Hot water tank

Qball · 04-06-2019, 06:46 PM

Hoping for a little help.
I drained hot water tank in the fall. No I am trying to to get ready for some camping. But I can’t get water to come out when Hot water is turned on.
Does tank need to be heated for pressure?
I would think it would come out even if it was cold.
Think I have all valves turned the right way. ��
Seams like the tank filled only when I turned on cold and hot at same time. The strange thing is that the water seamed to fill tank thru red hot water line. Confusing. I would think that water would fill thru blue cold line and then exit thru red hot line. Any ideas? My pop up is a rock wood hw277

backpacker3 · 04-06-2019, 06:56 PM

Did you vent all the air from the tank?
Do not heat the tank until you are sure it is full of water.
You can check by lifting the handle on the relief valve, it will bleed air until all air is out. Slowly add water by the water pump until water comes out and then close relief valve handle.

cavie · 04-06-2019, 07:11 PM

valves are correct. Release the air as stated. Some don't like to open the relief valve. You can also open a hot water faucet. Your lines are acting like a big pressure tank. Pump or city water will work.

Qball · 04-06-2019, 07:38 PM

Well I thought I did but then I would forget about the outside shower and outside sink.
And yes very important I was definitely not going to heat it till tank was full. I have opend the pressure release valve and ran cold water thu one of the faucets till water came out valve then shut it off.
When I turn a hot water valve back on it seam to run for only like 30 secs and then stops coming out again
Seams like maybe tank is lossing it’s preasure or not filling back up on its own maybe. Ugh

Qball · 04-06-2019, 07:41 PM

I have water hooked up to city water. I think I have used 100 gallons of water trying to get this to work. Lol ugh
I would think as soon as water is hooked up tank would just fill up? I would not think I would have to turn cold water on a faucet to fill hot water tank.

rockfordroo · 04-06-2019, 07:58 PM

If you're only opening a hot water valve, it will take some time. You need to vent 6 or more gallons of air before you'll get any water.

Qball · 04-06-2019, 08:26 PM

I get water but it only runs for about 30 secs.
Does not seam like the tank fills by it self like I would think it would when hooked up to water. Only seams to pressurize when cold water is on.
I don’t get it.

BriaBeck · 04-06-2019, 08:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Qball

I have water hooked up to city water. I think I have used 100 gallons of water trying to get this to work. Lol ugh
I would think as soon as water is hooked up tank would just fill up? I would not think I would have to turn cold water on a faucet to fill hot water tank.

Are you opening the Hot Water valve on your faucets?

You keep saying "cold water"... Cold side will not vent the air from the hot water tank.

Sorry if you are, but I'm just getting the impression that you're opening the cold side from your posts... and that would correspond to the troubles you're having as well.

Okie Dokie 2 · 04-06-2019, 08:40 PM

Are all of your other valves turned to the correct position? You could be filling your fresh water tank.

Qball · 04-06-2019, 08:50 PM

Sorry for the confusion I guess I am just getting frustrated lol
Yes if I open all hot water valves I get nothing
Seams There is no pressure at all. Yes I have opened all hot valves only
The only way to get the water to come out the hot side is to then open up a cold valve then the hot side will work after a min. But then if I turn of the cold side the hot side will run for only about 30 sec till it stops again. Maybe this water tank does not work like one in a home. But when you hook up water to the tank you think it would fill. But the only way to fill this tank is when cold valve is turned on and also a hot

BriaBeck · 04-06-2019, 08:53 PM

OK...

Did you try leaving a hot faucet valve open for a few minutes? That's the only way you're going to get the air out of the hot side of your plumbing system. Just open up a hot faucet, and give it at least 5 minutes to work the air out. Leave all the cold faucets closed so you get pressure built up on the hot side.

If you don't have water coming out within 5 minutes, then we'll start digging deeper.

Qball · 04-06-2019, 09:01 PM

Yep it has been left open for 15 min
But don’t even hear a whisper from it. lol
I have to open the cold water to hear any water filing the hot water tank. That I don’t get at all

BriaBeck · 04-06-2019, 09:31 PM

Ok... I get your frustration now. This makes no sense.

Let me think about this for a minute....

BriaBeck · 04-06-2019, 09:57 PM

OK, let's try a few things...

Put your Hot Water Heater (HWH) back into the bypass configuration.

Then see if you get water flowing through your hot side of the plumbing.

If yes, then you have a blockage somewhere between the cold side shutoff valve at your HWH and your hot side shutoff at your HWH.

If you do NOT get water flowing through the Hot side of your plumbing, then the bypass valve itself has to be blocked, or the actual valve position does not match the handle position. And this could be true of any of those three valves at your HWH.

Try opening the hot side of one of your faucets, then operating the bypass valve while the faucet is open, and listen to see if you hear anything. Then try the other 3 valves as well...

Looking at your first post... it almost sounds like your COLD shutoff valve is CLOSED... the bypass is OPEN... and the HOT shutoff is also OPEN...

That's the only way the tank could fill through the hot side when you open the relief valve.

2+2 is not adding up to 4 here

bubbles · 04-06-2019, 10:11 PM

[QUOTE=BriaBeck;2065283]

Looking at your first post... it almost sounds like your COLD shutoff valve is CLOSED... the bypass is OPEN... and the HOT shutoff is also OPEN.../QUOTE]

If this were true he would have good flow of water from the cold side to the hot side through the bypass. He wouldn't have any hot water but he would have water flow. None of this makes sense. The having to turn on the cold side of a faucet to fill the tank is what's weird.

BriaBeck · 04-06-2019, 10:34 PM

[QUOTE=bubbles;2065289]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BriaBeck

Looking at your first post... it almost sounds like your COLD shutoff valve is CLOSED... the bypass is OPEN... and the HOT shutoff is also OPEN.../QUOTE]

If this were true he would have good flow of water from the cold side to the hot side through the bypass. He wouldn't have any hot water but he would have water flow. None of this makes sense. The having to turn on the cold side of a faucet to fill the tank is what's weird.

I know... NONE of this makes any sense at all.

The problem has to be in the bypass/shutoff valves. That would be the only things that would have changed since the unit was winterized last fall. But even then, I can't think up a scenario of how you could configure those valves and cause the behavior the OP is reporting.

I remember reading a thread a while back where the water system was doing something weird, and it ended up being that one of the valves was in the wrong position. But I don't remember exactly.

Thinking..................

Qball, when you winterized, did you put the drain plug back into your HWH, or did you leave it out? Is there any chance a critter may have crawled into your hot water tank and is still in there? Could be blocking the outlet pipe in the tank... opening a cold faucet reduces the total pressure in the hot tank, and allows some water to bypass the critter, until the actual flow of water pulls it over/into the pipe, and blocks it off again...

I know it's not pleasant to think about... but it's the only thing I can think of right now that would cause the behavior you're seeing...

Qball · 04-06-2019, 11:01 PM

Thanks everyone for all your input. Well after countless beers to help me figure this out it will have to wait another day when there is day light lol

Head scratcher for sure.
When I drained tank i put plug back in so no chance of something crawling inside.

And if I am not mistaken and can remember back several months ago I think I did not even touch any valves when I drained tank so the posibitly of the valves being back ward seems not likely.

But I will try more ideas everyone has given me.
Talking to a neighbor we think there must be a blockage in the cold line feeding the tank is all we can think of at this point.
He has a Starcraft pop up and says his tank just fills as soon as water is hooked up or water supply tank has been filled.

Thanks again

Will keep you all posted if I can find the problem

bob213 · 04-06-2019, 11:47 PM

Can you turn the valve on the hot water line to point up like the cold water? Maybe it's closed and you don't realize it.

Qball · 04-07-2019, 01:15 AM

All valves only turn 1/4 turn
And usually the way the handle points is the way the opening is in the valve. But like I said before I don’t believe I have ever turned any valves when I drained the tank. Today was the first I have ever moved them because I needed to turn them to see if this was the problem. Maybe a fresh day tomorrow will help solve this mystery. Lol
Don’t need hot water here in the Az desert but up in the mountains sure is nice to have lol

nomad297 · 04-07-2019, 05:16 AM

One of the stems on a ball valve may have sheared off of the ball in the valve as you were turning it, so it is just slightly open allowing water to slowly flow through and build pressure to give you that first few seconds of hot water flow.

However, I am banking on it being limescale/debris that is hung-up at your hot side ball valve. Turn off the water supply to the camper. Drain the tank and do not put the anode back on, turn off the cold side (inlet) ball valve to the water heater, turn on the bypass valve and turn on the hot side (outlet) ball valve. Go back outside and turn the water on to the camper and let it run for a minute or two to push the limescale out of the hot side ball valve. Hopefully, you will see water gushing out of your anode tap. Now would be a good time to get any remaining limescale out of the tank. Replace the anode, turn the bypass valve off and the cold inlet valve on. Try filling your water heater as you normally would.

Good luck!

Bruce

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