Draining fresh water tank after sanitizing

[Bill]

I'm with Commodor47. It should drain easily. If it doesn't, something must be blocking the drain pipe or valve.

My first step would be to open the valve and run a piece of copper wire or a pipe cleaner up the tube as far as it will go (you can buy l-o-n-g pipe cleaners easily). If a ball valve is involved, the pipe cleaner will run through it easily. If the valve is the multi-turn kind, the wire or pipe cleaner won't go through it. If a quarter-turn plastic valve, I'm not sure.

If that doesn't clear the drain, the next thing I would do is buy about 3 feet of vinyl hose of the right size to slip onto the outlet end of the drain tube. Buy a barbed union piece if needed. Now connect the vinyl hose to the drain point, and blow like mad into the vinyl tube. If the drain is clogged by crud (algae, mud, or whatever), this should clear it, and stir up the crud so it will either drain out or can be pumped out. If you can't blow into the tube at all, then either the valve itself is faulty, or the clog is so bad that you will need to disconnect the drain hose from the tank and investigate.

Bill

[ThePair]

Originally Posted by VillageIdiot

One brass one, quarter turn with oval handle.

I'm betting the culprit is here, the prior owner did this. TM's have a flex tube from the water tank to the drain (in my experience), not brass, they don't use brass for anything.

+1 on checking for something plugging this one.

[commodor47]

Kelly,

Can you post a picture of your drain down valves and the fresh water tank showing hose configuration? Perhaps the original owner added a winterizing kit or some sort of check valve? Another possibility is a dip in the fresh water tank drain tubing which could create a temporary air lock preventing gravity drain that could be overcome by running the 12 volt pump.

Dick