Routine Water Heater Maintenance for RVs

Routine Water Heater Maintenance for RVs

Water heater maintenance:

Most RV water heaters have an anode that needs to be inspected annually. The function of an anode is to protect your water heater from stray electrical currents that erode the tank. Motorhomes have stray electrical currents. An anode is a metal that "sacrifices" itself. In other words when these small electrical currents are at work they eat away at the anode and not your water heater tank. Most reasonable individuals realize that it is prudent to drain their water heater annually. If you have never done it and are comfortable not draining your water heater by all means continue to do so. I have no idea how you will know when it is time to replace your anode but that should not matter ---- you will just replace the water heater when electrolyses eats through the thin tank.

How do I drain my water heater and inspect this "anode"? Fear not, this is an easy task even for dummies. FIRST, turn OFF your water heater. You do not want the propane burner to come on while you are draining the tank. If it did it would scare the jumping beejeebees out of you and might damage the water heater so turn the water heater off. Also turn off the water so that you can drain the water heater. You can't drain the water heater with pressure on the system because fresh water will continuously flow into the tank while you are trying to drain it. Next look for the big hex head fitting near the bottom of your water heater tank. This hex head fitting will take something like a 1-inch socket. Unscrew this, remembering to turn counter clockwise. When you pull this plug out you will see a 10" rod attached to it that fits into the tank. That metal rod is the anode The rod should be pitted...... it is supposed to be. That means it is working. Those holes or pits are the parts of the anode that have been sacrificed. That is what would be happening to the thin walls of your water heater if the anode were not there doing its job. All you need to do is clean the anode off with a rag or steel wool. You will probably just reinstall this and once you determine that enough of the sacrificial element remains to keep your water heater protected for another season.

Note that when you start to unscrew the anode water comes gushing out of the tank. That is what it is supposed to do. This will be a bit messy as it drains down the side of your RV but that is the way it is done. Let all this water drain out. Most people just drain their tank but some people prefer to rig something to squirt fresh water under pressure into the tank to stir up any sediments and flush that out as well. You can do that some camping supply places even sell a hose attachment specially designed to perform this task.

Now it is time to put things back together. You will need to apply some Teflon tape or pipe dope to the pipe threads of the anode-plug. You must do this or the plug will leak. Once the plug has been reinstalled it is time to turn on the water supply and fill the water heater tank. Once the water supply has been turned on you will need to go inside the RV and turn on ALL of your hot water faucets. You will hear air escaping from these faucets until the water heater tank becomes full of water. Leave the hot water faucet on until all the air is expelled from the system. It should not take long, but do not turn off the faucet until all the sputtering and spitting has subsided. Once the water heater tank is full of water again and no air is in the lines it is time to turn the water heater back on. Remember------you do not want power on your water heater if water is not in the tank.

That is all there is to it, and remember to do this annually.

If you need a more indepth discussion of water heater maintenance and repairs click here: In depth RV Water Heater Repair and Maintenance

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