sharkbite elbow to the stub, ran a length of Pex about 3' towards the frame, glued on a ball valve, then another 6" of Pex to reach the inside of the frame where it's secured when not draining the tank. No leaks!

1/2" PEX pipe........put the elbow on and a length of PEX pipe and then the shut-off valve. Need to strap that extra length of pipe

I think Old-biscuit's method will be the best fix for me. ID is 1/2" and OD is 5/8" - that should help me get the right size fitting narrowed down. I may even insert an elbow and then route it out towards the frame a little and then install the valve so that it is better protected. Good idea? Bad idea? I figure as long as it angles downward it should still drain well. Here's what I'm dealing with:

Here's the assembly removed



Here's the assembly all taken apart



Here's the drain tube coming out from below the tank

The atwood hw heater takes the nylon plug only. The suburban hw heater takes a anode rod.

Dave H M wrote:

Peg Leg wrote:
Most units will have a valve to drain the fresh water tank. Usually they are a 1/4 turn valve. You said a plug, are you meaning for the water heater? If so it's a 3/4" NPT (National Pipe Thread) nylon plug. Use nylon to prevent electrolysis problems between dissimilar metals.

Are you advocating using a nylon pug in both type of water heaters?

These are the only type I've ever seen.

Peg Leg wrote:
Most units will have a valve to drain the fresh water tank. Usually they are a 1/4 turn valve. You said a plug, are you meaning for the water heater? If so it's a 3/4" NPT (National Pipe Thread) nylon plug. Use nylon to prevent electrolysis problems between dissimilar metals.

Are you advocating using a nylon pug in both type of water heaters?

Most units will have a valve to drain the fresh water tank. Usually they are a 1/4 turn valve. You said a plug, are you meaning for the water heater? If so it's a 3/4" NPT (National Pipe Thread) nylon plug. Use nylon to prevent electrolysis problems between dissimilar metals.

Pick up a Sharkbite (Home Depot) or Gatorbite (Lowes) shut-off valve....they just push on end of PEX pipe and seal.

Or a Flair-It shut-off valve......Home/Lowes/ACE

Just put a valve on end of line and be done with those push/pull caps