How do you flush out the fresh water tank?
Another newbie question. I'm new to this forum too, so please feel free to post links to threads that will answer my question or send me to the right area on the forum. Even teach me how to do a searc...
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If it sat all winter with water (rather than RV antifreeze or nothing) in the pipes and tank, it may be automatically self-draining now...in a bad way.
Anyhow, to answer your question, there invariably should be a drain valve somewhere for the tank that just lets it dribble out onto the ground. There generally are low-point drains for the rest of the water system, too, that let most of the water drain out...and a drain plug for the water heater. There may also be one or more valves to bypass the water heater when winterizing, and these need to be set to the non-winterize position(s) for use.
Once whatever is in the system has drained out by gravity (which, if the RV was winterized by blowing out the lines with air, could be nothing), you can close all the drain valves and put the water heater plug in and run some water through to rinse stuff out. Sanitizing is generally done by introducing a measured amount of bleach into the fresh water tank and filling it with water, making a bleach/water solution, then pumping it throughout the water system and letting it sit for awhile. 1 cup bleach per 15 gallons of water and four or so hours is one recipe, if memory serves. The bleach solution is then drained out, the system rinsed (to get rid of the bleach smell/taste as much as possible; a tiny bit of bleach remaining in the water is not dangerous) and the tank and system filled with potable water, and you're good to go.
Do be careful not to run the water heater when it is not properly filled with water.
The exact details of where all these valves are and how things are arranged varies somewhat. I'm fortunate enough to have all (except for the water heater bypass valves) on a sort of control panel in one of my storage compartments, which even has a handy cheat sheet diagram for how to set them for various functions and operations. Other units have them scattered about underneath drawers and behind panels and underneath the chassis and so forth.
Anyhow, to answer your question, there invariably should be a drain valve somewhere for the tank that just lets it dribble out onto the ground. There generally are low-point drains for the rest of the water system, too, that let most of the water drain out...and a drain plug for the water heater. There may also be one or more valves to bypass the water heater when winterizing, and these need to be set to the non-winterize position(s) for use.
Once whatever is in the system has drained out by gravity (which, if the RV was winterized by blowing out the lines with air, could be nothing), you can close all the drain valves and put the water heater plug in and run some water through to rinse stuff out. Sanitizing is generally done by introducing a measured amount of bleach into the fresh water tank and filling it with water, making a bleach/water solution, then pumping it throughout the water system and letting it sit for awhile. 1 cup bleach per 15 gallons of water and four or so hours is one recipe, if memory serves. The bleach solution is then drained out, the system rinsed (to get rid of the bleach smell/taste as much as possible; a tiny bit of bleach remaining in the water is not dangerous) and the tank and system filled with potable water, and you're good to go.
Do be careful not to run the water heater when it is not properly filled with water.
The exact details of where all these valves are and how things are arranged varies somewhat. I'm fortunate enough to have all (except for the water heater bypass valves) on a sort of control panel in one of my storage compartments, which even has a handy cheat sheet diagram for how to set them for various functions and operations. Other units have them scattered about underneath drawers and behind panels and underneath the chassis and so forth.
