Water Heater bypass valve.

[cummins2014]

Went out to winterize the fifth wheel today ,turned the bypass valve to bypass, turned the water inlet connection to winterize . hooked up the short hose to the inlet connection , then into the gallon jug of antifreeze . Went in the fifth wheel ,turned on the pump ,opened up the kitchen faucet got a little water coming out, but not much. Went back out ,and the jug of anti freeze was empty, and I could see where the antifreeze had been running out the water heater ,I had the plug out. So I turned the bypass valve back ,and forth a couple times from normal to bypass , and tried again , same results .

This is the second winter I have had the fifth wheel, no issues last year when winterizing. Its a simple task. Turn to bypass ,and turn the water inlet to winterize ,and get after it. My question at this point do those manual bypass valves go bad ,hard to imagine they would, but can't think of another reason its not bypassing the water heater . Any thoughts before I order a new one, and replace ??

[SDcampowneroper]

There are 2 types of water heater bypass systems, the 3 valve - 1 each for in, out and bypass between the in and out. A fool proof design.
The other is a 1 valve bypass to inlet that then switches flow to bypass and depends on a auto check valve at outlet to close to prevent inflow to the cold water heater tank.
Failures are rare of manually operated valves, check valves do need a good slam of pressure to close. Build up your air or pump pressure to maximum before bleeding the water.
When pumping the pink be certain all valves are in winterizing position ( CLOSED) Run the pump until it pressurizes the system to cut off, then go- slowly- to each tap nearest to farthest , 2 times around allowing the pump or compressor to rebuild pressure to each tap


Edit, I think you pumped a/f too soon, without enough pressure to close the spring operated check valve.

[MFL]

If your bypass looks like this, it is likely the one way valve at the top red line out that is stuck open, and may need replacing.

Jerry

[MFL]

A pic of your bypass setup would help. If you only have a single mechanical valve, to change, I'd suspect another one way valve is leaking back into WH.

My current, and other RVs have 3 mechanical valves to turn. One previous RV did develop a slight leak through a closed valve over time, allowing a little seepage into WH.

Jerry