Drain Fresh Water Tank?

[owassa]

I just purchased a 1997 Regal Destiny 200. It has a fresh water system. No where in the schematics do I see a drain for the tank (or low point where the entire system can be drained come winter). Do you just rely on the pumpt to pump the system dry or is there something that I am missing?

Thanks!

 

[JoLin]

Re: Drain Fresh Water Tank?

You can use the pump, or disconnect the hose that runs from the tank to the inlet side of the pump. Either method will drain ALMOST all of it. You'll need to keep adding some and draining to get all the old water out.

Once you've got all the old water out of the system, add a half cup of plain bleach to the tank and fill it with fresh water. Run the mixture through all the faucets and let it sit for a day. That'll kill any bacteria in the tank, water heater if you have one, lines and faucets.

Finally, do the whole drain and fill operation again, and do that every couple of weeks so the water stays fresh.

Good luck!

 

[NHGuy]

Re: Drain Fresh Water Tank?

Previous post gave you a great cleanup & maintenance process. That's a good thing to adhere to.
But I read your question as what to do come winter. Check for removable lines and drains in the water system. If you can trust that it's really empty you can just leave the spigots and drains open or the lines disconnected.
If that doesn't look possible I'd suggest pumping out the water and then filling the tubes with non toxic pink RV anti freeze. If you see a shutoff & tee fitting where the water comes out of the fresh tank, that's where to add the pink anti freeze. You turn off the tank outlet, turn on the tee, stick the tee hose end in the pink stuff and then cycle the water pump til the spigot flows pink. Your pump will pull the antifreeze up the line. Otherwise you have to rinse it out of the tank in spring. It's not the end of the world, it's the process from the 1st answer post. If you have a water heater it will probably have a bypass and drain which will need to be actuated til spring as well.

 

[RickJ6956]

Re: Drain Fresh Water Tank?

For the winter ...
Empty the water tank by opening every faucet. Then dump a gallon of non-toxic RV/Marine anti-freeze into the tank. Turn each faucet on until you see concentrated pink stuff come out of the through-hull drains.

Next spring, run the anti freeze out of the system, then fill the tank with water and run it all out. Twice.

Then use JoLin's system to sanitize.

 

[JoLin]

Re: Drain Fresh Water Tank?

Huh. Guess I missed the boat on that one. Wasn't thinking about winterizing cuz I just got mine summerized!

NHGuy and Rick both provided real good advice for winterizing. You should have everything you need now...

 

[Hank496]

Re: Drain Fresh Water Tank?

I follow a similar process to NHGuy's. I drain the tank (I also drain and by-pass the water heater) and then put six gallons of RV anti-freeze in the tank. Then run the faucets and flush the head until water flows pink. I also have a wash down faucet attached to the water system so I use a garden hose with a valve and reducer and smaller piece of tube. Then I use this to fill all of the traps with anti-freeze. I also have to worry about the strainers for the gen and AC, fortunately both of these will back flow, so the tube is inserted into the exit through hulls and antifreeze is pumped until the strainer bowls are pink. When I'm done I pump any remaining anti-freeze back into one of the bottles. I usually have a gallon or two left over. This can be reused next year. I buy the -100 degree stuff so I'm not worried about any dilution effects.

During the season we try to be aggressive about water usage so the water is not sitting in the tank for long periods of time. Also I try to toss in an once of unscented bleach with every fill up.

 

[rbh]

Re: Drain Fresh Water Tank?

If you just want old water out before putting in fresh, just run the pump till tanks empty, 1/4 fill with fresh but add a couple of shots of bleach first.
turn on all the taps and run till the waters coming out bleachy smelling.
refill with fresh to get rid of bleachy water.
In winter turn the pump on and run it dry, remove pump and filter from sytem (shake the water out) and pump compressed air through the lines to blow them clear.
Also blow the tank out.
(I don't like that anti freeze stuff)

 

[owassa]

Re: Drain Fresh Water Tank?

Thanks for the advice. I will sanitize it and will follow the advice on the non-toxic antifreeze. We will never drink this water....it will just be for washing hands and showering off.