De-winterizing Water System

[codgerbill]

Prior to winter storage I emptied out the fresh water tank and hot water tank and then used air pressure to blow out the lines. I was checking the owners manual and I am a bit confused on how to de-winterize. I will be disinfecting/sanitizing the fresh water tank using some Thetford products. My question is what proceedure do I use to de-winterize the hot water tank? I removed the tank plug to empty the water tank in the late fall and will replace it with a new one to start with. I am wondering if I should not refill the hot water tank untill I have finished sanitizing the fresh water holding tank and also how do I fill the hot water tank so that I will have the required amount of air gap in the top of the water heater tank?

[codgerbill]

Prior to winter storage I emptied out the fresh water tank and hot water tank and then used air pressure to blow out the lines. I was checking the owners manual and I am a bit confused on how to de-winterize. I will be disinfecting/sanitizing the fresh water tank using some Thetford products. My question is what proceedure do I use to de-winterize the hot water tank? I removed the tank plug to empty the water tank in the late fall and will replace it with a new one to start with. I am wondering if I should not refill the hot water tank untill I have finished sanitizing the fresh water holding tank and also how do I fill the hot water tank so that I will have the required amount of air gap in the top of the water heater tank?

[ichn2go]

Right or Wrong, I sanitize the fresh water tank, leaving the plug out of the hot water heater. Often times there is a bypass for the water heater. After that I refill and rinse the system, put the plug back in the hot water tank open the hot a water valve and when water comes out I consider the tank full with the right amount of air.

Someone else may have a much better answer than this...Good Luck

[AFChap]

I do hope you replaced the WH plug after you drained it ...or otherwise blocked the drain hole. If not, it likely needs sanitizing worse than the rest of the system does!!!

I always put the plug back in after draining/winterizing. When sanitizing, I included the water tank along with the rest of the system, draining and flushing it too.

As to getting the air pocket right, just be sure the pressure pop-off valve (or whatever that thing is called) on the tank is closed, then connect fresh water to the coach. The tank will fill and take care of the air pocket on its own. Then I open a HW faucet somewhere to bleed air out of the lines, turn it off, and go enjoy my RV!!

[dirko]

Hi Ho: Because you didn't use any pink stuff, dewinterizing is really just a process of putting water in the system and running it. It is usually necessary to bleed air out of the system, which is easily accomplished by simply opening the drain valve until air escapes and the water pump operates normally. While I haven't been doing this, I expect a good idea woud be to do something to remove lime deposits from the water heater. Does anyone have an easy way to do this?

Dirk

[codgerbill]

Drain Valve?
Is the drain valve that has been mentioned the same as the pressure relief valve?

[JC2]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Dirk Ostermiller:
Hi Ho: Because you didn't use any pink stuff, dewinterizing is really just a process of putting water in the system and running it. It is usually necessary to bleed air out of the system, which is easily accomplished by simply opening the drain valve until air escapes and the water pump operates normally. While I haven't been doing this, I expect a good idea woud be to do something to remove lime deposits from the water heater. Does anyone have an easy way to do this?

Dirk </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Every Spring when I de-winterize, in addition to sanitizing the water tanks/system with bleach, I use (1) gal of generic white vinegar per 15 gal of water and run each faucet/toilet/shower (fill water heater) until I smell vinegar. Let sit 3-5 hrs, then drain tank, refill with fresh water and reprime each line as stated previously. Cheap and efficient.
Don't usually do both (sanitize & delime the same day) but would refill with fresh water between each. Don't know how bleach and vinegar would react with each other.

[AFChap]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Is the drain valve that has been mentioned the same as the pressure relief valve? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Not on my Atwood. The pressure relief valve is toward the top of the tank, and opens with a little lever. I always open it when draining the tank, then close it before filling the tank. My "drain plug" is at the bottom, and is a white nylon 3/4 or 5/8 plug that I remove with a socket wrench. I always keep an extra on hand as they can and DO fail, normally cracking. I find I avoid problems with the plug failing if I replace it every other time I drain & flush the water heater every 3-4 mo. We are fulltimers -- for seasonal users, putting a new plug in at the start of the season each year should be sufficient.

[skigramp]

here is the "how to sanitize" page from the Winnebago Web site ...

Sanitizing

Depending on how fussy the people in your party are you may need to drain and refill more than once ...

We drain once and refill ... we use tap water from home (in milk jugs) for a couple of days for drinking and cooking until the residual chlorine smell goes away ...

We

[codgerbill]

I have the Thetford "Fresh Water Tank Sanitizer". The directions state to sanitize the fresh water tank:
Step 1: CLEANING
1. With an empty tank add 1 Oz concentrated detergent for every 4 gallons of water (20 oz for 80 gal tank)
2.Fill tank with water and run solution thru every faucet, shower and outlet for approx one minute
3. Empty tank
4. Flush tank and faucet lines by filling tank with clean water, running through lines and draining

2. SANITIZING:
1. Mix 2 oz of sanitizer for 8 gal water (20 oz for 80 gal tank)
2. Fill tank. (here it says that all surfaces should be "wet" with the solution for a minimum of 60 seconds- I assume it means drive the coach for a bit and perhaps run the faucets too)
3. Drain the tank
4. FIll tank with fresh water (Ready now for normal use)

Is it just me or does this seem to be a lot of effort, not to mention using (for my coach)240 gallons of water prior to filling with the final time for use?

Has anyone elsed the Thetford product for sanitizing? Is using the bleach solution just as good?

[skigramp]

I have always used bleach ... I let it set for at least 4 hours ... about each hour I run water through all the faucets to ensure that the solution is being circulated ...

Have you compared the label on the Thedford product with the label on bleach?

We used tank deoderizers for awhile but decided that the only thing they were doing was emptying our pocketbook (money was better spent on beer and wine)

[codgerbill]

Thanks Skigramp,
I guess my one last question is that The Thetford product asks that you use a detergent to first clean out the tank before you use the sanitizer. I am womdering about the necessity of the detergent cleaning? I would like to mention that the thetford product was given to me...so I cant complain about the price&gt;

[skigramp]

I have never used soap ... and please don't tell my co-pilot that you do ... or I will be using it ...

[codgerbill]

Skigramp,

My lips....errrr I mean my e-mail will be sealed