Community Forums

edkis1955 · 03-27-2020, 10:05 AM

Hello
this morning i de winterized my new coleman lantern 262bh which was winterized at the factory after flushing all of the antifreeze. i went below the bunk to switch the valves to the normal position. i found that there were only 2 valves, both open and in the horizontal position.. there were no other valves on the heater. I expected to see an open valve in the vertical position, but there were none. Any help would be appreciated...also no water come out of the hot water drain during the process. thanks

J Birder · 03-27-2020, 10:10 AM

In addition to those two valves, there is probably a check valve in the hot water outlet. Can you post a photo?

Joel

winniman · 03-27-2020, 11:02 AM

Being new, are you sure it ever had water in the system. There would be no need to bypass the hot water tank if no water had ever been put into it.

tuffr2 · 03-27-2020, 11:29 AM

winniman - not sure your statement is accurate. The hot water bypass on the trailers that I had stopped antifreeze from filling up the hot water heater. That saves 6 or 10 gallons of antifreeze.

Old-Biscuit · 03-27-2020, 11:51 AM

Trace the lines on those 2 vlaves

ONE should be COLD inlet going into the WH Tank (bottom of tank) ---COLD Inlet/OPEN
ONE should connect COLD to HOT (after hot out from WH Tank)---that is the BYPASS (CLOSE IT)

WH TANK HOT Out....Most Likely has a CHECK VALVE in it (stop backflow into Tank and is CHEAP way to do it)

Post pic of YOURS if you can......

Here are some examples
2 valve system (Cold Inlet/BYPASS)

2 valve system (Cold/Bypass and Hot/Bypass)

1 valve system (Cold/Bypass only)

winniman · 03-27-2020, 11:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tuffr2

winniman - not sure your statement is accurate. The hot water bypass on the trailers that I had stopped antifreeze from filling up the hot water heater. That saves 6 or 10 gallons of antifreeze.

That indeed is its purpose, but the OP said it was a new trailer. I don't know why the dealer would put water in the hot water tank if it was new. Perhaps they do to test it. I have never bought a new trailer, so I don't know for sure that they don't test the system. I would think they would test it with air pressure instead of putting water in the system. This is how they test plumbing systems in houses.

edkis1955 · 03-27-2020, 02:35 PM

Thanks to everyone . cant figure out how to send the photo on this chromebook, but i think i found out what i needed I closed the top valve off, and i heard residual water going into the tank...

BigBlueRV · 03-29-2020, 01:26 PM

Went to the campsite yesterday and helped my sister de-winterize her 2018 Forest River Heritage Glen 272RL. The bypass valves were also opposite to my experience just as the OP described. The inline position was CLOSED and the 90 degree position was OPEN. Once "open" in the 90 degree position you could hear the tank filling, and we had hot water in no time, so it appears that for this model at least, the 90 degree position is OPEN.

For what it's worth, on my 2016 Keystone Sprinter 5er, the inline position is open and the 90 degree position is closed. That has also been my experience on every other RV that I have had my hands on.