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Old 10-12-2008, 09:13 AM   #41
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Hello Thudman,

Good question, I don't even find the valve in your plumbing diagrams. Is it right beside the water heater next to the pump? Does the water trickle out or does it seem to be under pressure?
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Old 10-12-2008, 10:10 AM   #42
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Yes it's next to (in front of) the pump as you look at it. Says Normal & Bypass. Wtr seems to come out under pressure in Bypass, tho I did not have the source spigot full on.

Mystery to me.

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Old 10-12-2008, 01:09 PM   #43
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Answer to Poll Question = Nylon. Same plug used for 2.5 years.

Hot H2O tank gets flushed with a wand every 4-6 weeks. Plug gets its dose of Teflon tape and reinstalled with a 7/8 12pt socket.

Always thought the tank was being flushed adequately by water in the back and out the plug hole with the T&P valve closed so the water had to fight to get out (got turbulence in the tank that way). What a difference when a wand was used!! Musta had stuff in there since early 2006!!
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Old 10-12-2008, 07:00 PM   #44
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Hi Thudman,

I'm stumped but here is my best guess. We are full time and I've never switched the valve to bypass so I don't know exactly what would happen.

In the plumbing diagram for the 2003 38G, the picture that should show the valve and how it's plumbed has the water pump in the way. I'm not sure if the plumbing is the same or not but the 2004 38G has a much better picture, but the pump is still in the way.

If you look at the 2004 40WD the pipes are shown clearly. The bypass valve's handle and how the water is diverted through it are not shown. It can only be that the valve is a two way. In the normal position, cold water is routed from the right in the picture straight through the body of the valve to the bottom of the tank to the left side in the picture. In the bypass position, the cold water line to the bottom of the tank is blocked and cold water is diverted out the top of the valve to the hot water line from the top of the tank. The tank would still be under pressure but water can't flow through it. I'm not sure what purpose this serves. It would take a valve to close the hot line to the top of the tank to truly isolate the tank and allow it to be drained and left empty with the drain plug removed when city water is connected or the pump is turned on.

Perhaps someone else with a 38G can tell us if theirs works the same way as yours.

Back to the original topic. Our plastic plug cracked and started leaking after about a year and a half. It had never been touched. The old plug was easy to remove and I replaced it with an iron (steel) pipe plug and it's still in there with no leaks. I have no doubt that there is a layer of rust on the inside surface of the plug but there is no external evidence of any galvanic electrolysis between the aluminum and the iron. I used Teflon tape on the threads.
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Old 10-13-2008, 12:46 AM   #45
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Water heaters have a check valve on the hot outlet of the tank. This allows for a single valve bypass and keeps water from back feeding into the tank.
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Old 10-13-2008, 04:37 AM   #46
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On this subject I know that my WH has a check valve on inlet and outlet. I know bwcause I had one go bad. Had to get a nephew, much more limber than me to change. Changed the wrong one the first time and had to bo the same again. Next time I would change both anytime I had a problem. Have heard of a lot of people that remove them but I would rather keep things stock.
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Old 10-13-2008, 05:06 AM   #47
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Sooner or later, the check valves fail. I replaced mine with a good old Camco hot water heater dual-valve bypass kit. Now I can positively isolate the HW Tank when I winterize. I also replaced the hot water element while I had the system torn apart, and added a 1/2" quarter-turn ball drain valve to the front side. I drain my system after every campout. I can provide pics/how-to if anyone wants them. Just PM me for a 3 meg Word/jpeg file and I will e-mail...

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Old 10-22-2008, 05:22 AM   #48
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A mini 1/2" ball valve (Ace hardware) and a stainless pipe nipple creates good drain for water heater. Red paste is teflon pipe dope.
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Old 10-22-2008, 09:08 PM   #49
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On third MH after 15 years, closing in on 90,000 miles, and never had a WH plug problem. Plastic plugs work, but don't crank 'em down, just snug. Must say, I like (and will certainly use) troth's ball valve at the drain, as I can leave the pliars in the tool box, a simple and elegant solution
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Old 10-23-2008, 04:23 AM   #50
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I have always used the nylon plug. Sometimes I get a small drip just before the heater comes up to temperature.

I always wonder if they made a nylon connector you could screw in, and then connect a shut off type value to it. I have never looked into this, but it has crossed my mind.
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