water heater drain mod

[coolmom42]

Visited my son this past weekend and he was watching me fight with the water heater drain plug. He is a mechanical engineer and always tinkering with something... so he said "DON'T have to do that every time you drain it." He got a male NPT to barb fitting, clamped a 3" section of hose on the barb fitting, and clamped the other end of the hose to a small ball valve. It all tucks up out of the way of the door and burner.

Now draining the water heater is just a matter of opening the ball valve.


We also cut some covers for the bins below floor level in the large rear storage area.

[coolmom42]

BarneyS wrote:
Why would you need to drain the water heater three or four times a year? We traveled for years and only drained ours once per year and flushed out all the sediment at that time with a wand through the drain hole. We never drained it in between stops or campgrounds.

Our present trailer is 16 years old and has the original 10 gal Atwood gas/elec water heater which still works great. I see no need to drain several time a year unless you camp in areas that have horrible water in which case I would probably not be stopping there.:W
Barney

I live in Tennessee. I plan to do a lot of spring and fall trips, and a couple of trips to the south during winter, and then back home. (I hate travelling in hot weather, unless it's to somewhere much cooler.) Lots of temperature swings happening. Dependably keeping RV temps in a freeze-free zone would require lots of propane or electric heat.

[BarneyS]

Why would you need to drain the water heater three or four times a year? We traveled for years and only drained ours once per year and flushed out all the sediment at that time with a wand through the drain hole. We never drained it in between stops or campgrounds.

Our present trailer is 16 years old and has the original 10 gal Atwood gas/elec water heater which still works great. I see no need to drain several time a year unless you camp in areas that have horrible water in which case I would probably not be stopping there.:W
Barney

[coolmom42]

mobeewan wrote:
She said her son was a mechanical engineer so he should very well knowledgeable about dissimilar metals. As long as the valve has a plastic or brass body she is ok. Steel or stainless would be a huge problem since there would be way more galvanic reactivity. Aluminum and brass are way lower reactivity. Even a plastic valve that could take the heat would be fine.

I did similar with an Atwood WH. Replaced the plug with a brass nipple and brass ball valve. Never had any problem. I could unscrew them if I needed to flush the tank.

I screwed the nipple in and screwed the valve onto the nipple. I had to remove the valve handle for clearance so I could turn the valve to tighten everything. Kept the valve handle in the silverware drawer so I didn't loose it and could find it when needed. I even had about a foot of clear tubing with a plastic hose barb i could thread into the ball valve I kept inside the water heater access door to let the WH drain onto the ground instead of running down the inside of the door.

LOL I have a M.S. in Chemistry and would never put 2 dissimilar metals together without lots of teflon tape.

We flushed the tank thoroughly before putting this fitting in so it's good for a while.

I don't mind taking this out for an annual flush but this makes for a really fast way to drain, which I expect to do 3-4 times a year given my location and travel plans.

[coolmom42]

John Wayne wrote:
I read some where that the nylon Atwood plug was also a safety device. And to always use the plug. I hope you fitting doesn't react with the metal in the heater and seize up in the opening making it unable to ever come out.

The fitting is plastic. The water heater has its own pressure relief.

[coolmom42]

C Schomer wrote:
I put a M X F ball valve in my drain. That kind of valve is close coupled and fits in the space, nicely. If you have ball valves, leave them halfway open after winterizing and they won’t break when freezing. Craig

That's what I did.

[mobeewan]

She said her son was a mechanical engineer so he should very well knowledgeable about dissimilar metals. As long as the valve has a plastic or brass body she is ok. Steel or stainless would be a huge problem since there would be way more galvanic reactivity. Aluminum and brass are way lower reactivity. Even a plastic valve that could take the heat would be fine.

I did similar with an Atwood WH. Replaced the plug with a brass nipple and brass ball valve. Never had any problem. I could unscrew them if I needed to flush the tank.

I screwed the nipple in and screwed the valve onto the nipple. I had to remove the valve handle for clearance so I could turn the valve to tighten everything. Kept the valve handle in the silverware drawer so I didn't loose it and could find it when needed. I even had about a foot of clear tubing with a plastic hose barb i could thread into the ball valve I kept inside the water heater access door to let the WH drain onto the ground instead of running down the inside of the door.

[John_Wayne]

I read some where that the nylon Atwood plug was also a safety device. And to always use the plug. I hope you fitting doesn't react with the metal in the heater and seize up in the opening making it unable to ever come out.

[C_Schomer]

I put a M X F ball valve in my drain. That kind of valve is close coupled and fits in the space, nicely. If you have ball valves, leave them halfway open after winterizing and they won’t break when freezing. Craig

[Bobbo]

coolmom42 wrote:

K Charles wrote:
I don't know why you would "fight with the water heater drain plug" you just unscrew the plug, maybe 10 sec if you have the socket in your hand.

Mine is not easy to access. It's behind a gas line, and directly above it is the burner cover, which is a big piece of sheet metal with sharp edges.

Yep. Standard Atwood, just like the rest of us have. Like I said, flex-head ratcheting box end wrench.

[coolmom42]

K Charles wrote:
I don't know why you would "fight with the water heater drain plug" you just unscrew the plug, maybe 10 sec if you have the socket in your hand.

Mine is not easy to access. It's behind a gas line, and directly above it is the burner cover, which is a big piece of sheet metal with sharp edges.

[K_Charles]

I don't know why you would "fight with the water heater drain plug" you just unscrew the plug, maybe 10 sec if you have the socket in your hand.

[bukhrn]

I assume this is an Atwood, as on the Suburban heater, anode rod IS your drain plug, and since you should check the rod occasionally anyways, it's no problem.

[Old-Biscuit]

Problem with 'drain valves' especially ball valves.
* water gets trapped inside the ball and can freeze...split ball valve
*after installing one folks tend to NOT remove the set up to properly flush the WH Tank of sediment/scale/crud
*Atwood drain hole is on 1/2" so installation of barb fitting/ball valve chokes the drain down and doesn't allow for good flushing...drains water OK but not the crud
*and do you know what that hose/valve set up is TEMP Rated for?
Water temp/pressure COULD go as high as 210*/150PSI should the t-stats fail

[Bobbo]

I bought a flex-head ratcheting box end wrench.

[valhalla360]

Depends on the model.

I've always had the combined drain plug/zinc...so you can't replace it with a ball valve without eliminating the zinc...which would be a bad idea.

Of course, once you buy the correct size socket, it's really not much of a challenge to remove unless you don't drain for a few years and it corrodes on...of course a corroded ball valve doesn't open either (or worse, doesn't seal when closed)