hot water heavy oxygenated?

[Ken / Claudia]

Last week my wife informed me the hot water was foamy. I checked and found it was heavily oxygenated as in lots of air bubbles. So I figure it just does it when first turned on, but it is doing it all the time. Looks to me as a air leak is in the system. Cold water no problem. I checked the tank for water leaks at the rod or relief valve after it was at home and turned off. No water was seen in the control housing area. Does this sound like a faulty relief valve or something else? Is there a test I can do with the valve? I removed the rod and reinstalled it.
Heater is a Suburban

[chuckster57]

Try a different water source and post results.

[Ken / Claudia]

Okay, will do. I failed to mention that was when using the fresh water tank and water pump. I emptied the FW tank and am refilling and will turn HWT back on as it gets filled.

[firestation12]

My money says it's the anode rod in the water heater causing issue. Its a common problem in residential water heaters.

[hankpage]

Check to see if the WH bypass valve is completely in the open position. Is there any antifreeze smell to the hot water???? Pink-stuf will loose color in WH where it is not supposed to be and it does foam.
Just thinking out loud, Hank

[Ken / Claudia]

A updated report, Since the trip I opened and emptied the WH, cleaned the rod of small amount of build up. Put water in fresh tank, filled the WH by the water pump. Turned on the WH and tried it several times throughout the evening and it did not come out as before, just normal heated water.
I question myself, maybe there was some antifreeze left in it. I did run the hot water at the kitchen sink for several minutes after informed of the problem trying to clear it up while camping. My wife did say the water was stinky. I did not smell anything.
I will test it some more later today. Thanks for the helpful advice.

[hankpage]

Antifreeze should not go into the WH. That is what the bypass valve behind the tank is for. When winterizing turn bypass valve and drain the tank before adding antifreeze to the system.
Travel safely and enjoy camping, Hank

[Ken / Claudia]

The problem is gone. I ran the water pump with water heater on most afternoon. Turned the faucets on/off a bunch of times. Not sure what caused it even checked the 2nd sink. I had closed the HW tank water valve before pumping in the pink stuff. Opened each faucet and let them run until the pink turned clear water with before opening the HW tank on de winterizing.

[chuckster57]

Good deal!! Sounds like it was an easy fix, just time consuming.

[rjrelander]

Ours got foamy this spring because I forgot to drain the pink stuff from the fresh water tank first and probably used too much spray when I filled it. Ended up with a fresh water tank full of foam that took the better part of a day to clear out.

D'oh. :facepalm: