I got help and advice from Wouter on how to do this and then did it by myself. It took about 15 minutes max. Please do try this at home!

Wouter said I could turn off the water inlet and outlet... or not. I didn't turn off either. This is what I did:

- Put an old towel under the flush valve to catch the drips. 
- Turned down the temperature to "vacation". 
- Took a shower (to use up a lot of the hot water in the tank), making the water in the tank lukewarm. 
- Connected a garden hose to the flush valve with the other end outside. 
- Opened the flush valve and let it run until the water coming out was cold. It didn't take long. 
- Closed the flush valve. 
- Disconnected the garden hose. 
- Turned the temperature back to normal.

The flush valve was still dripping a bit, so I tightened the valve, and they stopped.

You should probably do this once a year. It's so quick and easy that it's probably one of the easiest home maintenance tasks you'll ever do! Enjoy...

Cheryl Jasper - Feb, 2012