Water Pump ??

I agree that it can take quite a long time for the hot water tank to fill up.

I don't bypass our hot water heater. I drain it along with all the plumbing in the fall. I don't add anti-freeze because we have off season heated storage.

When I get our fresh water system ready for the first trip of the season, I first add a quart of bleach to and then fill the fresh water holding tank to over-flowing. After an hour soaking, I then run the pump with just the kitchen hot water open because the hot water heater is positioned underneath it. Once all air is removed, I close the hot and open the cold. I then open both hot & cold in the bathroom sink & shower. Once all air is removed, I close it all up and soak again for an hour. The bleach treats the traps, faucet parts, pipes, fresh tank, and the bottom of the waste tanks. It takes quite a long time before all air is out of all lines so a significant amount of solution ends up in the waste tanks.

After an hour like that, I then drain and flush everything to replace the bleach solution with fresh clean treated tap water from our house. It takes less than a week for the chlorine smell to go away so we won't use it potable until then.

Because our waste tanks are beforehand bleached and flushed the previous fall, when I do this in the spring, I just let all drain onto our driveway and disperse into the lawn. The grass never minds it.

Eight years done this way to-date, works without consequences.

popeyemth wrote:
Still filling the water heater will cause that

and filling and filling if you forget to tighten up or put the HWH drain plug back in! :B

Still filling the water heater will cause that