Draining water heater?

[2Stepn]

This is the first trailer I've owned with a Suburban water heater.
In my former trailers I've had Atwood water heaters with a drain valve installed. At the end of each trip I would just open the drain valve and drain the water heater. I did this to prevent water odor problems from occurring from using well water and warm Temps.
The suburban water heater with its anode rod/drain plug combo. is slightly more difficult to drain.
What have your experiences with water odor problems and the suburban water heater been while using untreated well water. Does the anode rod help, or should I continue to drain after each trip.
Thanks Bill

 

[Gary521]

Depends upon what type of odor is coming from the water heater. If its a sulfur ( rotten egg ) type of smell, its coming from the anode rod itself and a reaction with the water. There are three types of anode rods: aluminum, magnesium and aluminum/zinc. Supposedly the latter type helps with this.

 

[jbeletti]

Use of the anode rod in your Suburban (non-glass-lined-tanks) water heater is a requirement. Don't replace the anode rod with a plug.

Your use of well water with no treatment means your RV water will contain whatever minerals and chemicals came from the well water. The anode rod is a sacrificial element that works to counteract water heater tank corrosion caused by minerals and chemicals in the water supply.

I suggest that you add, at a minimum, a 2-stage water filtration setup for your well water before it goes into your RV fresh water tank. Run a sediment filter in the first stage and a KDF or other charcoal/carbon filter in the second stage. Even better is a 3-stage setup where you use a Metals trap filter in the 3rd stage. You can order these setups with 3/4" garden hose thread fittings and easily connect it to the end of your water hose, then use a short length of hose on the output to put into your fresh water tank fill port.

By the way, in my experience, odors in heated water can be caused by reaction to the anode rod and water that contains sulfur bacteria and also high levels of some metals (iron?).

Here's what I'm running this year (Essential System + Iron Water Filtration System with Blue Cage):


Here's some specials currently active from our Heartland Owners Club Vendor Partner, RV Water Filter Store:

 

[Flick]

Use of the anode rod in your Suburban (non-glass-lined-tanks) water heater is a requirement. Don't replace the anode rod with a plug.

Your use of well water with no treatment means your RV water will contain whatever minerals and chemicals came from the well water. The anode rod is a sacrificial element that works to counteract water heater tank corrosion caused by minerals and chemicals in the water supply.

I suggest that you add, at a minimum, a 2-stage water filtration setup for your well water before it goes into your RV fresh water tank. Run a sediment filter in the first stage and a KDF or other charcoal/carbon filter in the second stage. Even better is a 3-stage setup where you use a Metals trap filter in the 3rd stage. You can order these setups with 3/4" garden hose thread fittings and easily connect it to the end of your water hose, then use a short length of hose on the output to put into your fresh water tank fill port.

By the way, in my experience, odors in heated water can be caused by reaction to the anode rod and water that contains sulfur bacteria and also high levels of some metals (iron?).

Here's what I'm running this year (Essential System + Iron Water Filtration System with Blue Cage):
View attachment 65277

Here's some specials currently active from our Heartland Owners Club Vendor Partner, RV Water Filter Store:
View attachment 65276

My experience with well water goes back over 50 years. Unless you can be guaranteed that your well water and wherever you travel will have soft water, I highly recommend a water softener like the one pictured in Jim’s advertisements.

A good set of filters, as suggested, and an On The Go water softener and you’re well on the way to having good water.

No more draining your water heater which actually can’t be good for it. They are meant to have water in them 24/7 unless you are winterizing your Rv for cold weather.

 

[NYSUPstater]

Just out of curiosity, when you sanitize your system in the spring, do you fill the water tank up w/ chlorinated water from the fresh tank and let it sit overnight, drain, rinse and repeat? Reason I ask is that we had a similar prob several years back w/ a 'burb water heater but it sulfer order we were dealing with. So when I sanitized system, filled fresh tank w/ chlorinated water, filled up water tank, ran water thru all taps, let sit overnight, drain things, rinse water tank out, refill fresh tank, fill water tank back up and run thru naps against overnight, drain and done. Would re-fill water tank at home before leaving tho. Had no more probs after this. Will this work for everyone? Maybe not, but did for us......then again we are on public water. Note: when we had the sulfer oder, we were staying at a CG a few time that was on a well.

Since the above, we've now got a diff coach w/ Atwood heater, still use same procedure as above, have stayed at same CG 1-2x and no probs w/ any odors.

 

[centerline]

Flushing the tanks is the same no matter what brand of water heater you have... but i strongly agree that using unfiltered and untreated well water in the tanks is a bad idea... too many minerals/sediments that can settle out or adhere to the inside of the water heater, and too many bacteria that is safe when the water remains cool in the well, but not always safe when the water warms up and sets in the tank for days.... and the algea that can start to grow because of it...