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PartyOf_Five's avatar
PartyOf_Five
Explorer
Oct 06, 2020

Accidentally winterized the water heater

While pumping the pink stuff through the plumbing, I realized that we forgot to set the bypass. I know some antifreeze got into the water heater- will it be ok through the winter?
I usually remove the anode to drain completely, will that be enough to remove enough pink stuff, or should I flush it now as well? (& How?)

Our spring routine sends bleach through the whole system followed by a couple rinses. Thanks in advance! ??

18 Replies

  • Thanks for the quick response all. I did initiate the bypass and winterized the rest of the system when I remembered partway through the operation. I'll go ahead and drain it today, then plan to flush as suggested afterwards with a hose.
  • I cannot imagine "some" antifreeze in the HW tank will hurt anything. You will still need to pull the plug to drain the tank. If you are worried just spray out the tank afterwards. I have a wand made for that purpose. Since you did not initially bypass the HW system, did you winterize the rest of the afterwards?
  • It won't HURT anything, but the sooner you flush it out the better. I would use one of the cheap wand type sprayers that goes on end of garden hose. It will foam for a long time. I'd use a small shop vac to get as much remaining out. I attach a small hose to vac hose, that will fit in hole. A bit of duct tape makes a quick neck down.

    Jerry
  • wa8yxm's avatar
    wa8yxm
    Explorer III
    I agree just drain it and be done. Won't hurt either way but you really do need to drain the thing from time to time (Once a year at the minimum).
  • A little in there risks it drying out and then taking several days for it all to "rehydrate" and flush out of the heater. I'd get it out now before it dries to a hard pink blob on the bottom of the heater.
  • It won't hurt to leave the antifreeze in the tank. Just flush it good and sanitize the system and water heater before using the trailer next spring.
  • Drain & Flush the water heater

    No sense in leaving that anti-freeze in the water heater tank....get rid of it now