How to Dewinterize

[Tlynn]

Originally Posted by CHICKDOE

but the picture of the water heater looks like it has some rust on it so who knows.

I questioned why there was so much rust when it's a 2018. This is the response I received back . . . "it is common its from just getting rained on and sitting on the manufactures lot and out lot."

[Gumpster808]

Originally Posted by Iwritecode

Technically nothing. The worst you may have is some AF in your water heater.

1) have you opened a faucet yet to see what is in your pipes?

2) have you located your bypass valves behind the heater yet?

Correct. It does chew up the anode faster than just water. That is the main reason for draining and not running antifreeze thru the heater.

[Iwritecode]

Originally Posted by Gumpster808

Correct. It does chew up the anode faster than just water. That is the main reason for draining and not running antifreeze thru the heater.

It's also very difficult to get it all out and it doesn't smell great when it gets warmed up.

[Ron045]

One thing to think about come next fall is to blow out the lines with air and drain the hot water heater and just pour some anti freeze in the drains and toilet keeping a little in the toilet for the seal. Plenty of videos on that method too. Less clean up work in the spring.

[The Evil Twin]

I did not want to start a whole new thread so I will ask here. There was some good info in a sticky:

My "dewinterizing" order:

1) Bucket under low point drains.

2) Open Low point drains.

3) Open all Faucets; including outside and inside shower

4) Hold toilet flush valve open for about 30 seconds.

5) When all RV antifreeze (Pink) has drained out; CLOSE all Faucets; PUT CAPS BACK ON LOW POINT DRAINS.

6) OPEN fresh water drain cock and drain out any old water in the fresh tank.

7) Close fresh water drain cock.

8) Pour 3/4 cup of Bleach (1/4 cup per 15 gallons of tank capacity) using a funnel into the (turned off) water hose and put a (closed) nozzle or shutoff valve on the end. (OLD CLOTHES, RUBBER GLOVES, GOGGLES!)

I have two questions:
1) If the low point drains are open while the water pump is on, won't water just flow through them while you try to flush other devices?


2) How long can you leave the correct bleach water mix in your FW tank and plumbing?



Since I do not keep the TT at home, I was going to bring it home on a Sunday and do all the pre summer checks and cleaning/ loading plus sanitize the FW system. Then I'll need to take it back to storage for two days and bring it back on Tuesday. Tuesday, we will be putting perishables in and rolling out. So my thought was to drain the bleach water on Tuesday and then flush with fresh water before we leave.

[rockfordroo]

Originally Posted by The Evil Twin

I did not want to start a whole new thread so I will ask here. There was some good info in a sticky:




I have two questions:
1) If the low point drains are open while the water pump is on, won't water just flow through them while you try to flush other devices?


2) How long can you leave the correct bleach water mix in your FW tank and plumbing?



Since I do not keep the TT at home, I was going to bring it home on a Sunday and do all the pre summer checks and cleaning/ loading plus sanitize the FW system. Then I'll need to take it back to storage for two days and bring it back on Tuesday. Tuesday, we will be putting perishables in and rolling out. So my thought was to drain the bleach water on Tuesday and then flush with fresh water before we leave.

I believe the instructions you posted were only for draining the lines, not for flushing them.

I leave the bleach solution in the FW tank for 3-4 hours. You might also want to run some through the lines to sanitize them, too. Again, let it sit for 3-4 hours.

Then I fill and drain the FW tank a couple times to rinse out the bleach. If you ran the bleach solution through the lines, after you've rinsed out the FW tank, put some more water back in the tank again (doesn't need to be full) and flush through the lines.

[The Evil Twin]

Originally Posted by rockfordroo

I believe the instructions you posted were only for draining the lines, not for flushing them.

I leave the bleach solution in the FW tank for 3-4 hours. You might also want to run some through the lines to sanitize them, too. Again, let it sit for 3-4 hours.

Then I fill and drain the FW tank a couple times to rinse out the bleach. If you ran the bleach solution through the lines, after you've rinsed out the FW tank, refill the tank again and flush through the lines.

Reading is FUNdamental! I can't believe I read that wrong. You are correct.
A number of sites say to leave it for 24 hours. I know you cannot believe everything on the net though. Even if I did only let it sit for 4 hours it would take a day to drain 110 gallons through that tiny drain. So hoping that more than a day will not harm anything.

[rockfordroo]

Going more than 3-4 hrs won't hurt anything. You just want it there 3-4 hrs so it does it's job.

Just a thought: If your drain is slow, you could start the drain and then also run your pump and pump it out through an outside shower. The pump should do about 2 gpm, so 55 min on the pump alone. The drain would reduce that time. I can't speak to what kind of wear 55 min on the pump will do, though.

If you run it through the other lines as well, that will take care of sanitizing/flushing them, too. But be aware that this water will end up in your grey and black tanks, so at some point, you'll need to then drain them.

[The Evil Twin]

Hmmm.... You have me thinking. Worst case, I could buy a cheap pump from somewhere and do one of two things:
-Run a hose from the FW drain to the pump and let it eat. It should speed up the process.
-T in a fitting on the existing FW line from the tank to the in-house pump and pump from there. Or just T with a cap and pull the cap for gravity drain.


I don;t know if I would want to put the in house pump through a hour duty cycle. If I use an external one and it cooks- oh well.

[dbledan]

I have mine in the driveway draining with lots of walkers going by usually. Someone said something about it once...its fresh water. Everyone just thinks of Cousin Eddie when they see stuff coming from a trailer. [emoji850]

Now I also run the TT pump and sink for about 10min to speed things up (my tank is only 40gal). It's a long shower and flushes the gray tank as well. I have a spare pump so I am not worried about the wear on it. Then I have to dump but I do that at storage.

As long as you have drained and flushed the plumbing the bleach in the tank should not hurt anything over a few days and you could drain on the road worst case. I think the worry is the bleach going after the rubber seals over the long run. The tank should be all plastic except for maybe your drain valve so if you flush the plumbing your faucets should be safe. Just my $.02.

[The Evil Twin]

So I did a little digging. The FW tanks are impervious to bleach (chlorine). They are HDPE and can be used for gasoline or oil, alkaline chemicals and other nasty stuff. So, the tank is not an issue.

Some plumbing fixtures, the gaskets and plastic valve parts, are not always so tolerant. That is fine because I could use the winterizing port to suck fresh water and flush the fixtures. The tank can take it's sweet time to drain. Although I did start another thread about installing a larger drain.

[Larry0071]

When time to drain (after the 4 hour hold time) Just open the drain, turn on the kitchen and bathroom faucet, open the grey tank drain valve and let the water all run away. When the fresh tank is empty, kill the pump and close the faucets. It's not a horrible idea to sanitize the grey tank once in a while. Grey water grows bacteria and turns to black water if stored for a while, so purging the living organisms in that tank now and again can limit unpleasant odors.

Bleached/chlorinated water is neutralized in a short time after exposure to UV (You add stabilizer to swimming pool water to attempt to slow this UV degradation down). People drain 2,000 to 10,000 gallons of bleach water each, from millions of swimming pools every fall. Your tiny little 50 or 100 gallon (barely bleached) bleach water cleanse is not even a spec on the radar. Drain away.