Cleaning hot water tank necessary?

[bailiej757]

Looks like you could make one from PVC fairly easily.

[allanmacdonald]

Originally Posted by huskersteffy

One other random hot water heater water cleanliness issue....

Since we got our trailer in 2016 I have been draining the fresh water tank between outings during spring-summer-fall. Time between outings varied between 2-6 weeks. No problems up until this year.

Filled our freshwater tank and headed out in late July 2020 after several earlier outings. When we ran some hot water our first night at camp we noticed a horrible "rotten-egg" type smell. I drained the hot water tank and then let the pump refill the tank after drain. Smell was gone.

I now remove the anode and drain the hot water tank as well as the fresh water after every outing. Maybe overkill but I suppose water sitting in a tank for a few weeks can get pretty "funky" even if it isn't exposed to the atmosphere.

Flush out your tank with vinegar which will aid in the anode contamination removal.
Isolate the tank , remove the high pressure relief valve and fill tank thru it. Reinstall valve, slosh tank around, remove bottom plug, drain and wand flush and install new anode rod.

[gbaglo]

Originally Posted by allanmacdonald

Flush out your tank with vinegar which will aid in the anode contamination removal.
Isolate the tank , remove the high pressure relief valve and fill tank thru it. Reinstall valve, slosh tank around, remove bottom plug, drain and wand flush and install new anode rod.

That's a lot of work, for little gain, in my opinion. Once a year, I remove the anode, flush with wand and replace the anode. I would not call the material from the anode "contamination".

[Donna D.]

Originally Posted by allanmacdonald

Flush out your tank with vinegar which will aid in the anode contamination removal.
Isolate the tank , remove the high pressure relief valve and fill tank thru it. Reinstall valve, slosh tank around, remove bottom plug, drain and wand flush and install new anode rod.

Originally Posted by gbaglo

That's a lot of work, for little gain, in my opinion. Once a year, I remove the anode, flush with wand and replace the anode. I would not call the material from the anode "contamination".

Yeah, more work IMHO than necessary. How do we 'slosh tank around'? Partially fill it and drive around with the trailer under tow? Not going to happen. The water heater in my trailer doesn't have a 'bottom plug,' just the anode.

[allanmacdonald]

Originally Posted by Donna D.

Yeah, more work IMHO than necessary. How do we 'slosh tank around'? Partially fill it and drive around with the trailer under tow? Not going to happen. The water heater in my trailer doesn't have a 'bottom plug,' just the anode.

What do you think the anode is? Duh! I will bet my HW tank lasts a lot longer than yours. Have a nice day.

[Donna D.]

Originally Posted by allanmacdonald

What do you think the anode is? Duh! I will bet my HW tank lasts a lot longer than yours. Have a nice day.

You made it sounds like two different things "remove bottom plug, drain and wand flush and install new anode rod"


Why not just say remove anode, drain and wand flush and install (or reinstall) anode? And yes, I know what an anode is, been using one in the water heaters in my all-molded towables for 18 years. Haven't lost a water heater yet!

[Rossue]

Ya know, tankless water heaters have an annual maintenance procedure where you flush 6 gallons of vinegar through the tank with a sump pump. I do it as they are expensive. Haven't thought to do it with the trailer, however it couldn't hurt. Vinegar is great to clean lots of things with, that's for sure.

[rbryan4]

Originally Posted by allanmacdonald

What do you think the anode is? Duh! I will bet my HW tank lasts a lot longer than yours. Have a nice day.

There's no need to be rude or sarcastic. We have enough rude nowadays.