water drainage

[leedav]

Some questions about water drainage. I want to drain my water system and have it be dry for a while for storage. Some things I do not understand..

1. using a blowout plug with compressed air into the city water inlet, will that dry the fresh tank if the petcocks are open, or will the check valve resist the airflow as it would the water? If that won't work, how can I dry the fresh tank? there is water adhering to the top of the tank. Alternatively, what if I blow air through the fresh water tank filler? Is there an adapter for that? The adapter I have is specifically designed to vent air so as to not pressurize the tank.

2. what happens if i blow the air through and do not do anything to the hot water tank such as open the drain valve?

thanks!

[ROBERT CROSS]

Lee,

I use an adapter I made and blow out the HW tank also..



Bob

[leedav]

Originally Posted by ROBERT CROSS

Lee,

I use an adapter I made and blow out the HW tank also..


Bob

thanks. Any thoughts on the first set of questions?

[Rich W]

1. using a blowout plug with compressed air into the city water inlet, will that dry the fresh tank if the petcocks are open, or will the check valve resist the airflow as it would the water? If that won't work, how can I dry the fresh tank? there is water adhering to the top of the tank. Alternatively, what if I blow air through the fresh water tank filler? Is there an adapter for that? The adapter I have is specifically designed to vent air so as to not pressurize the tank.

It will not blow out the fresh water tank, just open the valve for the fresh water and let it drain, then close the valve. Don't worry about it being dry, you will need to sanitize it when you are ready to use it the next season. If it's empty there isn't much to freeze so no expansion of ice to worry about.

What is the need to have it bone dry?


2. what happens if i blow the air through and do not do anything to the hot water tank such as open the drain valve?

There is a bypass valve that will shunt water to the heater but you need to close the cold water inlet valve and hot water outlet valve as well as the crossover. Your owner's manual will tell you the location of these valves.

Why do you want to leave water in the hot water heater?

[leedav]

I figured for a few weeks it would be ok since the hot water would kill any bacteria as long as I waited for it to get to temperature. Bone dry because then I could skip any treatment with bleach or other means.

[cwf]

Don't leave your fresh water tank drain valve open... just having a little water in the bottom won't hurt it.. but, do put about 1/4-1/2 ounce of Clorox in it... then run a little water to flush out of the inlet to the tank... shouldn't take more than a cup.

Open the 'low point' valves when you 'blow' the lines.. you will need a compressor which can provide 'volume', not 'pressure'... low pressure works.. under 20PSI I would guess.. but you can follow the numbers in your Owner's manual.

[leedav]

The low point valves basically come off the fresh tank. That's why I was wondering. Anyway for sure not to leave them open. Don't want critters

[Rich W]

Originally Posted by leedav

The low point valves basically come off the fresh tank. That's why I was wondering. Anyway for sure not to leave them open. Don't want critters

My low point will drain most of the water from the plumbing but not the fresh water tank. It has its own drain valve. It won't hurt to leave water in the hot water heater except in freezing weather. Same for the fresh water tank. Since you're just storing in the summer I wouldn't worry about draining anything. If it's been a few months I just let the water run for about a gallon or two, hot and cold.

The Airstream manual says to sanitize at the start of each season. I normally do that for our first trip after storage when I'm draining the antifreeze from the lines.