Winterizing the hot water heater

cdbMidland

Past Michigan Chapter Leader
Hopefully, there will be one more trip left this fall before I seriously have to winterize until late January when we pull out for Florida. However, to prevent any damage from frost, I thought I would drain everything since I keep the unit at a storage lot. A couple of questions...

1. What size socket does the anode plug require? It seems to be larger than 1".

2. I opened up the pressure relief valve at the top of the hot water heater and lots of water ran out through the drain hose. What was I draining? It seemed too much to be residual in the lines, but could this have caused the hot water heater to completely drain?
 

jbeletti

Well-known member
Chuck,

I have not double checked it on my Landmark - but on my previous trailer, the sizes were:

Anode: 1-1/16"
Electric Heating Element: 1-1/2"

As for the relief valve, I'd say it did not drain your hot water system. I have yet to look closely at my water heater but on my previous trailer, the anode was at the low point in the tank, so it was in effect, the drain plug as well.

Let us know how you make out on it.

Jim
 

Tom of Ypsi

Well-known member
The top one is just a pressure relief valve just like one on a water heater in a home. The bottom one is the heating element. I do not know the diameters.
 

phranc

Well-known member
Can you take the plug out with a 'Cresent' wrench.Or is there not enough space ?.. Gotta do ours next month so all ideas and help appreciated..
 

cdbMidland

Past Michigan Chapter Leader
Not enough space for a wrench of any time, but a socket looks like it would work. Will know today.
 

BluegrassMan

Well-known member
Anode Plug

I took mine out with a Crescent wrench, You have to go straight on with it as there is no room to do this sideways. Best thing to do is stop by Sears and get a 1 1/16 socket. It should save alot of #$%^&*()) words.:confused:

This is the first heater with an anode rod, I guess for full timing it would be OK, but I always drain the tank when I get home and don't plan on going out for a while.
Denny
 

cdbMidland

Past Michigan Chapter Leader
It turned out that I needed a 1 1/8" socket. However, when I pulled out the anode, not one drop of water came out. The anode looked "gunky", but I've never seen a used anode before. Do these require some kind of cleaning?

So, back to my first post (question #2) - did the hot water heater drain when I opened the relief valve? If not, where is the water?

Also, there was an on/off switch on the side of the hot water heater with a pin holding it in the off position. What in the world is this for? My hot water heater worked in both the electric and gas modes (although the electric did not produce the temperature that the gas did), so I can't figure out what the switch is for.

I saw no thermostat (that I could identify as such) and have no idea of how this is regulated.
 

BigBlue

BigBlue
The anode does get "gunky". The anode sacrifaces its self to protect the heater. You can clean it by scrubbing off the gunk but eventually you'll see that the anode gets smaller as it corrodes away. You have to eventually replace it. I usually do it after it gets to be about 1/4 of it's origonal size.

The water heater must have drained when you released the vent. Did you have the faucet's open? After you opened the vent air can get in and the water can flow out of the heater through any open valve.

The on/off switch is for the electricity to heat the water. If it was in the off position, I don't think you had any electricity to heat the water. How did you test it to determine that electirc did not produce the temperature the gas did?
 

BluegrassMan

Well-known member
Water Heater

Hi All:
Yeah, cbmidland is correct , the minerals etc that are in some waters will cling to the anode rod instead of clinging to the tank walls. Thus, giving long life to the water heater. Your house water heater has one too, only it is probably 3 feet long.

The new type of water heater that we have is electronicly controlled, probably behind the rubber plugs. My last heater had the manual control to set the temp. of the water. The manual says to have a service person set it if it isn't correct.

It is a mystery:confused: why water isn't coming out the drain, if you open the safety pop off at the top, it shouldn't drain any lower that the spout. Then when the drain plug is out AIR displaces the water by sucking in at the pop off valve. (mine goes glug-glug till I open the valve and let air in ) Then the water rushes out, mostly on my feet if I'm not fast!:eek:
 

cdbMidland

Past Michigan Chapter Leader
Thanks for all for the comments.

The way I knew the electric hot water was not hot enough was that we had not turned on the propane the first time we used it and while the water was warm, it certainly was not hot. However, the next time I have it out (hopefully one more time before winter sets in), I will remove the clip and turn the switch to on.

No, I did not have any faucets open, but the fresh water tank had been set to drain and I had not switched it back as yet.

I'm at a loss as to why the tank was completely empty.
 

cdbMidland

Past Michigan Chapter Leader
I should also mention that I have a switch in the closet by the door that has a switch, so I don't know if the one mounted on the hot water heater is redundant.
 

BigBlue

BigBlue
I have a switch in my closet also. That's one of the design features made by Heartland to include those things people desire. In my old montana we didn't have that and I had to go outside to switch the electric heater on or off. This way you can do it from the inside. The switch outside can be used to prevent turning on power without watere in the heater tank. You might put a step in your procedure to turn that switch off when you disconnect water and turn it back on when you hook up.
 

cdbMidland

Past Michigan Chapter Leader
A friend of mine who owns an Open Road was over today and I was mentioning that my hot water heater drained before removing the anode. He suggested that since cold water generally enters the bottom of the tank that I had probably drained the cold water drains and the hot water heater drained through that drain. Sounds feasible to me. Comments???
 

phranc

Well-known member
Sounds logical ..And you opened the pressure releif valve to let air in ..Why not .You may have hit on an easy way to drain hot water tank between camping trips..If one were so inclined to do so ............
 
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