Pink foam

[ramblinboy]

Here's a head scratcher. Every spring after de-winterizing I've got pink foam from the hot water tank for days. I did by-pass it when I charged the system with pink anti-freeze but the foam persists. Ive drained the tank twice with rinse but foams like crazy. Must be some kind of chemical reaction with heating elements. Anybody find a solution?

[Akcontender]

I would guess that somehow some of the RV antifreeze still got past your bypass and has contaminated some calcium scale that is on the lining of the hot water heater. My son winterized my gasser a few years ago and didn't know about the hot water bypass. He used enough antifreeze to fill the water heater too. It took many rinses to get that out of the water heater.

[Tha_Rooster]

Have you tried leaving the plug out and flush out with fresh water?

[tmw188]

I heard that sometimes if the hot and cold water sprayer in the wet bay is on but only turned off at spray head itself it could allow it to get into the system.


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[ramblinboy]

Thanks yes thatll be my next step but boy it sure does seem to stick in there

Originally Posted by Tha_Rooster

Have you tried leaving the plug out and flush out with fresh water?

[ramblinboy]

Thanks ya gotta be some interaction with scale as you say - pull the plug and let 'er flush without coming in and filling my waste water tank 👍

Originally Posted by Akcontender

I would guess that somehow some of the RV antifreeze still got past your bypass and has contaminated some calcium scale that is on the lining of the hot water heater. My son winterized my gasser a few years ago and didn't know about the hot water bypass. He used enough antifreeze to fill the water heater too. It took many rinses to get that out of the water heater.

[DeWat]

I would not be quick to say that you are getting pink foam from the hot water tank (unless you are actually getting it out of the tank itself). Bypassing the hot water tank only takes the tank out of the loop, but the pink stuff still goes through all of your other hot water lines. My thoughts would be that there is still very residual amounts of the pink stuff in the lines which is mixing with the warm/hot water when you run the hot water. I normally see the foam for a day or two after I dewinterize.

[doc]

Hmmmm? I know you ran fresh water through the system to wash out the anti-freeze before you opened the by-pass to the water heater???

[ramblinboy]

Generally it looks like a small smount of pink AF causes quite a reaction.
Cold lines run clear but hot only still foams. Will diminish over time.
Still in storage so not a true reflection of regular use.
Next year no pink will be allowed I sometimes let a little in as safety but no more.

[tmw188]

Originally Posted by ramblinboy

Generally it looks like a small smount of pink AF causes quite a reaction. Cold lines run clear but hot only still foams. Will diminish over time. Still in storage so not a true reflection of regular use. Next year no pink will be allowed I sometimes let a little in as safety but no more.

If it's drained just leave the drain plug out and put a pc. of tape over your water htr. switch reminding you it's out.

[ramblinboy]

I have done that thx. Hope it settles down!
rB

Originally Posted by tmw188

If it's drained just leave the drain plug out and put a pc. of tape over your water htr. switch reminding you it's out.

[Hikerdogs]

There's a check valve on both sides of the water heater. The one on the inlet side prevents hot water from flowing back into the fresh water tank. The one on the outlet side is supposed to prevent cold water from being forced back into the tank.


It's likely the outlet side check valve is leaking. Even though the water heater is bypassed (which only prevents antifreeze from entering on the inlet side) the antifreeze is being allowed to enter the unit when putting it through the remaining water lines. As you allow antifreeze to fill the hot water lines some is going backward past the check valve and entering the water heater.

[Gary RVRoamer]

Note that if the pink stuff did get into the tank somehow, you probably need to fill and drain the heater tank a couple times to flush it out. Just running water thru with the drain open won't reach the upper part of the tank.

My guess is that you have a section of hot water line outside the tank that is difficult to flush adequately. The pink stuff can get trapped in a dead-end part of the line, or in a side line faucet that was not opened and flushed. A little bit of it seeping into the hot line can foam for a long time. Especially if there is air trapped along with it.

[tmw188]

Originally Posted by ramblinboy

I have done that thx. Hope it settles down!

rB

FYI my comment was referring to when you winterize and drain your tank.


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