Hot water question

[K3ors]

New owner of'05 19' Safari and have a few questions on the water system. I had a dealer winterize it. I have hooked up city water and flushed the system (sinks & shower) by opening the faucets and running until clear. Is that all I need to do? I understand the hot water tank (can't find it) also fills. How do you know when it is full so it can be ignited? Also how do I drain it? I found a petcock but, in or out, it doesn't have water coming out.
Owner's Manual isn't much of a help. Is there a better Airstream Maintenace Book? Thanks!

[55AS]

Hot water "tank" is in your water heater. If you have a hot water tap open the tank will fill once all the air/antifreeze is out, making it safe to ignite.

[HowieE]

In order to complete the flushing of the system you have to put some freshwater in the fresh water tank and then run water from each faucet until clear. Just flushing with city water will leave antifreeze on the output side of the water pump. Likewise if you flushed the system with fresh water you would have to run water from the city connection to complete the flushing.

As for the hot water heater you first have to decide if the heater has a bypass valve and was it used by the dealer when winterizing. If the winterizing was done correctly the bypass valve was put in the bypass position and the heater drained via the 3/4 in. plug inside the access door on the outside of the trailer. Look for the bypass valve from the inside of the trailer, generally under the bathroom counter, and make sure it is set to allow water to the heater. If it was not moved to this position before you did the flushing moving it now will allow water to fill the tank. connect to water and fill the tank. This will take about 5 min. and you will have to open a hot water faucet to let the air out.

If there is not a bypass valve you will have to drain the heater via the tank drain because the tank will be full of antifreeze. Once drained connect to water leave the drain open and flush the tank of remaining antifreeze before putting the plug back in and flushinf the hot water side.

[aftermath]

K3ors, welcome to the forums. You have come to the right place to get answers but some questions have lots of different answers so continue to read on.

Howie mentions the "pink stuff" and that your water heater will be full of the stuff. If you had a dealer winterize I doubt that there is any pink stuff in the heater. It will and should be empty.

I would check with the dealer and ask them if they used antifreeze when they winterized. My Airstream dealer does not use it but blows the lines clear instead. I have been doing my own for years now and it works well for me. No problems yet.

But, back to your questions, specifically the ones about the heater. How do you drain the heater? Go to the door that hides the business end of the heater. It will be located on the outside of your trailer. Behind the door you should see a plug, usually plastic with a hexagonal head. This is the drain for the tank. Go inside and open a hot faucet, remove the plug and the water will drain. If there is no water to drain the tank is the way it should be. Go back reinstall the plug and hook up the city water, open a hot water faucet and turn on the water. If nothing comes out at first, the tank is filling and when the water gets to the faucet you will be good to go. If the water comes out right away your bypass valve is engaged. Go find the heater and change the bypass valve. On mine, when all the valves are turned in the same direction you are good to go.

NOW, if they did use the pink stuff you will have to put in some fresh water and turn the pump on to clear the pump of the antifreeze. Make sure that you open a cold water valve and run the water until it is clear. You don't want to introduce the pink stuff to your HW tank if possible.

This is the crux of it. Hopefully I haven't confused you too much. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions. Once you have done this a time or two it will make lots more sense.