If for what reason you have needed to empty your RV hot water heater system…then this article is just for you. Here’s why…By following this short guide on how to fill your RV hot water heater tank you will eliminate any air bursts that can cause more pressure in the water lines than normal causing fitting to fail and pipes to burst.
And you need to realize, there could be a cost to not doing it the right way…
You can burst or split a pipe, a joiner or fitting may fail which could cause your RV, van 5th wheeler whichever your type of rig to flood.
So if you’ve just replaced the anode, which you should check every year or emptied the tank for storage here are the steps you need to take.
There are two ways to remove the air from your tank as you fill it.
Either by opening up the Pressure Temperature Relief valve (ptr) for short. This is located at the top of your heater tank. See image below
or turning on the hot tap as you fill the tank.
With the PTR valve, turn the water fill on to the tank and pull open the valve by the little lever on the end of the valve.
When the tank is full water will come out of the hole. As you fill the tank you will hear air coming out of the hole where the water will come out.
If you don’t hear the air, you either haven’t got the valve open or water isn’t turned on and filling the tank.
Much same as when turning the hot tap on.
You will hear and feel air coming out of the outlet, will cough and splutter when tank becomes full and might squirt water everywhere so be warned.
Once you have a nice stream of water flowing through shut the faucet off or shut the valve and that is it.
For more information regarding RV hot water heatest check out our quick guide to RV water heaters