Do we have a water heater bypass??

We have a 2001 3124 King TM. I am trying to determine if the water heater has a bypass valve, because visually I can not find one and the factory manual does not specify.

1) Dealer told us the water system was winterized with anti-freeze, so, If I have no bypass valve am I thinking correctly that the waterheater likely has antifreeze in it now and will be flushed clean when I follow the de-winterizing procedure?

Any info appreciated!....New TM owner!.....THX, Garry

With the TM and it's low point drain system the only place anti freeze should have entered the system is the drain traps.

If someone put anti freeze into the fresh water system I would use the low point drains to flush it. Then I would run great amounts of water through it and then follow the bleaching proceedure found in your owners manual.

Make sure that the anti freeze that comes out of the low point drains is pink in color, if not do not drink or cook with the water! I would also demand my money back or a complete replacement of the water system.

In short whoever did that did not know what they were doing and it is now up to you to fix it. If you need more information on anything I have said, ask. This is not something I would play with.

Hi Windbreaker...

Thanks for your reply.

We bought out TM from a very reputable RV dealer and have no reason to believe they would have used anything but an RV non-toxic type of antifreeze. It was our understanding that this goes through the entire water system safely and then is flushed out in the spring or whenever.

Since I still have not found a bypass valve for the hot water heater (and haven't received a response telling me where to look )....I'm going to guess that there's not one and the dealer ran the RV anti-freeze into the hot water tank which I went ahead and flushed out thoroughly.

Thanks again,

Garry

Hi Texas...

Thanks for your response too!

Yeah..I guess I should have said RV anti-freeze in my original post. I just figured everyone knew to use that kind of anti-freeze.

Our TM came from a dealer on the Illinois/Wisconisn border which probably does some extra precautious winterization due to the cold temps. Since we live in Ohio we would do those extra steps anyway...just to be sure.

So...does anyone know where the bypass valve is (if there is one?)

Thanks,
Garry

[mjlaupp]

A water heater bypass valve is not a standard installation on a Trailmanor. That is why it is not mentioned in the factory manual. If you have one, it would have been a factory or dealer special or installed by a previous owner. HTH
MJL

Thanks, Mike. I appreciate your response.

The bypass valve was mentioned on the "check-list" that my wife had copied and laminated from these boards....so I thought it was something I should look for...just in case.

Garry

They don't come with a bypass, but I put one in mine. I had the shower faucet split even after draining like they recommended. So I'm going to use antifreeze. I talked to the dealer I bought it from and he also recommended antifreeze in very cold weather (Michigan).

When you say 'faucet', does that mean your unit has the actual faucet ... or is it a shower hand held unit like the 2720 we have? If you meant the hand held item, could it have been that it was not held above head to drain when you drained eveything else. I experienced this recently during my familiarization process with everything. I drained using the petcocks ... and when checking a day or so later, got a face full of water from the hand held unit.

I also live in a location that can get down to minus 15-50 degrees now and then; and your comment concerns me somwhat as I was under the impression that opening the 4 drain valves, along with the interior spigots, drained the system completely ... and all that was possibly needed was a bit of the antifreeze in the traps.
Thanks
Paul

[Bill]

Originally Posted by Firefly

Since I still have not found a bypass valve for the hot water heater (and haven't received a response telling me where to look ....Garry

Garry -

A bypass looks like what it sounds like - a piece of water line that runs directly from the intake side of the water heater to the outlet side of the water heater. There will also be some kind of a manually-operated valve at one or both ends. For a picture of a good example, go to

http://www.camperschoice.com/Product...ctGroupId=2563

HTH (Hope this helps)

Bill