Fresh Water Tank Drain

[austinp]

I'm about to De-winterize my 2014 hideout after picking it up from the dealer. Does anyone know where the drain plug is? There are tubes hanging below the bottom of the trailer and I assume this is where you drain the tank. How does one open them. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

[JRTJH]

There are three tubes under the trailer. Two are relatively close together and are the low point drains for hot and cold plumbing lines. There is another one that's somewhat apart from the first two. It is the fresh water drain. All three have screw-on caps. If they aren't on the lines, check inside the hot water heater outside door. Often times that's where a dealer will put them when winterizing a rig.

[austinp]

Awesome! Thanks for the quick reply and help.

[Festus2]

The "tubes" that you refer to are probably two, low point drains - one for the hot water, the other for the cold. To open ours, I simply twist/turn the cap until the flow of pink stuff starts. If you turn the cap far enough, it will come off but it doesn't need to come off for it to drain.

Once the pink stuff has all drained out, you can run water through the hot and cold water lines to clear any remaining RV antifreeze out of these lines. Once the lines are clear of the pink stuff, twist the caps to tighten them.

There is another drain for the fresh water tank which is usually located right at the bottom of this tank. Mine has a petcock as the drain but yours may have a different type of drain plug.

Don't forget to re-set the hot water tank bypass so that new, fresh water will flow into the tank. The bypass shutoff valve is located directly behind your hot water tank but may be hidden from view by a panel or drawer. Also, you will have to make sure that the anode rod for the hot water tank is inserted and screwed in properly - otherwise all the water you put into the tank will drain out as fast as you put it in.

If you are in doubt about de-winterizing, you might ask your dealer to take you through the process and show you where all the components are located.

Water lines should be flushed out so as to get rid of all the RV antifreeze.

[austinp]

Thanks again guys for all your help.

[AlbertaRvMan]

Hello,
We just picked up our new 31bhpr.

It is currently winterized by the dealer. They showed me the hot water tank bypass valve.

I see three low points as described above (1 for fresh water tank) and 2 others (a red and blue line - seems for hot and cold)

A few questions
1) my fresh water low point cap is OFF, is this ok? When do I screw it on? Will bugs get in?

2) my hot and cold low points have the caps screwed on? Why are these on and the fresh water low point cap is off?

3) the plug (white screw/cap) for hit water tank is off, when do I plug it back in?

Finally if I could get more detail on connecting it all for the first time that would be great, here is what I am thinking (I don't want to ruin the hot water tank). I think my order may be wrong

- unscrew caps from all low point drains, allow pink stuff to drain
- screw in all three low point caps
- connect city water lines to TT and slowly turn on water
- run all water lines (both hot and cold) for shower, sinks, outside shower, flush toilet, anything else? (Will this allow air in the lines to get out as we'll?)
- turn hot water bypass valve to summer mode
- screw in cap for hot water tank
??! How do I know if the hot water tank is full so I do t ruin it by turning gas/ electric on and burning out element?

Then I think I'm good to go??
- full black tank with a bit of water (how much) then add toilet chemicals?

Thanks all!!!

[Festus2]

Hello,
We just picked up our new 31bhpr.

It is currently winterized by the dealer. They showed me the hot water tank bypass valve.

I see three low points as described above (1 for fresh water tank) and 2 others (a red and blue line - seems for hot and cold)

A few questions
1) my fresh water low point cap is OFF, is this ok? When do I screw it on? Will bugs get in? Ours has a spigot - no screw cap. If you don't have a cap, I'd get one.

2) my hot and cold low points have the caps screwed on? Why are these on and the fresh water low point cap is off? These should have cap that, when loosened, allow the water to drain. Tighten the cap to stop the flow. They should have caps.

3) the plug (white screw/cap) for hit water tank is off, when do I plug it back in? If you have a white nylon plug, screw it back in after you have flushed your HW tank and/or after you have opened the bypass and allowed water to run through the system.

Finally if I could get more detail on connecting it all for the first time that would be great, here is what I am thinking (I don't want to ruin the hot water tank). I think my order may be wrong

- unscrew caps from all low point drains, allow pink stuff to drain
- screw in all three low point caps
- connect city water lines to TT and slowly turn on water
- run all water lines (both hot and cold) for shower, sinks, outside shower, flush toilet, anything else? (Will this allow air in the lines to get out as we'll?) Start with taps closest to city water lines.
- turn hot water bypass valve to summer mode
- screw in cap for hot water tank
??! How do I know if the hot water tank is full so I do t ruin it by turning gas/ electric on and burning out element?

Then I think I'm good to go??
- full black tank with a bit of water (how much) then add toilet chemicals? I usually dump a couple of good-sized pails of water into all of the tanks for my first trip. I also mix in some Calgon with the water before dumping into the holding tanks.

Did you also "squirt" some of the pink stuff into the black tank flush inlet?

Thanks all!!!

I hope this helps.

[MarkS]

1) my fresh water low point cap is OFF, is this ok? When do I screw it on? Will bugs get in? You screw the cap back on when you want to fill the fresh water tank. People typically keep the fresh water tank empty between trips. Bugs, never heard of that being a problem.

2) my hot and cold low points have the caps screwed on? Why are these on and the fresh water low point cap is off? From the factory the trailer is winterized. The water system is full of antifreeze. The caps on the low point drains keeps the antifreeze in. Most people just drain the fresh water tank to keep it from freezing.

3) the plug (white screw/cap) for hit water tank is off, when do I plug it back in? When you are ready to fill the tank.