Harmful to leave residual antifreeze in hot water tank?

[Ronanmd1]

Hey guys - The water system on my 2013 Hawk confuses me. I am trying to winterize the system (it gets real cold up here in Canada over the winters!).

As far as I can tell, there is a lower shut off valve that prevents water from draining back into the fresh water tank when closed (so you don't lose pressure and drain your hot water out). There is also an upper shut off valve that I think allows for the water pump to send water from the fresh water tank into the hot water tank when it is in the open position.

So...if I close the upper valve and connect a hose that pulls antifreeze from a plastic jug directly into the water pump, I can effectively send the antifreeze to the cold water lines at the sink and shower without any of the antifreeze going to either the cold or hot water tanks. But with this configuration, there is no way to send antifreeze through the hot water lines.

However, if I open the upper valve, then the water pump will send the antifreeze into the hot water tank. After about 1 gallon is in, antifreeze will come out from the hot water tank to the hot water taps, but in that case I end up with some antifreeze sitting in the hot water tank all winter. Will it harm the heating element if I leave some antifreeze in the hot water tank for the winter? Not too worried about the extra cost of sending some antifreeze into the hot water tank if it won't hurt anything. Or, should I flush it all out and then redo it, bypassing the tank (in which case I would only be sending antifreeze to the cold water taps)

As far as I can tell, there is not enough room to connect a proper hot water tank bypass hose under the cabinets.

Anyone figure out a better way to do this? Am I missing something?

Thanks for the advice,

Jason

 

[longhorn1]

First, the valve in the upper left allows water to the outdoor shower. The valve on the lower right will drain water from the water heater back into the water tank.
1. Open the valve to allow water to drain from the hot water heater back to the water tank. Drive around to help. Close the valve.
2. Drain the water tank
3. Add 2-3 gallons of pink RV anti-freeze.
4. Turn on the cold water faucet until you get pink. Do the same for the hot water faucet (you don't need to turn on the hot water heater).
5. Do the same for the hot and cold for the outdoor shower.
6. Leave the anti-freeze in the system for the winter.
7. Drain the gray water line.

Note that there might be up to 2 quarts of water in the hot water tank or a mix of anti-freeze and water. The manufacturer states this amount won't damage the hot water heater if it freezes. I always leave the hot water faucet on a little longer to insure I get anti-freeze in the water heater.

This is what FWC recommends. Good luck. We have a FWC 2014 Grandby. jd



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