RV Water Heater Cleaning Tip - Give It A Vinegar Soak
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 ก.ย. 2024
- See full blog post - www.loveyourrv....
In this video, I try out a tip I've read about. Using vinegar to help dissolve lime/calcium scale and mineral deposits in my RV's water heater.
To get the vinegar into the water heater I used my recently installed winterizing kit. I went with about a 50/50 mix with water. Left the mixture in the heater tank for 3 hours and flushed.
It worked well and I will be incorporating this method in my regular water heater maintenance.
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Hi : Just wanted to say how much we enjoy your station. Thanks. KEN & SALLY MOUNT. VERNON WA.
Awesome, nice to hear. Cheers! Ray
Good Video. Never thought of using vinegar to clean out hot water tank. Will definitely put this my maint list for this fall. Thanks.
You're welcome, Cheers Ray
Nice video. I like to keep a small spray bottle of vinegar and an old tooth brush for cleaning scale from around the faucets. Vinegar in the coffee maker over night will clean that out as well. Not to nit pick, but your propane tank was closed and you opened it.
I found an easier way....remove remaining water in bottom of tank with a syringe.....add pure vinegar to inside of tank...it will hold alot. Then plug tank ( i use an old anode rode that i cut the remaining rod off ). Add water to tank by using the city water inlet....burp the water heater using the pressure relief valve.....once full turn hearter on for 15 ..20 minutes only...turn off. Leave mix in for 24 hours....drain and flush...lots of particals come out.....
Great tip!
good video. Just one thing you should never use a torque wrench as a ratchet or in reverse unless it is calibrated in both directions.
Thanks for the tip, a few other commenters mentioned that too. Should have used a breaker bar.
Awesome, thanks for video
I always wondered why water heaters drains dont have hose threads on the outer (in addition to rod/plug thread on the outside. Why splash and create all the mess on the site when draining.
clean your faucet aerators
your gas was already turned off, looked like you turn the gas on , just checking
Ya, I think that tank was off.
Glad you saw that as well mate, I rewound to check it.
OK, I have to ask. Didn't go through all the comments to see if someone already asked so if they did I apologize for the redundancy.
You said to make sure your gas is off. But you were turning your valve left.
Isn't that turning it on?
Or is your gas bottle valve backwards?
Just curious.
that ship in the fog was trippy
Tis the Black Pearl me lad.
Great vid. Thanks Ray.
thanks and greetings from Berlin
Howdy!
Nice job, Ray. That sure is a quiet pump. Mine sounds like a tommy gun.
My old one did until I replumbed with looped flexible hose it and swapped out the 3 chamber Flojet for a 4 chamber Shurflo.
I just got done looking at your new pump and winterizer. That is def on my list for this winter... Thnaks
You can leave an aluminium anode in, but the vinegar will eat a magnesium one. Best to just put a plug in for it. And heating the vinegar water will make it work harder; get more gunk out. That rod looked like it had barnacles. :) ~Jon
Thanks for the tip. Cheers! Ray
th-cam.com/video/Uz-lZa2wUzg/w-d-xo.html
How do you know all the debris that flushed out after the vinegar soak wasn't just stuff remaining behind and not actually loosened up by the vinegar 🤔? I use a pen light and look inside the tank and can see lots of junk puddled at the bottom due to the drain hole about an inch above the flat bottom of the tank. I use my wand several times and get most the debris out, however can't get it all. But I guess since we see that anode rod cleaned up a good deal from the vinegar, the vinegar most likely did it's job in all the nooks and crannies throughout the entire tank. Also was wondering if we should shut off water going to the rest of the RV or does it really not matter? Maybe vinegar coming outta our sinks and toilet helps clean the water lines and faucets? Enjoy the autumn season ☀️🌾🍁
Before the vinegar treatment I flushed it out many times until there wasn't much left in the bottom. After the vinegar a bunch more appeared.
@@LoveYourRV OK, very good news 👌 thx Ray
Why does every video have a lawn mower in the back ground.
The grass around here grows super fast and they have a lot of it around the park, plus there is a helicopter and seaplane airport just down the road.
Thanks for the video
Wish I would have Known about this with my old RV only found about this with my New RV in the Atwood Heater Instructions . My old RV the water (Suburban Heater ) would smell like Rotten Eggs some times (Hydrogen Sulfide from mineral Deposits ) could have done something about it . was also wondering if you could fill it through the Pressure Relief Valve with a fitting and a hose ??????
Yup, that;s another way of doing it. Cheers! Ray
1995dresser The way I do mine is I remove the anode rod and screw in a piece of pipe then attach a 90°fitting so it's pointing up and then screw in a length of pipe that will be above the top of the water heater slightly. I then open the pressure relief valve, use a funnel and pour the vinegar/ water solution down the pipe and fill up the water heater till it flows out the pressure relief valve. Then let it sit or start the heater and warm it up. When you are ready to drain it just rotate the L shaped pipe you attached down below horizontal and let it drain. The pipes only need to be hand tightened. Very easy.
Waaaaay to much intro. DANG!
ray nice tip on cleaning your hot water tank keep up the good videose
Thanks!
I did not see this question asked so I will ask. Would having a very good filter inline before the water enters the RV help reduce or eliminate this Sediment issue?? I clean out mine 2 or 3 times a year and I never see anything like that come out of mine??
From what I've heard from other's and read the common RV water filters don't stop the calcium scale deposits as they come into the RV plumbing fully dissolved in the water. You would need some sort of water softener system. It starts to get expensive and complex. I might be inclined to look into it if we spent most of our time in hard water areas of the southwest, but most of our time is spent in the northwest hooked to normally very soft water.
+Love Your RV oh ok that makes sense. All your videos and blog posts are really great.
Thanks!
What about using something like Calcium, Lime, Rust? The commercial OTC stuff? It works great on my faucets, was wondering if it might be too caustic to use inside the pipes. Love these vids.
I'm not sure about the CLR stuff, have never used it before. Sounds like it should work though from what I've read.
Thanks!
Hi Ray, another great video. Just wondering if it works better when you heat the water or if you could just leave it cold?
Thanks, Mark. I think it works better to heat it a little bit like when cleaning a coffee maker.
We has VERY hard water. I clean our dog dishes with cold water and vinegar, let sit with the solution and it works fine with cold water.
Hey guys new to the rv scene here. I was told by many that using bleach in you water system is a nono. What do you guys recommend for cleaning out the whole system?
I use a little bit of bleach in the fresh tank, never caused a problem. Here is a link to the basic method - www.sanidumps.com/sanitizervfreshwatersystem.php Cheers, Ray
This was great
Mr Ray! What size the socket that's you used? Thanks for video.
The anode rod in my Suburban SW6DE requires a 1 1/16th socket to remove it.
So when turning off the propane on my RV, I should turn the valve into the on direction to make sure the gas is Flowing freely to turn it off???
No you shouldn't, that was a mistake. Please make sure you turn it in the direction that will stop the flow of gas into your system. Thank you.
I hate to bother you, but, I have a question about a cougar 326RDS. What do you think about this cougar? It is currently on my radar and I fancy getting one in a bit.
Hard to say, ours has been good but I have friends who have had all sorts of issues wth theirs. I haven't looked at new RVs in a while, ours is a 2011 model so I'm not up to date on the current stuff. - Ray
We've been full-time for 3 months and have 3 more months to go before we're "home" and decide what's next. How often is a procedure like this necessary? Is the alternative to buy a new rod?
I usually go look at my shower head and faucet screens. If they show signs of white crystal build up it's a good sign there is hard water scale in the water heater. How often to clean will depend on the hardness of water that goes through the system. If I stayed all the time on the west coast where the water is usually pretty soft it wouldn't likely need to be flushed for years.
Thanks for the signs of when it is time to do this "clean out"! Great video!
This was great. I have water leaking from the water heater plug and it looks all "corroded" so I thought if I removed it and cleaned it up somehow, I'd be good to go. Now I see this might be a sign of bigger problems. I'm in the NM desert and I don't use any water filter on my water hose. Should I always use a filter? Would that cut back on the buildup? Thanks, Ray. (Nice to see Angie again.)
Most filter systems won't help as they don't work since the hard water materials are dissolved in the water. Check out this test I did - www.loveyourrv.com/testing-rv-water-supply-for-total-dissolved-solids/
I have some friends that camp most of the time in hard water areas and they use a water softener system and say it works well. Here examples of what they look like - www.rvwaterfilterstore.com/rv-water-softeners
@@LoveYourRV Thanks, Ray. I'll check out those links.
Hi Ray - Ray here also, from Burnaby ..... Other than your regular tools and such. are there any specialty tools you would recommend for Rv'ing? I know you have mentioned the infrared temp gun. Other than that, are there any other specialty tools you always find yourself grabbing that most of us newbies wouldn't think of packing?
Hi Ray, A few specialty items are a multimeter and non-contact voltage tester for measuring electrical circuits, torque wrench, hydrometer for checking my lead acid batteries, soldering iron, sockets to fit any larger than normal nuts and bolts the RV has.
Here is a tool list I put together a few years back - www.loveyourrv.com/tools-and-maintenance-items-for-the-full-time-rv-life/ I've added and subtracted some over that time but it will give you some ideas. Cheers!
You should never use vinegar on aluminum. The acid will eat aluminum up. Most RV hot water tanks are made out of aluminum.
Suburban RV water heaters use a porcelain lined steel tank
Did you make a video of your water pump change out? Thanks for the video.
No sorry, I didn't. I have a video when I installed my winterizing kit - th-cam.com/video/T3sbvn43Lag/w-d-xo.html but didn't record the water pump upgrade. But here is a little closer look at the install - though - th-cam.com/video/uRbGmxun1LI/w-d-xo.html
Cheers, Ray
I have a question about your water heater vinegar flush.
I'd like to use vinegar to clean my 35 gal fresh water storage tank.
Is it OK to start with the 50/50 vinegar mixture in my 35 gal tank, then run it thru pump to fill the water heater?
I'm a Vancouver Island girl going south for the winter!
Cheers!
It should work fine if you are trying to remove hard water deposits, vinegar works well to dissolve them and it does have some cleaning characteristics for sanitizing tanks and pipes. But for better sanitization of a fresh water tank for organic growth, germs, etc. I would go with bleach versus vinegar. The chlorine will do a better job at sanitizing the tank and plumbing and you'll need a lot less. Here is a good article on how to and the mixtures www.sanidumps.com/sanitizervfreshwatersystem.php Cheers, Ray
Why did you use a torque wrench to remove the Anode on your water heater
It's all I had at the time that was long enough.
I bought a used 2002 Sportmen never looks like they did any maintenance on water heater and now that I bought it it barely heats water to luke warm, wondering if I should just buy a whle new water heater
MIght be worth having a closer look at it before forking out the money to replace. Most water heaters have what's called bypass valve used when the system gets winterized. If that valve is faulty or set in the wrong position it may allow mixing of the hot and cold water. A quick check is to open the pressure release valve and see if the water is hot there, but be careful not to scald yourself. If not the bypass valve it may be a bad thermostat. Cheers Ray
You guys ever travel the south? Florida or Georgia? Talk about moisture,lol.
Been to both but it was in November, December and January so wasn't too humid, good weather then. Some nice coastal areas and birds but, not a fan of the all the bugs though. iIlike the desert better.
Why did you turn off the main fuses and not just the control panel switch? Keep someone from turning it on?
The Suburban model we have has the electric on/off switch outside.
www.loveyourrv.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Suburban-SW6DE-Hot-Water-Heater.jpg
+Love Your RV ok. Makes sense. I have this style (link below). It's at knee level so I installed a clear thermostat cover over it so my 2 yr old can't burn up the heating element.
i23.photobucket.com/albums/b378/JBarca/Misc%20Camper%20Stuff/TankGages.jpg
Good thinking
So Ray, do you ever consider installing a water softner or R/O filtration system? I've seen them installed on other trailers. I know for a home, softwater keeps the faucets and water appliances clean and they will last a lot longer.
I haven't really considered it. It would at a layer of complexity and expense I'm not sure if it's worth it. If I lived all year in hard water areas I may.
But, 8 months of the year are spent in areas with great soft rainwater and in the other 4 months, we are generally off grid using the water pump. So far a good flushing has worked OK.
I have that popular O2 blue fiberglass softener plus three filters and I still get that junk forming in my tank. 😒😓
Do you have any tip on removing an anode rod when it just doesn't want to budge?
You might try some penetrating oil on it. If that doesn't free it up, maybe clean off the oil and heat it a bit with a torch.
Which penetrating oil would you suggest? I put some WD-40 and used a wire brush, even hit the socket wrench with a hammer but so far no luck. Haven't seen any strong men 😂 so that's out.
Something like this - www.amazon.com/Liquid-Wrench-L106-Penetrating-Oil/dp/B00200MR8Q
You may need to use a long breaker bar to get enough torque - amzn.to/2uXvVpU
Thanks I'll give the Liquid Wrench a try. I had never heard of it. As for a beaker bar I'll have to look in my basement for one. I'm sure I have one some place.
Thanks for your advice. I sprayed the Liquid Wrench on walked away and did some chores came back two hours later and was shocked I got it out! THANK YOU!
Hi Ray, Do you sanitize your fresh water tank with Bleach every 6 months or so? This seems to be common practice. I couldn't find a video on the subject on your channel.. Regards,
Yeah, usually what I do is add a 1/4 - 1/2 cup of bleach to the tank and fill it up takes 60 gallons and the then let it sit a few weeks or so while we are on full hookups and not using the tank. Then I flush it through the all the lines. We don't drink out of our fresh tank but still like to sanitize couple time a year since we get some in our mouth showering and rinsing toothbrushes and produce, that kind of thing. Must be working, we haven't gotten sick. :)
Spent our first nights in our RV this weekend and noticed and issue with humidity. Do you have any tips to help with that? Other than using a dehumidifier.
Sorry, I don't I tend to RV in areas with moderate to low humidity. I would guess a pair of high powered vent fans might help.
Use them after cooking and showering to get the moisture out.
Damp rid you can buy it at Menards this stuff really works
Lol you opened up the propane tank.
Skip to 2:00 mins.
Not 100% sure but using your torque wrench to loosen nuts is not a good thing .
Yeah, can possibly throw it out of alignment, mentioned by a previous commenter. Should have used a breaker bar. Cheers! Ray
ray waiting on a new videos
Sorry, I've had some unfortunate family matters to attend to. I should have a video or two out soon, though. I have a new waste and water tank sensor system called See Level on the way to me. Looking forward to installing it and tossing out the useless OEM one. :)
Hope everything. Is all right with. Your family. God Bless
One of our very older family members is close to passing on. Hard part of life but something we all have to face. Thanks for the good wishes. - Ray
Ray. me and the wife send our love hang in there the man upstairs is the only one that know when to call for his angles
Don’t use thread tape. Threads should be clean for metal to metal contact.
Check instructions on back of replacement rod package Step 6 - i5.walmartimages.com/asr/53537204-c0bf-40fb-a519-b9605400f733_1.19b2cea2da79883970938576ee55bf36.jpeg
I've always used Teflon tape on them, there is still enough metal contact from the threads biting through the tape to allow the rod to do its job. Plus it lessens the corrosion between dissimilar metals of the rod and tank threads, so makes it easier to remove next time.
Love Your RV Just something I learned along the way if you talk with engineers.
Happy trails!
I replaced our Suburban water heater last year with a brand new replacement unit fresh out of the box and its anode is wrapped with white Teflon tape. - th-cam.com/video/EY-rHSulMps/w-d-xo.html
Love Your RV 2 different schools of thought... That’s all
I usually use 50% human and 50% horse urine. Works great!
2 minutes lost
Why not run the mix through the entire water system from the tank on? All clean! I would leave it in over night.
Could do but I thought I would give my winterizing kit a try, also there are quite a few RVs out there that don't have a gravity fill fresh tank so good for them to know they can do it through the winterizing port.
Quite right! Love the vids...thank you.
Got a like at 10sec because of a fellow B.C. person!!
Nicely done. Thanks!
Wow that pump runs quiet!
How you do things with your customized system does me no good.
Oh well, sorry I tried. Maybe some one else can help you. All the best, Ray
good job
Wow that water pump is super quiet, which model is it?
It's called a Shurflo - amzn.to/2J4oML5 I added looped hoses on the input and output as well to help. Cheers, Ray
Did you do an install video? I looked, but couldn't seem to find one.
No, but there is look at in this upgrades round-up video - th-cam.com/video/uRbGmxun1LI/w-d-xo.html
Hopefully you remembered to turn on the hot water faucet to relieve the pressure before removing the hot water tank plug. Please tell me I'm not the only one...
I usually use the pressure relief valve. But, been there and done that. :)
Personally I never touch the hot water pressure relief valve. Not after I opened mine on my home electric tank, just because it was saying touch me and I ended up having to replace it because it developed a drip that I couldn't get to stop. After that I never touched one again, really. lol
@@sailingsolar It's important to exercise the pressure relief valve so it doesn't "freeze". You are better off to replace it because it's leaking versus having a system failure due to over pressurization.