Winterizing hot water heater

[ehmcfarl]

This year when I was winterizing my unit I drained the hot water heater and reinserted the anode rod. Then I drained the system at the low point of all water in the system. Next I opened a gallon of RV antifreeze and flipped the water pump on. The pump never quit running and it emptied the gallon of antifreeze. About this time I realized that I had not turned the water heater valve to bypass, so all the antifreeze was pumped into my hot water heater. The question is should I drain the antifreeze out of the hot water tank and let the tank air dry, just leave it in the tank until next spring, or what? I don't have access to city water where it is parked right now so if I drain the antifreeze out of the tank I wouldn't be able to rinse the tank out. Does RV antifreeze have an anti rust additive like automobile antifreeze has?

[steves]

I would just leave it in and then pump it out before you activate the hot water heater. I've done the same thing in prior years when I winterized and and forgot the bypass valve....The anti freeze doesn't hurt anything. Or as you said simply drain the HW heater again.

[mcgiver2]

when we got our new montana this year it was winterized and the bipass valve for the hot water heater was turned to bipass the heater, and they had the anode out laying beside the heater.and the antifreeze was in all the lines.

[clutch]

When I had to winerize our trailers the last thing I would do is to open the bypass valve and run a little antifreeze into the tank. I don't think it hurts a thing.

[Bill-N-Donna]

I don’t think any antifreeze in your tank will hurt anything. It may take a while to flush it out until it appears normal when you add water in the spring next year.

I drain all of the water and turn the by-pass on the water heater. I remove the anode rod, check it and drain all of the water. I use a small shop vac and I have a tube I use on the end of the hose that will reach inside the tank. I use this to remove all of the water I can that won’t drain. Then I pump the pink stuff until I see it at all of the outlets making sure some of it goes into the drains. I also put some in the washer and pump it to the drain from the washer. It takes about 4-gals.

[Rondo]

If you have put the "pink stuff"into the water heater, I wouldn't worry about it. I drain ours, let it dryout, then put the anode rod back in. I try to push some air into the tank by using a small pipe connected to the air line to get as much water out as possible. I don't turn the bypass valve back over till I dewinterize the unit and then only after I've flushed the lines. I think you could pull the anode rod out and leave it out while flushing the lines in the spring if you already have the antifreeze in the tank. Flush the lines first then open the bypass valve and flush the tank. If you leave the anode rod out and let it flush out the tank while filling it, it should flush out the pink stuff. It will go on the ground or driveway however. It may take a while to get it totally clear.

[PatnRich]

I always add some pink to the hot water heater.

The only issue is some foaming when the water is heated. This can be eliminated by draining and rinsing the tank before heating the water.

Rich