Winterize with low point drains

srt20 wrote:
Ok, so maybe I am missing something.

People say to bypass water heater before winterizing. If I only use air on lines to blow out, why do I have to bypass WH? Obviously the WH drain gets pulled and all water is out. But I never bypass, just blow air through the everything, including WH. I do blow out one thing at a time. And I do use pink in the traps and tanks.

Am I missing something that I should bypassing the WH?

Trust me, you want to bypass water heater BEFORE blowing out the water lines. Just last Wednesday, Oct. 4, I winterized my friends camper. I pulled the anode rod out of the water heater to let it drain. I then uncapped the low point drain lines. After all the water was out of the water heater I put the anode rod back in and capped the low point drain lines. I then went in and turned the bypass valves on the water heater. Now I was ready to blow out the water lines. I blew out the lines for the bathroom sink, shower, toilet and kitchen sink. I then went outside to get the pink antifreeze. While outside a thought came to me to pull the anode rod out of the water heater to make sure there was no remaining water in the heater. When I got to the LAST thread on the anode rod there was a LOUD pop and the anode rod hit me in the stomach and lime pellets hit the back of my right hand like BBs. My right hand was bleeding like a stuck hog. Why did this happen. Well after cleaning the blood off my hand and bandaging it I went back inside to check the water heater bypass valves. I had forgotten to turn the cold water bypass valve so what I was doing when blowing out the water lines was also filling the water heater with air. Next year I will leave the anode rod out of the water heater. That way if I hear air coming out of the water heater drain hole I'll know that I don't have the water heater bypassed correctly.