Hot Water Heater TP valve - Page 2

Jtrobbins13 · 02-27-2018, 12:05 PM

Well it is 55 and sunny here in Central PA so I decided to take advantage of the nice weather and start working on the camper... Got all the old components out so now I will go ahead and order new ones, wasn't going to waste the money ordering parts I couldn't put in cause I couldn't get the old out... From what I can see with a flashlight the inside of the tank looks pretty good, but I can going to flush it out with a hose and my daughter's boyfriend is a mechanic and has a small fiber optic camera they use to look inside cylinder heads, so I will use that to get a better look inside the tank... And as you can see from the last picture JohnB, you were right on the valve giving me a little trouble, but ultimately I won the fight, lol...

**JohnB** · 02-27-2018, 06:50 PM

Congratulations on getting it apart...

Yes, an inspection camera will be good. Look at the very bottom good as it is usually the worst.

That radiator style drain plug someone installed, ideally you take that out. Then either buy or make up a tank flusher and a different plug setup.

The buy type

Then flush out the tank

To make one (they are better) start with a piece of 1/4" of 3/8" soft copper tubing and connect it to a ball valve or other shutoff adapted to garden hose thread. This type does cost a little more but the wand is a lot stiffer.

My store bought plastic one, under full pressure the wand wants to bend up in the air. If you get one of these, for sure make sure it is inside the tank when you turn it on or you will have a face full of it.

The tank is made so about 1 qt of water always lays in the bottom. About the only way to drain it totally is siphon or compressed air blow out. In that area below the drain plug hole. (1/2" npt) is where all the sediment lays and it builds up pretty bad. At least once a year, a good flush of the tank and let it billow out the drain hole really helps.

Also, try and convert the drain plug setup to a high temp potable plastic. Either a plastic drain plug or a nylon barbed fitting with a hose on it and a valve then of any kind. The problem is the tank is aluminum. If you screw brass/steel in and out all the time as a drain plug/clean out sooner or later you will cross thread it and then you have a problem. On nylon/plastic fitting for the tank drain, you throw that fitting away and not the tank.

I made up a hose and then a boiler drain valve. I drain the tank after each camping trip and come spring, I unscrew the hose/nylon fitting and flush out the tank and put it back together.

Hope this helps

John

Jtrobbins13 · 02-28-2018, 07:59 AM

I actually made up a wand like the store bought one you are showing with a piece of rubber tubing I had laying around... I took a piece of scrap copper wire I had laying around my garage and taped it to the back of the rubber tube as a back bone so it doesn't fly everywhere while under pressure and I can point it where I want it jet to go...

mainah · 02-28-2018, 09:25 AM

A wet vac does a good job too and sucks up the yuck. Obviously you'll have to make some type of adapter but there is all ways duct tape.

**Sunline Fan** · 03-01-2018, 06:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mainah

A wet vac does a good job too and sucks up the yuck. Obviously you'll have to make some type of adapter but there is all ways duct tape.

Yep, I could see that working well. Certainly a lot better than my sucking it out with my mouth through the siphon hose last year. That was a treat I wasn't expecting!

Jtrobbins13 · 03-26-2018, 12:13 PM

All fixed up and put back together