Water tank / water heater bypass questions

[JAMMFAM]

Hello folks! Thanks in advance for reading.

Facts:

A. I connected my clean water hose into the "city water" connection and turned on my water heater switch. Outside shower and inside sink worked as expected with hot water within a few minutes. I turned everything off and opened all faucets to allow some water to drain.

B. I have not used my water pump or used the water tank. As I purchased used, I would like to clean the tank first.

C. I understand that I should bypass the water heater to not introduce bleach into the tank.

Questions:

1. How do I drain the water in the water heater? I imagine there is currently 6 gallons in there.

2. How do I bypass the water heater? It's obviously not bypassing now since I got hot water. I'd like to store pup empty.

 

[McFlyfi]

Close the valves on the red and blue pipes, and open the one between the red and the blue.

If your wh has an anode rod, remove it, and open the temp & pressure relief valve.

Picture 2 is a low point drain, and probably won't empty the tank. The tank itself should have a drain, probably a screw plug.

 

[Sjm9911]

The tank most likely is drained through the anoid rod, in absence of that, it will have a drain plug in the same spot. You need to remove the ouside cover of the water heater, its located there.

 

[JAMMFAM]

Close the valves on the red and blue pipes, and open the one between the red and the blue.

If your wh has an anode rod, remove it, and open the temp & pressure relief valve.

Picture 2 is a low point drain, and probably won't empty the tank. The tank itself should have a drain, probably a screw plug.

Awesome thanks! The bypass instructions now make it clear and logical!

 

[JAMMFAM]

So if I'm dry camping and want to carry max capacity water, is this the easiest way to prep the pup from home?

1. Connect city water hose to pup to fill up water heater and lines.

2. Fill up water tank with hose.

3. Use water normally until fresh water tank is empty. I presume once this tank is empty the water pump doesn't have the ability to pump water through the water heater?

4. Drain the water heater manually from anode rod area to use every gallon

Thanks!

 

[Snow]

Have always sanitized my water heater whenever I sanitize the water system... only time I bypass the water heater is when I winterize the water system..

 

[JAMMFAM]

Have always sanitized my water heater whenever I sanitize the water system... only time I bypass the water heater is when I winterize the water system..

I read a few different articles on this and decided to sanitize the water heater as well. The benefits of being certain it's sanitary outweighed the potential slight degradation of metal. I flushed the water heater 3 cycles with fresh water afterwards. Now, the water is clear vs. cloudy. I do need to replace anoid rod, but didn't have a socket large enough.

 

[JAMMFAM]

update on functionality. I could not remove anoid rod to drain water heater as I need to purchase a large socket. However, the water heater drains from the below blue water low point valve. When I "bypass" the blue water inlet valve to the water heater while the blue low point valve is open, water stops draining. This is a convenient feature-- somewhat counter intuitive that the low point valve is blue when it drains the water heater, but assume it's because it's connected to the water heater cold water inlet line. The red low point valve doesn't drain much water at all regardless of situation (perhaps that is connected to the hot water outlet line and thus gravity pushes most water out the blue line.

 

[Rob Roy]

I read a few different articles on this and decided to sanitize the water heater as well. The benefits of being certain it's sanitary outweighed the potential slight degradation of metal. I flushed the water heater 3 cycles with fresh water afterwards. Now, the water is clear vs. cloudy. I do need to replace anoid rod, but didn't have a socket large enough.

In some cases, the anode rod is also "countersunk", requiring a special socket with a really thin wall to fit into the depression where the rod is located. Take a look before you start anything to make sure that you get the right socket! Good luck!