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Draining water system


MNman

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First go round for draining the water system on my 92 Dolphin. Reading from the manual..." Open the 2 low point drain valves"

no problem draining the hot water tank, and the drain for the fresh water is a spigot on the outside. But I don't see 2 more drain valves...? help please:)

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Hey MN, I never touch those drain valves and Only use the on board pump to drain my fresh water tank to avoid leaks! Those old drain valves can cause a lot of problems due to age and suddenly start to leak the minute you use them. Since they don’t make the same type of plumbing now that are in our RVs I avoid leaks @ all costs. Just my 2 cents! 

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good to know, I did pump my tank empty (it was almost empty anyway) and then blew out the lines with air. And drained the Hot water heater. Hopefully that does the trick. I've blown out the water lines at the cabin before and it seems to work well.

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Remember to add RV antifreeze and properly winterize your rig! If you don’t have a by pass on your hot water heater you need around 8 gallons of the stuff.

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If you use air, you can get away with using 1 to 2 gallons of RV antifreeze.  I just did mine using 1.5 gallons.  After you drain all the water out with gravity, use air to blow out the remaining water.  I was amazed on how much water drained out of my hot water drain after hooking up an air hose, it was probably a good 2 to 3 gallons.  Then close all drains and add 1 gallon of RV antifreeze in the fresh water tank.  Fire up the water pump and open each cold water facet until you see the pink/red RV antifreeze running through.  Then turn off the water pump and rehook up the air, then open each hot water facet until you see the pink/red RV antitfreeze going through it, the air should be able to force the RV antifreeze through the facet.  Then open up all the drains (Fresh water and hot water heater) and drain, then follow up with air again.  Be sure to dump your gray and black water tanks, and then I add about a  quart of RV antifreeze to the gray and black water tanks by pouring down each drain.

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P.S. Note to self remove inline carbon filter to water faucet. Because it will filter out the pink in the RV anti freeze and you will run gallons of the stuff waiting for pink to show up:rolleyes:

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Good description buf. I have a bypass installed around my hot water tank and a bypass @ my fresh water tank that avoids adding that antifreeze to my fresh water tank (I don’t trust drinking that stuff so never want it in my fresh water tank) I just run the hose in the gallon of antifreeze and pump it throughout my system. Uses 1.5 gallons of antifreeze and eliminates needing to blow out you system with air. 

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  • 6 months later...

Soooo, this is my first trip of more than a night out. I drained the water tank etc. last fall and winterized. I used the little pull thingies under the sofa by the tank, following the manual directions. I have now filled my tank and right away realized I needed to close those suckers as water was pouring out from underneath. I had forgotten they were pull ones. But, it is still dripping after having pushed them down. After reading this, I wish I’d just run the pump, but, too late now. Is there something I’ve missed in closing them?  They may need to be adjusted? Rotated? ?? Or could be hooped-aahh! Any one who could give me an idea of the steps to use these drains would be wonderful! Thanks!

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Open and close they a few times they probably have some yuck in the valve seat they generally work pretty good. You can give them a twist too that won't hurt.

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If they are the same as mine on our 85 Dolphin, the plastic things that pull up have little O rings on them that get brittle over time. With mine, I can pull the T valve handle up and completely remove that T thingy. I little scary the first time, as it seems like you are breaking something!. Then off to the hardware store to find just the right size O ring. This solved my problem.

 

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Mine has the little o rings. By the end of the day my tank was dry. I'll try all of your suggestions and let you know if it solves it. Thanks all?

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You guys are awful brave to touch those valves! I still recommend draining  your fresh water tank using your pump only. Never have to worry about leaking valves!

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2 hours ago, markwilliam1 said:

You guys are awful brave to touch those valves! I still recommend draining  your fresh water tank using your pump only. Never have to worry about leaking valves!

No guts no glory! :)

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Rather trash a valve than a pump! That's a lot of water non stop.

Edited by Maineah
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True but when I go to drain my tank I make sure the water level is low in the tank,so,the pump doesn’t run that long. As JM said I have no guts or glory. I look @all the valves and they beg me to pull them so they can start leaking after 32 years lol!

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  • 11 months later...

So all great ideas about these valves (and their potential for draining) - but no one said (a) who makes them. (b) where can you buy them or get a replacement. (d) an alternative valve assembly.  And really to top off the cake how about saying what a valve like this might cost.

 

There is that so hard.

 

Boots

 

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54 minutes ago, Boots said:

So all great ideas about these valves (and their potential for draining) - but no one said (a) who makes them. (b) where can you buy them or get a replacement. (d) an alternative valve assembly.  And really to top off the cake how about saying what a valve like this might cost.

 

There is that so hard.

 

Boots

 

Are you missing the part about how careful we are with these valves. Most aren't made anymore and I have no idea who made them. Probably out of business by now anyway. Your old pipes are polybutyl too and new valves would be made for Pex if you could find the right configuration. 

There, is that so hard

Linda S

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37 minutes ago, linda s said:

Your old pipes are polybutyl too and new valves would be made for Pex

You probably won't be able to find the right poly parts anymore if that valve starts leaking.   I had a leak issue at that valve and basically ended up replacing everything around it with pex parts.  The valve itself I think just came from Lowes. This is what it looks like now:

IMG_20190708_114500.jpg.a05b411ad2ea26e43b45c9302b2184fd.jpg

The water tank on the right, there is a Tee to the drain and to the pump.  That's the 30A electrical line on the bottom.  I use the pump method to drain the tanks because the valve is slow, but then I use the new valve to drain the rest.  I'm not concerned now because it's a standard valve part.

I have been slowly replacing all of the poly plumbing with pex.  I only do it now when I have a leak/problem.  I keep a pex repair kit in the camper in case something happens on the road.  The poly is still working fine and it's too much of a pain to to a complete replacement with pex so I'll just nibble away at it as it fails.

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  • 1 month later...

Thank you, 

I have been considering doing this, and I have all the tools and fittings for the pex system.

I will try to post when I have the solution and configuration done.

 

Boots

 

 

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3 minutes ago, Boots said:

I have all the tools and fittings for the pex system.

If you can find a good option for joining your old (presumably butyl) pipes to new pex pipes then buy a bunch of those and just repair as you go.  Or if you have the gumption you can just replace all of the butyl with pex.  I spent an hour at the local plumbing supply store and bought a nice set of all of the bits and pieces I could possibly need to do any repairs and I just keep all of that in the camper now.  I had a leak start one trip and it took very little time to fix it on the road by using the pex to butyl adapters and just dealing with the problem area.

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7 minutes ago, AtlantaCamper said:

If you can find a good option for joining your old (presumably butyl) pipes to new pex pipes then buy a bunch of those and just repair as you go.  Or if you have the gumption you can just replace all of the butyl with pex.  I spent an hour at the local plumbing supply store and bought a nice set of all of the bits and pieces I could possibly need to do any repairs and I just keep all of that in the camper now.  I had a leak start one trip and it took very little time to fix it on the road by using the pex to butyl adapters and just dealing with the problem area.

Hi and thanks again,

This is useful information and I will see if my local supplier can provide the adapters.

 

Boots

 

Boots

 

 

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On 8/15/2019 at 4:05 PM, AtlantaCamper said:

If you can find a good option for joining your old (presumably butyl) pipes to new pex pipes then buy a bunch of those and just repair as you go.  Or if you have the gumption you can just replace all of the butyl with pex.  I spent an hour at the local plumbing supply store and bought a nice set of all of the bits and pieces I could possibly need to do any repairs and I just keep all of that in the camper now.  I had a leak start one trip and it took very little time to fix it on the road by using the pex to butyl adapters and just dealing with the problem area.

Company called PEXLOCK has butyl to PEX fittings as well as some cool clamps that don't require a crimper. 

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