2017 travato 59K truma drain problem

[mlc]

I just bought a 2017 travato 59K, I am trying to drain the truma water heater. No matter what I try I can only get it to drain 1/2 gal, there should be 2.64 gal in the tank. when I open the yellow drain valve it will only drain 1/2 gal then stops. How do I drain the whole tank. Have watched every youtube video and read everything I can find, called truma and winnebago all say it should drain the whole tank from that valve, none of them know why it will not. Any help would be great. Thank you

[Morich]

Not meaning to insult! But it is true that it takes most of us a bit to get the details straight?
So I looked at the interactive drawings for anything that looked odd on this setup and there is one point that I might miss if I had never seen one of these before. I haven't!
https://catalog3d.winnebagoind.com/menu/Parts.htm


So is there any chance you are getting to the pressure relief valve rather than the actual drain?
It appears to set higher and may not let ALL the water out of the heater?

NOT the one with a lever on top to open but another down and closer to the tank, perhaps?

Click this snip to get a better view!


Second thought might be that you need to open a hot water faucet to let air in as the water goes out?

[mlc]

Thanks. Have tried yellow drain valve and pressure valve together and separate with hot taps open still nothing

[Morich]

Okay, moving beyond that, perhaps the drain is getting plugged with some fomr of debric? doesn't seem it would totally stopper the flow but weird things happen. Maybe something flexible like thin plastic wraps sucks into the drain?

Do you see a way to connect the RV to pressure water, closee all the faucets and then open the drain on the tank so that something might be flushed out of the drain?
A second point on this might be that it would prove out if the problem is the water is still there but not high enough to drain and if you add more it reaches a level wherte it flows out OR is it something floating against the drain and you find you can fill the tank but not much comes out?

Possible to get a hose directly on the drain to sort of back flush the drain?

I'm not familiar with these, so lots of guessing but it is hard to imagine a somewhat new one to be so restricted water would not flow out. But it is true that quite a lot of reports on other type of types tell us plstic cutting and debris get left in the tanks to cause jams of various sorts.

Can you see this tank enough to get an idea of what you are dealing with in the tank itself? I would assume some form of metal tank with lots of channels. Thinking something like a small radiator?
Also where are you finding the specs on volume? Is it solid info or maybe you are expecting more than true??

[creativepart]

How do you know how much water there was actually in the tank? I know you have a spec for how much is supposedly in the tank, but on a previously owned unit all bets are off. What if the Truma was drained previously and partially refilled… maybe accidentally? I don’t know why or how, but unexplainable stuff happens.

So, when you drained the tank you got the 1/2 gal that was in there because there was no more in there???

Another possibility, how level are you parked - front to bak and side to side??

[Morich]

Originally Posted by creativepart

How do you know how much water there was actually in the tank? I know you have a spec for how much is supposedly in the tank, but on a previously owned unit all bets are off. What if the Truma was drained previously and partially refilled… maybe accidentally? I don’t know why or how, but unexplainable stuff happens.

So, when you drained the tank you got the 1/2 gal that was in there because there was no more in there???

Another possibility, how level are you parked - front to bak and side to side??

Obvious good question! Sometimes the obvious is the one most easily overlooked!
One of my first "real" jobs was going on TV service calls and we occasionally found the Tv was not plugged in!

[mlc]

Found out you have to open yellow drain valve then take red hot line at top of truma off the metal tube, that will let air in and the tank will drain

[creativepart]

Thanks for letting us know. That makes sense and now we'll know the answer for the future when someone asks. Way to go!

[mlc]

The tank was full, found that I have to open yellow drain valve then take off the red line at top of truma, that will let air in and tank will drain. Opening a faucet will not let air in, you have to take the red line off to let it in and release the vacuum.

[Morich]

Originally Posted by mlc

The tank was full, found that I have to open yellow drain valve then take off the red line at top of truma, that will let air in and tank will drain. Opening a faucet will not let air in, you have to take the red line off to let it in and release the vacuum.

Reading the "manual", something seems "wrong" as there is no mention of taking that line off?
Can you tell us which process you were going through when draining? Were you setting up for storage and blowing the lines out or just wanting to do a temporary draining and going to use it again before storing?
Can you tell us which procedure was used when draining?

What I'm getting at is this is a new system and has some small points that are likely to be different but if you have all the faucets open as the manual shows, I can't see any reason there should be an airlock situation to need to open lines.

[mlc]

I just bought the unit, it had water in and I wanted to drain it till I got ready to use it. Won't go through all the things I tried as that was a two week process. Called Winnebago, several repair shops, internet,YouTube, and Truma. Truma people were most helpful, but could not figure it out at first as each manufacturer they send them to installs them different. Third or fourth time I called them to ask if it would hurt to try blowing the water out of the unit, they said it would, no air or antifreeze should go in it. But she did say to make sure the clear tube coming off the hot water outlet was not kinked or blocked, which it was not. Then she said to disconnect the hot line. When I did that it drained. Nothing else I tried for two weeks would drain it but that did, for some reason opening taps or anything else would not let air in to release the vacuum. I took that fitting off while it was disconnected from the Truma and looked at it, the vent port on top of it that the clear line hooks to I think is defective. If I blow on it or suck on it either way no air will go through it, how can it be a vent if nothing can go through it. I think it is defective, I think if it worked right it would let air in and drain the tank. I have ordered a new fitting and will let you know if it works after I receive it and get it installed.

[mlc]

Don't know why opening a tap does not let air in and let it drain, I think there might be a check valve in the line. There are two white fittings one on the blue line and one on the red, that I think may be check valves, don't know what else they would be there for.

[Morich]

Looking deeeper, there may be an explanation as this tank has a somewhat unusual design that uses an "air admittance" valve at the top!
If I am reading correctly, you found that taking the red line off relieved the airlock?
Am I looking at the right place? Check me on that as reading drawings is not always as clear as looking directly at things!



What I think I see?
If the valve marked is designed to let hot water come out of the tank at the top and go to the RV, while cold water comes in at the other blue line at the bottom, that would be pretty standard for RV water heater tanks.
But this appears to be a dual purpose valve and has an open tube going out to the right and below the floor for air to come in!
If you solved the problem by removing the red line at the tank top or this valve, it would make sense that the valve was stuck and was not letting the air in as the water tried to drain!

Maybe the valve is simply stuck and needs a good whack?
Maybe there is a mud dauber nest in the tube and it won't pass air?

Scary how many things like the airspeed indicators on aircraft use a pitot tube system and it gets stopped up by insects!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitot_tube

I watched a program last night where a Boeing 757 with 150 + passengers was lost due to a clogged tube and poor pilot understanding of their instruments!

I guess we are lucky we keep the RV close to the ground?

[Morich]

YES!
They show as check valves!

Click to get better view!


Rv water heaters often have check valves at the back of the heater to reduce the backflow of water at the heater to reduce reheating of water after it has left the heater!

[mlc]

Yes it is the elbow fitting with the vent port on top, I have ordered a new one. However great minds think alike, last night before I read your post today I was playing with the fitting, could not blow or suck through it, smacked it on the counter top, then tried it again. Now when I suck nothing, but when I blow it lets air through, I think the problem is solved. I will hook the lines back up tomorrow and see if it works like it should. If it does I will have a spare when it gets here, if it does not or sticks again at some point I will have a spare.

[mlc]

I had checked clear tube no kinks or blocks I can blow through it.

[Morich]

Highly trained techs always keep in mind that things may need a good "whack"!
I've heard it even works on people if used correctly!

[mlc]

I'll keep that in mind

[mlc]

Works like it should, I guess I will have a spare till it sticks again.

[bobojay]

We have a 2019 K and have never had an issue like this. I'll have to keep this in mind if we ever do