dewinterizing & sanitizing

[RoyR]

I've looked through previous posts but I can't find a clear answer to this: when dewinterizing and sanitizing, does the WH need to be sanitized or should I fill the WH after the tank and lines have been purged of antifreeze and sanitized? I'm concerned that bleach used in sanitizing might have negative effects on the WH or anode.

[Gumpster808]

I’ll tell you what I do personally...

When winterizing the WH is bypassed and I drain using the anode hole.

When dewinterizing I leave the WH bypassed until all pink stuff drained and sanitizing is done.

Once I have the bleach infused water flowing everywhere then drained from the fresh water tank I refill.

I flush the WH through the anode opening with one of those plastic attachments I can stick in there to get as much out as I can.

Once that is done I put the anode back in and fill the WH.

Using our house water to flush the water heater probably sanitizes well since we are on city water and bunch of chlorine in it already.

[RockyMtnMarty]

i typically connect a hose to the city water first, while the WH bypass is still enabled to flush all the pink stuff out of the lines. Then I turn the bypass off when I fill the water tank with the sanitizing chlorinated water and turn on the water pump. The water heater fills up and I open the faucets until I smell the bleach water coming through. I let it sit for several hours....then drain and flush the system once with clean city water. Been doing it this way for years....works well and everything gets sanitized.