More Motorhome Mantenance: Eric Flushes Out Our Hot Water Tank

It's that time of year again... Time to flush out the hot water tank.  First, Eric goes to the inventory list and looks for where he's stowed the hot water tank rinser.

He locates bin 14.

This handy gadget &

water hose will clean out

out hot water tank.

Eric opens the bay located
on the passenger rear of
our motorhome.

Behind this grate is the

hot water exhaust vent.

I admit, this is an area 

of the motorhome I 

haven't explored.

 At the bottom of the water
heater is the nut that must
 be removed to empty the
hot water tank.

The water must be turned off
& hot water is run inside until
 it's not too hot to work with.

After the hot water tank has drained, Eric turns on the water hose, inserts the hot water tank rinser nozzle and "back flushes" the hot water tank.  He wants to clean the tank of calcium crystals that form from using hard water.  The nozzle is turned to direct the
water spray to all surfaces within the hot water tank.

Several minutes later, Eric's shoes and pants are wet.  And...

There's a pool of mineral

crystals on the driveway
that he heaps together.

If we had an anode rod type of
water heater there would be a
lot more of these crystals.

These crystals are on their

way to the trash can.

The mineral crystals don't interfere with the hot water tank's ability to make abundant amounts of hot water as long as they don't build up too much.  After the crystals have been removed from the hot water tank, it is refilled with water.

You MUST fill the tank BEFORE you turn the heating element or LP burner on.  After the 
tank is purged of all the air we turn on the electric element to get our water back to 
HOT HOT HOT!