Water Heater Fill and Drain

[tmsandberg]

I just purchased a 2005, 25' Safari SS, with no previous experience, no owners manual and no luck finding one online. So far so good...
I've got a few questions and need all the help I can get.
How do you fill the water heater when your using an outside water supply and/or using your onboard fresh water tanks? The last time I hooked up to outside water, I turned on the hot water faucet to let the tank fill, fired it up and in a short time I actually got hot water. But when it came time to drain the entire water system including the water heater, only about a quart of water came out of the faucet. When I opened the hot water tank valve, only a very small amount came out. Any ideas? Thank you

[Silvertwinkie]

Hi....and welcome....

Maint books can be found here:

Airstream, Inc :: Maintenance Books

If you don't see a 2005, anywhere from say 2000 through 2009 will work with a 25 as they are for the most part similar if you find the same floor plan in any give model year between the years stated...or you can contact Airstream and they would most likely send you one for your model year (possibly at a cost).

Also, when filling the water heater, simply turn off the by-pass located in the curbside storage compartment. In the compartment, you'll see the left side of the water heater. The center valve should be closed (I believe it's a right turn), the top and bottom valves open (I believe left turns). When you connect water via the city water hookup, it will fill the tank as the heater tank is in line at this point and not in by-pass. If you don't have city water hooked up, and are filling from the fresh water tank, simply turning on the pump will take water from the fresh tank and fill the water heater tank.

I am not 100% on the valve turns, so you may have to play with it a bit....that's how I learnt.

On the empty side, open the water heater door from the outside. There you will see a nylon plug and a pressure relief valve. Remove the nylon plug, open the pressure relief valve, after you step aside from the water heater as the water (6 gallons) will fly out of where the nylon plug was fairly quickly.

[Steve & Susan]

We have a 2005 and the manual shows the SAME ILLUSTRATION for what Silvertwinkie describes in BYPASS mode and non-bypass mode - so experimentation is your best bet.

BUT, DON'T turn the water heater on until you are sure it is full! If it is, you'll get a shot of water when you open the pressure-relief valve a little.

In the FILL THE WATER HEATER tank mode (sorry for the lousy name), turn the hot water faucet on and it'll take several minutes (depending on water pressure) to fill the tank - no water will be coming out of the faucet until it is full.

Best of luck, tell us how you do!

[tmsandberg]

Thanks for your help, I'll order the maintenance book and try some experimentation over the weekend.

[Gene]

As I recall, the valves are like gas valves, they point in the direction that is logical—open is when the valve is in line with the pipe, crossing the pipe at a 90˚ angle is closed. There's a 4th valve on newer models below those three and it is a drain (for something, don't know what, probably water lines nearby). Keep it closed when using the water system, open when draining it.

Maintenance books that come with the trailers have mistakes and don't keep up with changes, so any of them require some adaptation. I think they had a 2005 book on the shelf at the store when I was there last week, but I'm not sure which trim line it was for.

Gene