Back from our first trip with water questions

[justus]

We just got back from our first camping trip.
It was a great trip.
We need to stream line the pop-up and take down processes, but everything else went well.  

I had a few questions: :confused:

1. What is the best way to drain the fresh water tank?
I have a drain that dumps it on the ground but I am not sure if that is good edict. The only other option I see is to turn on the faucet and let it drain out the gray water hose into the holding tank.

2. Do you drain all the water lines (hot and cold) or is it best to leave water in them?

3. Do you drain your water heater, or is it better to keep it full of water?
If I drain it the anode rod will not touching the water. Would that cause a corrosion problem in the tank?

I am sure I will think of more questions as I go through my setup / tear down check list.

Thanks for all the advice,

Me, DW, DS
1998 Skamper 23s
2005 Toyota Sienna

[flyfisherman]

Only one comment on draining the freashwater tank ~ I don't see a problem draining the tank at site, afteral it's potable water. You might pull the camper off the site itself, say a few feet down the drive, then release the water. When I had a Coleman with the water tank in the floor and was leaving one particular C/G that had close sites and it was all clay and made into mud real easy (before they finally dumped pea rock on the sites), I use to pull along the road side, unscrew the drain and put same into my pocket, and then drive on down the road. Of course, that was all country road!

I wonder if you could fashion a short piece of drain hose and release the water at site with the water running onto the grass.  Anyway, I don't see it a big deal with clean water so long as the site itself was'nt getting all bugered up for the next guy.  There, I've said my piece.



Fly

[wavery]

Only one comment on draining the freashwater tank ~ I don't see a problem draining the tank at site, afteral it's potable water. You might pull the camper off the site itself, say a few feet down the drive, then release the water. When I had a Coleman with the water tank in the floor and was leaving one particular C/G that had close sites and it was all clay and made into mud real easy (before they finally dumped pea rock on the sites), I use to pull along the road side, unscrew the drain and put same into my pocket, and then drive on down the road. Of course, that was all country road!

I wonder if you could fashion a short piece of drain hose and release the water at site with the water running onto the grass.  Anyway, I don't see it a big deal with clean water so long as the site itself was'nt getting all bugered up for the next guy.  There, I've said my piece.



Fly

CGs don't like campers to drain water anywhere in the campgrounds. It just makes a mess for other campers.

I took out the 1/2" pipe plug out of my tank and installed a 1/2" water faucet in it's place. I think it was about $3 at Home Depot. Some others have run PVC piping to the edge of the camper and put a faucet on it.

I pull off the road (after leaving the CG) and open the valve. It drains on the way home.

[dthurk]

We don't drain our fresh tank or water heater until the end of the season when we're winterizing.  We don't normally fill the fresh tank, though, unless we have no water hookups, then we fill it at the campground.  We prefer to have only a few gallons in the tank while travelling.   We do use the camper quite frequently during the season, so what's left in the tank doesn't have much time to get stale.  Draining the fresh tank onto the ground would not present any problem at all, so long as you don't inconvenience the next campers to come along, as flyfisherman is saying.

[wavery]

We just got back from our first camping trip.
It was a great trip.
We need to stream line the pop-up and take down processes, but everything else went well.  

I had a few questions: :confused:

1. What is the best way to drain the fresh water tank?
I have a drain that dumps it on the ground but I am not sure if that is good edict. The only other option I see is to turn on the faucet and let it drain out the gray water hose into the holding tank.

2. Do you drain all the water lines (hot and cold) or is it best to leave water in them?

3. Do you drain your water heater, or is it better to keep it full of water?
If I drain it the anode rod will not touching the water. Would that cause a corrosion problem in the tank?

I am sure I will think of more questions as I go through my setup / tear down check list.

Thanks for all the advice,

Me, DW, DS
1998 Skamper 23s
2005 Toyota Sienna

CGs don't like campers to drain water anywhere in the campgrounds. It just makes a mess for other campers.

I took out the 1/2" pipe plug out of my tank and installed a 1/2" water faucet in it's place. I think it was about $3 at Home Depot. Some others (with shorter arms than mine :p ) have run PVC piping to the edge of the camper and put a faucet on it. That way they don't have to get on their knees and reach way under the trailer to open the faucet.

I pull off the road (after leaving the CG) and open the valve. It drains on the way home.

Some people drain the after heater, some don't. I personally drain it if we don't have a camp-out planned for 3 months. In otherwords.....we never drain ours. :-()

[tlhdoc]

I drain my fresh water tank and water heater when we leave the campground after each trip.  Early on I didn't drain my water heater and on the next trip I had "sulfur" smelling water.  Now I drain it after every trip.

[offagain]

We just got back from our first camping trip.
It was a great trip.
We need to stream line the pop-up and take down processes, but everything else went well.  

I had a few questions: :confused:

1. What is the best way to drain the fresh water tank?
I have a drain that dumps it on the ground but I am not sure if that is good edict. The only other option I see is to turn on the faucet and let it drain out the gray water hose into the holding tank.

2. Do you drain all the water lines (hot and cold) or is it best to leave water in them?

3. Do you drain your water heater, or is it better to keep it full of water?
If I drain it the anode rod will not touching the water. Would that cause a corrosion problem in the tank?

I am sure I will think of more questions as I go through my setup / tear down check list.

Thanks for all the advice,

Me, DW, DS
1998 Skamper 23s
2005 Toyota Sienna

We pull out of our site on to the paved road in the camp ground and open up the valve on the tank and remove the plug on the hot water tank and let that drain out. This only takes about 3 minutes and we are on our way.

[barbjeff]

As mentioned before we just pull off to the side of the raos after leaving the CG, unscew the plug and the tanks drains in the way home! Just don't forget to put the plug back in or you'll be standing in you driveway before the next trip wondering how your tank sprung such a big leak!!