use of bypass valve

[tomcamper]

I am new to this from Canora, Sk. If I am winterizing the fresh water tank by blow out method only, why is it necessary to bypass HW heater? Thanks

[f1100turbo]

Then you would be filling the tank with air pressure taking forever
to do what your are doing

[bobsquarepants]

maybe others can chime in... but the purpose of the bypass is if you were using plumbing anti-freeze to winterize, you wouldn't want to fill the HWH with six gallons of anti-freeze. I always blow my lines out with a compressor, bypass the HWH, then pump in anti-freeze to the pipes to be sure. Then I remove the plug or anode rod on the HWH and use a smaller hose duct taped to my wet / dry shop vac and suck out the remaining water, as there is sometimes close to 1/2 litre left behind

[tomcamper]

thanks greatly for the detail

[geefhoust]

I too am new to this forum. I just picked up my Mini Lite 2306 on monday. I was told during my walk through that I am supposed to drain the hot water heater and then blow air through it to remove any extra water. He said after the water heater is completely empty to put the plug back in and blow out the rest of the lines. Then just put antifreeze in the drains. Does this sound right?

[RANGERBOB]

Thanks for the idea about the shop vac and the heater. I just winterized my Georgetown for the first time by myself this last week. After pumping antifreeze through the system from the pump intake side, I closed the bypass and then I poured a little anti freeze into the heater. I may try the shop vac trick just for good measure.

Sure hated putting the rig away for the winter but we still work and getting out of here in the winter can be tricky. I do however drive my motorhome around town a couple times a month just to keep things in working order and to pretend.