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Old 07-22-2018, 06:32 PM   #1
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low point water drain help

was hooked up in a nice c/g when i noticed a slow drip from the cold water low point drain. was hooked up to city water. fresh water tank is empty. any thoughts? what does the other end of that blue hose connect to? thanx
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Old 07-22-2018, 06:36 PM   #2
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That blue hose is the lowest point in the cold water plumbing in your RV. It is possible that the plug is not in tightly and the pressure is high.
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Old 07-22-2018, 06:38 PM   #3
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Low point drains hook to the water lines inside the unit. The blue one is for draining all (as much as possible) of the COLD water out of your interior lines. The red one is for draining the HOT water. Most owners use these to drain water out of their units to start their winterization process. A few on here drain their water after every trip.
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Old 07-22-2018, 09:35 PM   #4
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I had to use plumbers thread sealing tape on mine to prevent dripping.
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Old 07-23-2018, 12:51 PM   #5
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The low point drain is not connected to your fresh water tank. The fresh water tank has a separate drain valve. As already mentioned the low point drain is for the water system, one drain for hot and one for cold.
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Old 07-23-2018, 01:00 PM   #6
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Low point drains

I replaced the plugs with check valves purchased at Menards. I got the idea from the FROG. I brought one of the plugs with me to match up the thread sizes. After disconnecting from the city water, I've always drained the system between trips. Opening the drain valves and all the faucets along with the water heater overflow/check valve. Drains the system quickly and efficiently.
At 8+ lbs per gallon, why bother hauling the extra weight?
Of course, I do make sure all the valves are closed before leaving.
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Old 07-23-2018, 05:31 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BooBoo23 View Post
The low point drain is not connected to your fresh water tank. The fresh water tank has a separate drain valve. As already mentioned the low point drain is for the water system, one drain for hot and one for cold.
I always thought the low point drain drained the tank, glad I read this. Apparently our tank drain valve is under the bed with the tank. Might be a dumb question but where does the water come out when u drain via that valve?.
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Old 07-23-2018, 08:26 PM   #8
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You will need a Isata owner to answer that. MH's have compartments for everything, I will assume it comes out under the RV somewhere, just don't know where.
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Old 07-23-2018, 08:34 PM   #9
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The low point drain is not connected to your fresh water tank. The fresh water tank has a separate drain valve. As already mentioned the low point drain is for the water system, one drain for hot and one for cold.
One more note, you can't drain the fresh water tank using the pump as the pickup is on the side of the tank, not the bottom so there will always be water remaining in the tank, remember that when you winterize. Only 3 holes in the fresh water tank, the inlet, the outlet for the pump and the drain in the bottom.
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Old 07-23-2018, 08:58 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Denny B View Post
I replaced the plugs with check valves purchased at Menards. I got the idea from the FROG. I brought one of the plugs with me to match up the thread sizes. After disconnecting from the city water, I've always drained the system between trips. Opening the drain valves and all the faucets along with the water heater overflow/check valve. Drains the system quickly and efficiently.
At 8+ lbs per gallon, why bother hauling the extra weight?
Of course, I do make sure all the valves are closed before leaving.
So, draining your hot water heater through the low point drains is a bad idea.

Sooner or later the water crud that is being sucked into your cold water lines will get pushed into your toilet tank flush valve or your sink faucet valves.

I suggest instead, for you to close off the hot water tank by closing the winter isolation valves and drain just the water lines using the low point drains. The water heater tank should only be drained and flushed from the outside using the Anode/Drain hole.
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Old 07-23-2018, 09:07 PM   #11
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Dang...where do you get your water from?
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Old 07-23-2018, 09:27 PM   #12
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City water treatment is mainly to remove bacteria not the minerals, large stuff is naturally removed but not what is dissolved and in suspension. Heated water brings those minerals out of suspension. Have you ever seen a shower head "lime up". Growing up on the farm we always had well water which is not treated although it is usually filtered naturally through the sand layer in the earth and when we would visit relatives on other farms the water tasted different, some had so much iron in the water you couldn't wash you hair in it, a lot of time it had a sulfur smell or as some said like "rotten eggs" ( I don't know what rotten eggs smell like) Just had to make sure the well was a good distance from any cattle or hog lot. Most of the time the sediment in the Suburban water tank is from the sacrificial anode rod and some of it is natural rust flaking off of the inside of the tank the same as the hot water tank in your home which also has a sacrificial anode rod, newer tanks are glass lined now so not quite as bad.
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Old 07-23-2018, 09:35 PM   #13
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Dang...where do you get your water from?
Bits of anode and calcium will collect at the bottom of your tank even from the best of sources. Well water or high mineral water at some campgrounds will make the crud worse.

I always flush from the anode drain plug with the tank isolated and never fail to get crud flushed out.

Here is what happens when a bit of calcium gets pushed into your flush valve.
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