I need to fix a failed immersion heater in my hot water cylinder;
which seems in principle straightforward enough. The problem
is there seems to be no way of draining water out of the cylinder
without removing one of the elements! There are two heaters,
both side mounted one about a third of the way down, the other
at the bottom.

There is a "bolt" just below the top element, which might be where
a drain tap of similar should have been fitted, but I don't actually
know what it's for (if anything).

The hot water is drawn from the top of the cylinder, cold goes
in at the bottom; so shutting the inflow and opening the hot
taps has minimal effect on the amount of water in the cylinder.

It looks like I'll just have to take out the top element and try
to catch as much as possible in a bucket. Unfortunately, it's
at least several buckets worth, and it's going to gush out when
I remove the element -- and I'm not sure the flat downstairs needs
an in-house waterfall.

So this all sounds pretty impossible to do with any degree of
dryness. Any one got any suggestions or miracles that might
work better than a lot of towels and a hopeful waving of buckets?

Thanks,
#Paul