where is the pink stuff?

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KathyH

where is the pink stuff?

Post by KathyH »

We must be doing something really stupid!
(this is an 05 Build for Two)

We drained the water tank.

We connected the winterizing hose to the water pump.

We by passed the water heater (we think).

We turned on the water pump

We turned on the faucet in the bathroom. Some pink stuff came through and then quit.

Nothing is coming through the other faucets although we can see some pink stuff in the lines (under the sink).

The water pump has so far sucked up 5 gallons of pink stuff!

We can't see it draining anywhere.

Where is it??????

Any ideas?????

Thanks,

Kathy (on a cold night... early of course.... in Iowa)
User avatar
whemme
Posts: 2110
Joined: Mon Aug 15, 2005 8:05 pm

WHESE IS THE PINK ANTIFREEZE GOING?

Post by whemme »

KathyH,

It normally should take only 1.5 gallons of the pink stuff to completely winterize your Born Free. If you have pumped in 5 gallons and none of the excess has come out, you have a problem somewhere.

Potential problem #1 is that you really have not bypassed your 6 gallon water heater and you have filled that tank with the pink stuff. To check that out, remove the drain plug again and if a lot of pink stuff starts draining out - there is your problem. On my 2002 BF 26' RSB motorcoach, there are a total of 3 valves in the various water lines near the water heater that must be operated to successfully bypass the water heater. One valve must be closed in the cold water line going into the water tank, a second valve must be closed in the hot water line exiting the water tank, and a third valve in the crossover line must be opened to completed the process.

The other possibility is that you left a sink, shower, or toilet valve open while running your water pump and all of your pink stuff was pumped into either the gray or black water tank.

I don't know what else the problem could be. My best guess is that you did not complete the hot water tank bypass procedure properly.
Bill Hemme - Spencer, Iowa
E-mail: whemme@earthlink.net
2002 Born Free (Ford E-450 V10) 26' RSB
2016 VW Golf GTI - toad
KathyH

Post by KathyH »

First, where is the drain plug for the hot water heater? The manual isn't real useful here (this is an 05 Built for Two).


My husband swears he did the same thing tonight he did last night when he drained it but I'm less convinced :)

Otherwise, the pink stuff is not in the holding tanks or the fresh water tank. You can see it in most of the pipes that are visible under the sink but I never got any out of the faucets except for a small bit from the bathroom.

It may well be relevant that I started having trouble getting water from the faucets on my last trip.... could it be something to do with that?

But then where is the 5 gallons of pink stuff!!!!

<sigh> I had planned on another two weeks of fiddling and repair not a major cold snap (last year we winterized in November!!!!)

Anyway, I have the LP furnace on low and the cabinet door open under the sink and my fingers crossed!

Thanks for the help.... I'm still thinking about that hot water tank. That may be you see at 2 this morning with a flashlight looking again!

Kathy/Iowa City/IA
Trisha

Post by Trisha »

Get the manual and find the documentation of your water heater. There should be a largish (15/16) nut head on there that you need to unscrew; it's your anode rod. You pull that out and it drains the water heater. It attracts all the corroding elements in the water.

You'll probably get a lot of pink stuff out of your water heater. After you're done you might want to run some fresh water through it but I'm not sure how to do it. Maybe it can wait until spring. Someone else will have to chime in here.

But I think your 5 missing gallons is in your water heater.

If you have problems drawing water from your faucet...a different question...I have some for you. Are ALL your faucets having trouble getting or just one?

I had some flotsam in my water line that clogged just the kitchen faucet last year. The factory took care of it when I had it in for other warranty service. It was probably sealant from the lines that broke loose (in mine). It might be something like that for yours too. It works fine now.

so it matters whether or not it is just one faucet or if it is multiple faucets.

Good luck!

Trisha
KathyH

Post by KathyH »

All the faucets. Started with the kitchen hot water and moved to the others (bathroom and kitchen cold water).

Kathy
User avatar
whemme
Posts: 2110
Joined: Mon Aug 15, 2005 8:05 pm

Water Heater Drain Plug

Post by whemme »

Kathy,

From your post asking where the water heater drain plug is located, I am not convinced that you ever drained the water heater. On my 26' RSB motorcoach, I can access the back side of the water heater thru a white metal flip down grill located in the right rear corner of the coach.

On mine, the drain plug is a large white nylon hex head plug that unscrews to drain the water heater. Evidently Trisha's coach has a metal drain plug with an anode rod on it that my nylon plug does not have.

If you have a cell phone that I can call you on sometime Thursday, I would be happy to walk you thru the process with you at your coach to properly drain the water heater and get the various valves in the right position for winterizing your unit. Since I plan on being home most of the day on Thursday, you can call me at 712-262-1126 on your cell phone also.
Bill Hemme - Spencer, Iowa
E-mail: whemme@earthlink.net
2002 Born Free (Ford E-450 V10) 26' RSB
2016 VW Golf GTI - toad
KathyH

Post by KathyH »

Wow! Thanks. That is very generous of you. We will definitely take you up on it.

I just looked (we have the same grill in the right rear of the coach) but no nothing to unscrew that I can see.... and I could swear that I did see water draining from the hot water heater last night but I agree that the only place for the pink stuff to be hiding is there!

I'll probably call around noon and meanwhile, I'll look one more time for some kind of schematic of the hot water heater in the manual...gotta be one I just haven't found yet.

Thanks!

Kathy
KathyH

Post by KathyH »

Welll.
..... the current hypothesis is that we ran the pink stuff through the water heater and out onto the driveway!

Turns out that there are TWO ways to drain the water heater (per a long conversation with Kim who was super helpful and who I hope I'm representing accurately).

One involves that hex nut (is that what's it called?) that you were talking about Bill (and thanks for walking me through all the valves and such)

Said nut is NOT white and it was sort of welded into place which is why I never considered turning it. We did finally get it off (had to buy a bigger socket wrench part and really twist...Kim said we would). There was no pink stuff or anything else in the water heater although a tiny bit of pink stuff came out....less than a half teaspoon.

The second way is through the floor drains by the water heater. You open up all the valves including those two and the WH drains. Now, that is how we had drained it to begin with and our guess is that we left (1) the bypass valve closed and (2) the floor drains open and thus the pink stuff is now nicely absorbed in the gravel driveway (where we had just drained the WH and the fresh water so can't tell for sure and it's hard to see pink there but there's a suggestion!).

So, now..... we are still stuck because there is no pink stuff we can find to buy (all the people camping locally+ all the RV owners bought it out with this weeks early cold snap).

Also turns out that getting LP is not easy here (although I have several leads) so no furnace (ran out of LP today). This means that I have one night of 28 degree temps but no wind to speak of to get through. The MH is in a sheltered spot behind a bunch of trees which does help.

My current plan is to put a space heater in the unit on a piece of fireproof material and monitor the temp.... and turn it off before I go to bed and hope (there is pink stuff in a lot of the lines that I can see).

So there's the saga! Thanks to all who helped and I continue learning stuff I never, ever thought I'd need to know :)

Kathy
Trisha

Post by Trisha »

Well, it sounds like you guys got it all taken care of.

Bill, I've never had a white nylon nut...the only one was like what Kathy said, metal hex screw (the anode) that is just cranked on and it's a bear to get off. I had to get a really big wrench so I could put some leverage into it to get it off...and I've had mine replaced like 4 times now. Still find it very difficult to get each off.

Is your white nylon nut simply a drain plug? Do you have an anode rod? Better yet, what kind of water heater do you have Bill? They must all be different. Mine is a Suburban and it's AC/Propane.

Since my rig was not winterized last week (it was 80 last saturday), and I was so busy getting ready to take it to Iowa on Sunday that when I left on Monday, I still hadn't had time...they had to winterize it for me <smile>. oops. But I know they'll do a good job. they get lots of practice.

Trish
User avatar
whemme
Posts: 2110
Joined: Mon Aug 15, 2005 8:05 pm

WATER HEATERS INFO

Post by whemme »

Trisha,

After discussing Kathy's problem with her by phone, I did some research on the two different water heaters that Born Free has used in their motorcoaches. In my current 2002 BF 26' RSB and my previous 1999 BF 24' RB, both of these units were equipped with 6 gallon Atwood LP water heaters. These are made with aluminum tanks and do not require an anode (nor is one recommended).

The Atwood units use a white nylon hex drain plug located in the lower left rear corner of the tank. Since the tank and drain plug threads are aluminum, any attempt to screw in a metal drain plub equipped with an anode will result in dissimilar metal corrosion causing the plug to be frozen into place over time. So, don't change to a metal drain plug in a Atwood water heater.

The 6 gallon Suburban units were used in the later Born Free coaches owned both by you and Kathy. They are constructed with a steel tank that is subject to water inpurity induced corrosion that will eat away at the tank over time and that is the reason that those tanks come equipped with a metal hex drain plug equipped with an anode. The anode is made of a material that attracts the inevitable corrosion rather than the steel tank. This anode drain plug will need to be replaced on a periodic basis as the corrosion eats away the anode. The Suburban water heater I believe will run either off AC power or LP gas and the metal drain plug is located in the lower rear center of the tank.

Others out there reading this post can correct me on any of the technical details that I have presented above.
Bill Hemme - Spencer, Iowa
E-mail: whemme@earthlink.net
2002 Born Free (Ford E-450 V10) 26' RSB
2016 VW Golf GTI - toad
KathyH

Post by KathyH »

Yep, that's it, a metal hex drain plug equipped with an anode that is a bear to get off.

Once I got that settled and got the water heater valves all set right, finishing the winterizing (I scored several jugs of the pink stuff across town by accident today!) was a walk in the park and took less than 1 gallon of the pink stuff!

I am writing all this down in my own "notes" since the manual didn't help much (it referred to a nylon plug) + I never could find any info on how to set the water heater valves.

So now I'm set...assuming I remember the whole thing in the spring and then again next fall!

Thanks again for the help.... you all are great!

Kathy
Trisha

Post by Trisha »

You're welcome.

Yes, Bill, the Atwood and hte Suburban are different. Don't really know why the switched, except that I like the ability to use the water heater with propane when dry camping.

Kathy, just double check you have the Suburban not the Atwood. I should read my documentation except that it's in Iowa and I'm not...

I usually replace the anode when I winterize.

Score another point for me and my screwball idea that there needs to be pictures and more detailed instructions in the manual. Silly me. Born free, you ready to hire me yet?

Patricia
KathyH

Post by KathyH »

Yep, it's a Suburban (checked with I was talking with Bill) and it's got the anode.

How do you replace it? Can you just buy those things at whatever stores there are around (Menard's, Lowe's, Ace, here)? I'll check next time I'm there.

And yeah, a picture with the water heater valves marked would have helped. Ditto for the drain thing. As I was talking to Bill, I actually found myself wanting a picture phone (I've been resisting) so that I could have sent him a picture of what I was looking at!

Of course, on the other hand, I got to talk to Bill on the phone and all of you all via the board!

Kathy
Dave&JanPotter

Post by Dave&JanPotter »

KathyH wrote:Yep, it's a Suburban (checked with I was talking with Bill) and it's got the anode. How do you replace it? Can you just buy those things at whatever stores there are around (Menard's, Lowe's, Ace, here)? I'll check next time I'm there.Kathy
The short answer is no. Sacrificial anode is a generic term. The material an anode is made of depends upon the specific application and the materials being protected. There are also many different sizes and shapes. They're not interchangable even though they may fit physically in the same fitting. If you use the wrong one, you can be doing more damage than good. Don't go to a marine hardware store or Home Depot as they won't know much about the materials used in RV systems. Go to an RV supply store or website and get one specifically made for your model hot water heater like the manufacturer recommends. A small investment in time has a big payoff in prolonging the life of your equipment. I spent most of my career as a marine engineer and dealt with sacrificial anodes in piping systems and on ships' hulls routinely.
KathyH

Post by KathyH »

Thanks, that makes sense.

I am convinced that I bought this motorhome as part of a campaign on the part of the world to make sure that I learn about things I never suspected existed :)

Actually, I've got another question. How do you know when this "sacrifical anode" (great term!) needs replacing? It gets eaten away, right? How "eaten away" does it get before it needs replacing?

Kathy (just realized that I have one of these in my home hot water tank!)
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