Draining

[Casey Freswick]

Is there a way to completely drain the fresh water tank under the sink?

 

[Larryjb-HILO]

There's a valve under the trailer that will drain the tank. You will want to open the fill plug otherwise it will take forever to drain.

 

[commodor47]

Casey,

I have the same year/model TM - the fresh water tank drain is located in front of the street side tire - see attached thumbnail.

Dick

 

[Bill]

Is there a way to completely drain the fresh water tank under the sink?

What do you mean by completely? The TM's built in drains will leave about 1/4 inch of water in the tank, but this doesn't cause any problems.

Bill

 

[Casey Freswick]

Comletely

Yes that is the issue. Our water had a funny taste and wanted to drain completely. But my drain holes are about an inch up from the bottom of the tank. So what was left in the tank was inch not 1/4 of an inch.

 

[Larryjb-HILO]

Have you tried sanitizing with a bleach solution?

Anyway, if you can get some small tubing (1/4" diameter maybe) and feed it through the fill port, you could use a vacuum pump to remove most of that last inch.

 

[Bill]

Not a bad idea, Larry. And several of our members have installed an access port in the top or side of the tank. With the port installed, you can reach in and mop out the tank with a sponge or towel wad.

Start here - there are several discussions of the access port
http://www.trailmanorowners.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15833

Bill

 

[BrucePerens]

Make sure the electric water heater switch within the outside door of the heater is turned off before draining, or you will kill the heating element if the trailer is plugged in while the water is drained. After draining all of the plumbing using the outside valves, open the left cabinet door under the sink. Grasp the PEX-to-threaded adaptor at the bottom front of the water heater. Turn it counterclockwise until it comes off of the water heater. Some remaining water should come out, and you can leave it open so the rest evaporates. Or you can put a tube through the hole and suck the water out of the bottom of the tank. There might be some sediment in the bottom.

No construction of additional accesses should be necessary for this. The inside fitting is where you can reach it, and comes off easily.

Replacing the kitchen faucet, on the other hand, is problematical. I understand why some have constructed access doors for that.

 

[ThePair]

Make sure the electric water heater switch within the outside door of the heater is turned off before draining, or you will kill the heating element if the trailer is plugged in while the water is drained. After draining all of the plumbing using the outside valves, open the left cabinet door under the sink. Grasp the PEX-to-threaded adaptor at the bottom front of the water heater. Turn it counterclockwise until it comes off of the water heater. Some remaining water should come out, and you can leave it open so the rest evaporates. Or you can put a tube through the hole and suck the water out of the bottom of the tank. There might be some sediment in the bottom.

No construction of additional accesses should be necessary for this. The inside fitting is where you can reach it, and comes off easily.

Replacing the kitchen faucet, on the other hand, is problematical. I understand why some have constructed access doors for that.

If I'm understanding correctly, I think the concern was to drain the fresh water tank, not the water heater tank.

The best bet is the marine access/clean out port. You can wet/dry vac the tank and wipe it out with a towel/paper towel to make sure it's completely empty & dry this way. I put mine on the top, but if I had to do it over again I'd put it on the side. There are links to who has used what, but there is one brand of port (at least) that can be placed on the side of the tank, and that one would allow an easier time reaching in with the towel to wipe down the inside of the tank -- it's a bit of a contortion to try to do it from the top...

 

[BrucePerens]

If I'm understanding correctly, I think the concern was to drain the fresh water tank, not the water heater tank.

Not sure how I misread that.

The best bet is the marine access/clean out port. You can wet/dry vac the tank and wipe it out with a towel/paper towel to make sure it's completely empty & dry this way. I put mine on the top, but if I had to do it over again I'd put it on the side. There are links to who has used what, but there is one brand of port (at least) that can be placed on the side of the tank, and that one would allow an easier time reaching in with the towel to wipe down the inside of the tank -- it's a bit of a contortion to try to do it from the top...

Right. It actually does freeze here once in a while. I'll have to remember to drain the trailer just in case.

 

[Kidkraz]

If the water tastes funny, draining the water heater couldn't hurt.

 

[Casey Freswick]

Thanks

Thanks everyone for your posts. Will see what the next phase of remodel brings. Right now, am enjoying just commuting from the campsite 30 minutes from home/work. We are now 1 of 2 campers in our section of the campground. which means there is only one other person with in 200 yards (or more).

We love it.

Although we were bummed that we needed to run our AC off our inverter generator for the first 4 days, record breaking heatwave for MI. But now it is back to normal temps.