RE: Strange Hot Water

[vjm1639]

 
On our first trip out in the new Mesa last weekend the water that would come out of the hot water faucet (filled before we picked it up from the dealer) was sort of fizzy, milky looking and had an odd smell...sorta like the old white liquid shoe polish (for those old enough to remember that! []).  It was a  tad  better at the end of the weekend, but still not to where I d drink it!    It would look pretty normal after it sat a while, but...ugh...   Is this normal?? Any clue what would cause it?  
 
 Vicki

[Campaholics]

 vjm1639
Vicki,
 White, fizzy water is not normal.  If both the cold and ot water were white and fizzy, and rapidly became clear without any residue, you could have a leak on the suction side of your water pump.  Thjs will suck in air and make really fine bubbles.  Look at all the connections between the water tank and the pump for evidence of leaks.  Other than that, I don t have any idea what it might be.  
 
 But, I would flush out the water system a couple of times, sanitize it, and flush a couple times again.  If you crawl around under the PU you will find a couple of little valves that will drain the HW tank.  Depending on how well you flushed the system after sanitizing with bleach, the most you may have is a slight chlorine taste.  
 
 Hope this helps, and good luck with your new PU,
 Bob

[Trlrboy]

 vjm1639
It s under warranty.  Take it back.

[vjm1639]

 vjm1639
great...thanks for the info guys..darn, I was hoping this was just something that they flushed through the system!

[Gone-Camping]

 vjm1639
Interesting post. My new hybrid was doing that last weekend too. Oddly enough, I didn t notice this problem the first time I used the trailer, but I was using the fresh holding tank due to lack of water hook-up. Last week I had a water connection, so didn t use the tank or the pump, and I had white milky funny smelling hot water too. The cold water by contrast looked just fine. Hmmmmm []

[Camping Coxes]

 vjm1639
When we drained and sanitized our system after buying our trailer used. the water that was coming out of the hot side was milky and odd smelling.  I think it s a by product of water sitting in the HWH for a while, now that I ve found out it wasn t just ours that did it.  The fizziness may be the aerating of the water that the faucet produces.  We have that and that s all it is.  It may " spit"  for a few seconds while it s pushing all the air out of the hoses, too.

[Wayfarer]

 vjm1639
Strange problem.  Have never heard this one before.  As to the suggestion that you take it back to the dealer: if you do, be prepared to do without it for several days, maybe several weeks, as this is their " busy"  season and they may be swamped this time of year.  Fix it yourself if you can and get on with camping!
 

[vjm1639]

 vjm1639
Well...for all of  us that have this problem...I checked out several hot water heater web pages for problems and " milky"  water....this is what they all say for water that clears after sitting...
 
 This is a natural phenomenon and is completely normal - the water is safe to use. This can happen in the springtime when the weather begins to warm, anytime there is a significant heat wave, or whenever the water has been turned off for awhile.
 
 Goes into a bunch of detail about air, gases...etc....but all i cared about is ..it s normal!  LOL..  We haven t had it out and on for more than a short weekend and we drink bottled water anyway, so I think I ll see how it goes before I m willing to give up my new toy!!  []

[Gone-Camping]

 vjm1639
Well, my next trip will be a 3 nighter and have Full Hook-up s, so I won t have any problems flushing the HWH out and making sure there is nothing but good clean fresh water in it. Since I ll have a sewer hook-up I ll be able to dump as necesary. What was mentioned above makes sense, the trailer had been sitting for 3 weeks with old water still in it. Hmmmm, mabe I need to drain it after each trip after all, didn t really want to have to do that if I use it every couple of weeks. Guess we ll see if it clears up or not next weekend!

[tlhdoc]

 vjm1639
I drain my tank after evey trip.  I haven t had a problem with " milky water" .

[abbear]

 vjm1639
It s the anode rod in the hot water tank.  It needs to be checked and/or replaced.  Easy to do and cheap as well.  Mine was like this when we bought it (used) and when I pulled the anode rod after asking on this board it literally crumbled in my hand and white sediment filled the bottom of my hot water tank.  Flushed out the tank, replaced the anode rod, and no problems since.  Hope this helps.

[Gone-Camping]

 vjm1639
Hmmmm, mine is brand spakin new, hard to believe it would be a bad annode rod. What does that piece actually do?

[abbear]

 vjm1639
The anode rod corrodes instead of the metal that makes up your hot water tank.  Maybe yours is brand spankin new, but it sure sounds like the problem.  Simple to check - just unscrew the anode rod and look at it.

[GaryWT]

 vjm1639
I have this problem at the beinging of the season.  I just run the HW until it clears up.  I would think you could do this in your driveway if you wanted, draining HW is no different than running your hose.

[Gone-Camping]

 vjm1639
Sounds reasonable. I didn t have this problem 3 weeks ago, and the only difference then was I was using the tank and pump, last week I had FHU site with city water. Hmmmm, guess I could run the hose out there and see what happens!