How do you drain fresh water tank?

[92landyacht]

I want to sanitize my fresh water system, but it currently is full of anti freeze that's 3 years old. I wanted to drain the system before I add the chlorinated water but don't know how to drain it without running the pump. Anyone have a clue on how to do it on a 92 36' Land Yacht?

[masseyfarm]

On my Clipper there are three exterior drain taps located in the sewer bay.
One for the FW tank, one for HW tank, and I think the other just drains the line from the pump to the street water service.

In the picture, the drain valves are under the bucket in the left front of my compartment.

Dave

[Gene]

Various Airstreams have different drains. There are ones for the water lines and one for the tank. If you know where your tank it, the tank drain has to be at one end or the other. Water line drains may be nearby. On ours they are between the wheels on the streetside plus another water line drain near the hot water heater.

On ours there is a white plastic drain that is very difficult to open and close. It gets more difficult with time and I finally replaced it with a brass hose bib. I understand there is a Sharkbite drain that will work better, but I couldn't find one when I needed it.

Gene

[gloran]

On my 1993 the valve is under the bed that opens to drain out under the coach, very slow you will want to open the outside spicket valve and run your pump at the same time to drain it faster.

[Gene]

Originally Posted by gloran

run your pump at the same time to drain it faster.

I forgot that—it takes a long time to drain the tank and running the pump helps speed it up. When you are sanitizing the tank, you have to flush it 2 or 3 times to get the chlorine smell out and it takes a couple of hours with a 39 gal. tank. Pumps should be able to run while dry, so that is not a problem.

Gene

[DaveFL]

My 2000 has three valves under bed below breaker box, plus I open the valve on the water heater between hot and cold, plus kitchen and bathroom valve. With all valves open it doesn't take too long to empty. You do need to do it a couple of times, running the pump at least between draining to flush it's water or antifreeze. On the second or third fillup I would put in the bleach run pump and at each faucet until you smell bleach water, close valves, make sure tank is full and leave over night. A couple more exchanges of fresh water and you should be able to drink it.
Forgot to mention if you have a filter faucet at kitchen sink remove filter before all this, if PO didn't remove you might want to replace after all traces of antifreeze and bleach are out of system, and before drinking your water

[92landyacht]

Gloran: How do you get to the drain valve? Do you have to remove the matress from the bed and unscrew the top or is there another way to access it?

[Gene]

Chlorine and plastic don't get along well. Leave the chlorine in the tank long enough and the plastic will get brittle. A few hours should be enough to sanitize the tank and water lines. The exact amount of time and how much Clorox to use are in the owner's manual. Also don't leave the chlorine mixture in the sun for long before you put it in the tank because the sun breaks down chlorine fast.

I drain the tank, put some water in, put in the chlorine mixture (my wife prepares it so I can't remember the amount) and then fill the tank and run water through the lines with the pump. We use the more concentrated mix, so after an hour I drain the tank and water lines, fill the tank again, use the pump to run water through the lines again, drain everything again, repeat. It takes three flushes to get all the chlorine mixture out.

We sanitize once in the spring and once in midsummer. If you leave the kitchen sink filter in place, the chlorine (or RV antifreeze) does it no good.

Gene

[gloran]

I have the Queen size bed, remove the drawer right side, you will need a flash light, tight quarters. You may have to remove the lower nightstand drawers also to make the large drawer easier to take out and put back in. Kind of a pain. Or remove the plywood top as you mentioned.

[92landyacht]

Thanks guys, I'll let you know how it goes.

[92landyacht]

I found the drain valves. On my 92 LY (with a queen bed) they were located under the roadside bed drawer. Pretty easy to get to once you know where they are. I opened all three valves along with the kitchen and bath faucet and let it drain over night.

Funny how the owner's manual goes into great detail on how to rebuild the water pump and the Moen faucets, but doesn't even mention where the drain valves are.

In the manual it details what mixture to use to sanitize the fresh water tank. They recommend making a hypochlorite solution of 1/4 cup of chlorine bleach to one gallon of water. Then add 1 gallon of this solution to every 15 gallons of tank capacity. Fill tank full of water, turn pump on and open all faucets. Let water run until a faint smell of chlorine is detected. Let sit for 3 hours and then drain. It also says to use a diluted vinegar solution (1 quart to 5 gallons) to remove any excessive chlorine smell from the system. Then you drain the system again and fill with potable water.