Hot water heater
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Forum Name: Podmods, Maintenance, Tips and Tricks
Forum Discription: Ask maintenance questions, share your podmods (modifications) and helpful tips
URL: http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=11218
Printed Date: 28 Jun 2025 at 7:55pm
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Topic: Hot water heater
Posted By: henryv
Subject: Hot water heater
Date Posted: 09 Mar 2018 at 10:52am
| I just sanitized my camper. Ran some bleach through. Since I want to drain it for travelling, should I also drain the hot water heater or just leave water in it. also which way should the valves coming off the hot water heater be turned. Then when I want to use the hot water heater, what do I do? |
Replies:
Posted By: riotkayak284
Date Posted: 09 Mar 2018 at 11:19am
| Hope you really didn't run the Clorox through the HW Heater. Supposed to be bypassed when sanitizing. |
Posted By: mcarter
Date Posted: 09 Mar 2018 at 11:30am
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I do not bypass my hot water tank when sanitizing. I do remove the anode and flush the tank before sanitizing. At the end of sanitizing I replace the anode. I do not turn the heater element on during the process. A lot of folks share opinion the tank has to be bypassed, to me it is a tank, the bleach mixture is diluted. ------------- Mike Carter 2015 178 " I had the right to remain silent, I just didn't have the ability." |
Posted By: mcarter
Date Posted: 09 Mar 2018 at 11:37am
|
Henryv,
After sanitizing and flush you should drain the water heater, most common way is to remove the anode rod. I do a final rinse on mine then replace the anode rod. There is a number of YouTube videos on the process. Also many Interweb articles. ------------- Mike Carter 2015 178 " I had the right to remain silent, I just didn't have the ability." |
Posted By: StephenH
Date Posted: 09 Mar 2018 at 1:30pm
|
The hot water heater needs to be bypassed when using RV antifreeze, both because you don't really need to fill the 6-gallon tank with antifreeze and because the antifreeze will corrode the anode rod very quickly. However, the HW tank should not be bypassed when sanitizing as it also needs to be sanitized to avoid any bacteria growth, both in it and in the lines leading to and from it. as stated above, flushing it to get the remnants of anode rod corrosion out is a good thing to do also.
------------- StephenH Happy is the man that findeth wisdom,... http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=7712 - ouR escaPOD mods Former RPod 179 Current Cherokee Grey Wolf 24 JS |
Posted By: mcarter
Date Posted: 09 Mar 2018 at 3:10pm
|
+1 and in case of leaks. If you are a antifreeze winterizer, you don't want 6 gals of it in the water heater. I air pressure winterize, so never bypass the water heater. BTW - city water is chlorinated. If you are using city water, chances are you are sanitizing each time you hook up. ------------- Mike Carter 2015 178 " I had the right to remain silent, I just didn't have the ability." |
Posted By: jato
Date Posted: 09 Mar 2018 at 4:30pm
|
Good point Mike, never thought of the fact of chlorine continually sanitizing the tank IF you are on municipal water. We have always used well water in our 177 and funny thing is I never sanitized my water lines or tanks (dealer did that for me when we picked it up March 2011) until furpod told me I ought to and that was at the ERU in Traverse City during the summer of 2016). So maybe I should be a bit more proactive in that department OR start using municipal water once in awhile.
------------- God's pod '11 model 177 '17 Ford F-150 4WD 3.5 Ecoboost Jim and Diane by beautiful Torch Lake "...and you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free." |
Posted By: mcarter
Date Posted: 09 Mar 2018 at 5:02pm
|
My experience with well water comes from TX. The Sulphur smell was terrible:) I agree if you have good well water use it, and sanitize. If you are using city water you sanitize all the time, just like your house on city water. ------------- Mike Carter 2015 178 " I had the right to remain silent, I just didn't have the ability." |
Posted By: GlueGuy
Date Posted: 09 Mar 2018 at 5:36pm
Not to be a PITA, but isn't more correctly a COLD water heater? After all, once it's hot, then it's just a hot water tank. 
------------- bp 2017 R-Pod 179 Hood River 2015 Ford F150 SuperCrew 4WD 3.5L Ecoboost |
Posted By: Leo B
Date Posted: 09 Mar 2018 at 6:40pm
------------- Leo & Melissa Bachand 2017 Ford F150 2021 Vista Cruiser 19 csk Previously owned 2015 Rpod 179 2010 Rpod 171 |
Posted By: Tars Tarkas
Date Posted: 09 Mar 2018 at 7:59pm
It may depend on how much clorox you used. You want to get rid of the bleach taste. I leave the water in the water heater; drain the potable tank, refill it, and run the water through all of the faucets until all taste and smell of bleach is gone. I run a lot of water through the hot water heater. Then drain the tank again. You don't have to drain the water heater, but draining the water tank will eventually drain the water heater, so make sure it's full before you turn on the burners again. As for the valves, search google images for "winterizing RV water heater". If the valve is perpendicular to the pipe the valve is off, or closed, if it's in line with the pipe, it's on, or open, Given that you should be able to visuallize how to set them, but for summer use, the outside pair of valves should be open and the single valve on the cross pipe should be closed. This forum is great but there is no substitute for hands on experience. Get in there and do it and it will all quickly come together and make sense. TT ------------- 2010 176 FJ Cruiser |
Posted By: lostagain
Date Posted: 09 Mar 2018 at 8:21pm
|
I could be wrong, but it seems to me that if the "sanitizing" solution gets into the water heater it certainly isn't going to hurt the tank since the bleach solution is so diluted. You just want to be sure to flush it out, maybe even drain the tank, or you might have some residual chlorine taste, like the water in some municipalities. Depending on how hot the water gets, it's going to kill most of the bacteria even if you don't let the chlorine solution get in it. Having experienced "tank water" on a sail boat, our practice is to bring gallon bottles of filtered drinking water from home and use the "potable" water in the trailer tank for washing dishes, cooking, brushing teeth, and bathing. ------------- Never leave footprints behind. Fred & Maria Kearney Sonoma 167RB Our Pod 172 2019 Ford F-150 4x4 2.7 EcoBoost |
Posted By: StephenH
Date Posted: 09 Mar 2018 at 10:01pm
|
Unfortunately, the hot water heater does not get nearly hot enough to sterilize it. 130 degrees may be hot to us, but some bacteria can (especially in spore form) survive much higher temperatures. That is why autoclaves use 15 pounds of pressure for 15 minutes for terminal sterilization. Quote from Wikipedia: "Many autoclaves are used to sterilize equipment and supplies by subjecting them to high-pressure saturated steam at 121 °C (249 °F) for around 15–20 minutes depending on the size of the load and the contents." Chlorine will kill bacteria at a much lower temperature. That is why we use it. ------------- StephenH Happy is the man that findeth wisdom,... http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=7712 - ouR escaPOD mods Former RPod 179 Current Cherokee Grey Wolf 24 JS |
Posted By: lostagain
Date Posted: 09 Mar 2018 at 11:24pm
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And "sanitizing" once a year with a little bleach is not going to ensure that nasty bugs like giardia (common in camping areas) don't get into your fresh water tank after you've treated it. The best thing to do is not to drink tank water. Use it for washing, cooking and such, but for drinking bring some bottled water for drinking. ------------- Never leave footprints behind. Fred & Maria Kearney Sonoma 167RB Our Pod 172 2019 Ford F-150 4x4 2.7 EcoBoost |
Posted By: henryv
Date Posted: 10 Mar 2018 at 5:47am
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Good comments gentlemen.
------------- |
Posted By: Happy Tripping
Date Posted: 10 Mar 2018 at 6:41am
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"... sanitizing" once a year with a little bleach is not going to ensure that nasty bugs ... don't get into your fresh water tank ... Perhaps this needs a different thread, ... There's no way a bug of any sort can get into our trailer's water tanks unless we put it there. Just add treated water or, I suppose, water from a source such as a well that you are SURE is free of bad things. Not using the pod's water tank for drinking is failing to take advantage of one of our trailer's strengths, the independence provided by self-sufficiency (But I'm originally from the midwest with STRONG tasting water and a little chlorine taste doesn't bother me at all). Different strokes ...
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Posted By: Tars Tarkas
Date Posted: 10 Mar 2018 at 7:51am
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I don't drink a lot of water, but I agree that with a little care there should be no reason not to use water from the Pod tank for drinking. Too each his or her own, but I suspect the Pod water system is about as good as any water system; better than some. Sanitizing from time to time and filling from a good source are part what one needs to do. We make coffee and we rehydrate a lot of dried or instant foods. We use the tap in the Pod for that and brushing teeth. I think chlorinated water is probably the best choice whenever possible, but you don't necessarily know what you're getting when you fill up at a campground. Does anyone know of any good chlorine tablets you could add to your tank as you're filling it? TT ------------- 2010 176 FJ Cruiser |
Posted By: StephenH
Date Posted: 10 Mar 2018 at 8:16am
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We use a filter when filling the tank and also when connecting to city water. That way, I reduce the probability of introducing bad things into the system after sanitizing. I have no problem using the water in the R-Pod's fresh water tank for drinking.
------------- StephenH Happy is the man that findeth wisdom,... http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=7712 - ouR escaPOD mods Former RPod 179 Current Cherokee Grey Wolf 24 JS |
Posted By: lostagain
Date Posted: 10 Mar 2018 at 8:42am
|
Every time you open the filling port you potentially are going to have bacteria entering your tank. All it takes is a little wisp of wind picking up some bacteria from the ground, and off you go. You have nice warm water in a closed environment where the bacteria can grow as they please. It's not that I'm fanatic about bacteria in water. Indeed, I am of the opinion that we need some exposure to bacteria of many types to "exercise" our immune system. I certainly would not advocate autoclaving your silverware in the off chance a pseudomonas germ might be on a spoon. Quite frankly, we have to eat a certain amount of dirt in our lives, it's just a question of how much and what's in it. My issue with tank water is twofold: It often tastes like the plastic tank, which is not very good, and the warm standing water has a higher likelihood of getting contaminated than some gallon containers of filtered drinking water. For those who don't mind the taste of plastic tanks, if they use reasonable efforts to periodically "sanitize" the tank, the chances of getting sick are probably pretty slim, so drink and enjoy. Or you can take W.C. Fields advice about the consumption of water. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ruJRN5URL8 ------------- Never leave footprints behind. Fred & Maria Kearney Sonoma 167RB Our Pod 172 2019 Ford F-150 4x4 2.7 EcoBoost |