Leak at drains by water heater.

[Tahoe]

Were going away for a few days and I went out this morning to purge the water lines of antifreeze and found the entire compartment flooded! No time to mess with it until we return but I'm thinking of just cutting lines and just putting plugs in. I've never used any of the drains except the one from the main holding tank to the water pump to make sure everything in front of the pump is empty. Anyone else had this issue and if so did you plug the lines or replace the valves? Both valves are leaking, not bad, but enough to make a mess back there.

[whemme]

Tahoe,

When you winterized it with pink antifreeze, did you open up each of the floor drain valves and pump antifreeze thru each of them until you see the pink stuff draining onto the ground. If not you probably froze the water in each drain valve and broke them. They will need to be replaced.

Bill

[Tahoe]

I did for the first time this Winter but not last year. Even though I put the anti freeze in we only had 2 nights where it was below freezing this year and they weren't back to back. You could be correct though and they are damaged from freezing. I think I will just bite the bullet after we're back next week and drain the lines and replace the valves. Those are the only 2 leaking, the 2 behind the shower, and the one by the fresh water tank are fine right now. I went out about an hour ago and backed the valves off a little and now one has stopped and the other has slowed down conciderably. I'll pack them with towels while we're gone the next few days and try to keep it dry back there until I can fix it.

[Tahoe]

Follow up from this morning. Still had leaks while gone but not too bad. I removed the valve stems and what I found was the leak was coming from the hex nut area not the stem. It looks like I was the first person to open these valves because the nut was actually corroded and fused to the stem. It's not easy to see under there so when I was opening the valve the nut was turning loose as well. So this morning I went to open the valves and with a small flashlight I could see the nuts turning with the handle. I kept turning until the stem came all the way out. I had to use a channel lock on the handle and a wrench on the nut to free them up after removal. Worst case I replace the entire valve but I'm going to see if I can just buy new stems with a seal first and just replace those.

[whemme]

Sounds to me like your drain valves were corroded and stuck from lack of use. All of my valves get opened and closed at least once a year as part of the winterization process and they always open and close freely.

[randallrae]

vasoline on the stems helps keep them free