New question about water...what do you do AFTER a trip?

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So we went on our first trip this weekend. Everything went well and had a great time despite the crappy weather.

The question is do you drain your HW tank after each trip? I drained the FW tank of whatever was left in there and put the cap back on to keep critters out, but I left the HW tank alone as well as the other low point drains.

Should I have opened all the low point drains and the HW tank as well? We will be going back out again end of next month, but is there any reason good or bad to drain or keep water in the HW tank while its in storage?

I have an atwood HW tank so it has a plastic drain plug not an anode rod. I am not even sure if I could get an anode rod in there due to the other stuff around the drain plug itself.

[BirchyBoy]

I've read that the Atwood's don't need an anode rod - the tank somehow takes care of it. The one thing you shouldn't do is turn it on until it's full as it can destroy the heating element.

I drained my tank and my lines since it would be at least 2 weeks in-between trips. I opened the low point drains after the water had cooled enough and then opened the heater drain at home while I was doing my recovery cleaning. I put the drain plug and low-point caps back on before stowing the camper until the next trip.

[Festus2]

I usually drain the FW tank and that is it. The low point drains are left closed and the HW tank untouched. Your Atwood HW heater does not require an anode since the tank lining is made from a different material than a Suburban. I'd leave the plastic drain plug in. I don't like leaving the tank empty because there is always the possibility of me plugging into shore power and my forgetting to turn off the electricity at the tank. Now who would do such a dumb thing?

[Bob Landry]

I open my low point drains, but I'm not sure why I even do that. We always camp where there are HUs, so my FW tank is never used and the HW tank has never been drained. I never thought about it but Festus makes a good point. Sometimes DW forgets to turn off he WH when we are packing up, and I have plugged the trailer in at the storage yard not thinking about the tank. We always carry water for drinking and cooking, so I'm not even really concerned about sanitizing the lines. I figure the next time we hook up, the water lines will be cleaned well enough to shower and I have never noticed any smell coming from the water through the pipes.

[thewhitehat]

I was out looking at my trailer in the storage lot last season, when I heard a noise and walked over to another stored trailer to find they had left the hot water heater running. They were most grateful when they were alerted to this. I've never, however, emptied my HW heater unless I'm putting the trailer up for the winter, or I'm not going to use it for several months. I can see the WH red light through the front window in case I forgot.

[wowchad]

I'm new to this as well and was told to put a little water in the FW tank so after dumping the Black & Grey tanks I have a little something to add (via toilet) when adding the treatment to the black tank. Then I was told open FW drain before pulling out & always leave it open.
I'm still wondering about any required treatment to Grey and FW tanks though

[Festus2]

I pour a couple of gallons of water mixed with Calgon into both Grey tanks. While there isn't much likelihood of any "crud" building up in the shower/bathroom sink grey tank there are tiny food particles that may get left behind in the kitchen galley grey tank even after dumping. To ensure that the these two tanks are "clean and fresh", add water and a bit of chemical if you use that. Water softener and a bit of detergent do the same thing.

If you pull the plug on your FW tank leaving it empty I am wondering why it would need treating? The only way of "treating" it would be to fill it with water and add a bleach solution to the tank and let it sit. Then you would have to drain this and flush it out again. I don't think that this sanitizing is necessary between every trip.

[theeyres]

I only drain the hot water tank when I'm going to winterize. Otherwise I don't touch it. Nor do I drain the FW tank unless it is to winterize it. Never have had a problem with it.

[JRTJH]

Water is "stored" in pools in the ground for days, weeks and months with no ill effect. If you think about it, when you go on a 2 week vacation, the water in your home HWH, water softener, toilets, plumbing lines sits "stagnant" for the duration. None of us drain our home appliances before leaving, an RV is essentially a "small home" and other than the "holding tanks" has much the same service systems.

That being said, we drain at the end of the season when we winterize, empty the holding tanks at the end of each trip (so we don't tow waste water home) and leave the water in the fresh water tank and just top it off when leaving for another trip. I suppose if we were to not use it for over 30 days or so, I'd probably drain the FWT, but not the HWH.

[crohill]

I have always drained every tank possible just to make sure all water is fresh on the next trip. Also..no water on board..no extra weight...I know 6 gallons isn't much...but every little bit adds up.

[GaryWT]

We do not use FW tank, we dump black and grey at the site. Leave hooked up to water until tanks are flushed and hands washed. HW tank stays full from April to Nov.

[LuvsPalmTrees]

We always empty our HWT. We encountered an evil smell one year in our older trailer and found it to be from the HWT. It was an Atwood with just the plug (this was a 1999 Mallard) the smell was awful so since then we drain the HWT.