water heater's been running - so what do you do afterwards when its time to go..... (1 Viewer)

[Steve_an_Nik]

The water heater I understand that you dont turn on either the gas or electric until its full of water.... But what do you do when its time to go home and you have a full tank of water and the gas/electric has been on running making it nice an hot...

Do you switch off the leccy the night before so its cooled down so you can empty it or just switch off and dump the water straight away - but would nt the latter do damage to the heater?

as I aint sure I turned off the leccy the night before and then emptied the tank of the cold water and had to wash in freezing cold water... Would it be fine to switch off the heater and dump straight away or not

All and any advice is gratful

 

[Jimbohorlicks]

Why would youvwant to dump a tank of hot water?
We just leave ours in the tank, unless we are parking the van up and not using it in cold weather.

 

[PaulC70]

Umm i do the dishes with the hot water. or have a shower?

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[Badknee]

Sorry you’ve lost me. Unplug the leccy, turn the water heater to off and away you go.

 

[Steve_an_Nik]

not sure that I have explained this.... Can I empty the water shortly after switching the heater off or do I have to let it cool down first as read that you can burn it out whilst its running with no water... They say fill up first before switching on, obviously....

Can it be switched off then emptied straight away or leave it until heater has cooled down then empty..... Thonk I just have answered that question myself

 

[ManTheVan]

Just don’t empty it before you leave! It’s fine to travel with water in the heater. It would be a waste to dump it, having spent the energy heating it up! We often leave ours on when travelling, anyway. Not an issue.

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[BillandHelen]

Yes, you can dump it while it’s hot. We often empty ours, including the water tank, before travelling in winter to ensure all the water gets shaken out the pipes before the van goes back into storage.

 

[TUCANO]

No need to wash in cold water, just boil a kettle, remembering to put cold water into the bowl first though.

 

[donkey]

Just drain it hot or cold. If you have a Truma 4E or similar you can run the heater without water. Anyway the boiler is not even that hot, even at its hottest setting it will only be 60degrees.

Geoff

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[JockandRita]

In the case of the older Carver type water heaters, DO NOT DRAIN WHILST HOT, as this creates a vacuum which in turn displaces the rubber non return valve, causing the water to drain back from the tap.

There is a quick fix if it happens, but I always carried a spare n/r/ valve anyway in case of total failure.

Cheers

Jock.

Edited for correction (in bold).

 

[stevewagner]

Just drain it hot or cold. If you have a Truma 4E or similar you can run the heater without water. Anyway the boiler is not even that hot, even at its hottest setting it will only be 60degrees.

Geoff

Hot water can scald at 60 degrees

 

[Reallyretired]

I can't understand why you want to empty the water before you go home. Is it because you cannot empty it wherever you store it. The tank doesn't need emptying unless there is risk of freezing, just leave it full it saves the hassle of bleeding the air out of the system when you next use it.
To answer the question its OK to empty it when it's hot as long as the hot water isn't going to damage wherever you empty it.

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[poppycamper]

I also can't understand why you want to empty hot water tank
However yes, once boiler is turned off it should be safe to empty.... Not on a grass pitch though....
Ever noticed those horrible brown circles of brown grass?... They are caused by folk doing just that... emptying hot water from tank onto grass pitch and killing grass.

 

[Rapido925M]

It might be a weight savings problem. Some MHs are expected to travel with only 20 litres of water and OP may be wanting to drain down to achieve that amount.

Why anyone would continue heating water until minutes before draining it is beyond me, even if the electricity/gas was “free”.

Gordon

 

[Lenny HB]

Only ever empty ours if there is a risk of freezing.
Empting when hot would kill any grass under it.

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[chaser]

Another for just leave it, we never empty ours unless there is going to be frost, in fact we fill up at every opportunity, always travel full if we can, when leaving anywhere that has water we always fill before leaving not emptying.
We then know we don't need to find somewhere with water for at least 3 says.
Nothing worse than being empty and having to run about trying to find some.

 

[PeterCarole29]

Another for just leave it, we never empty ours unless there is going to be frost, in fact we fill up at every opportunity, always travel full if we can, when leaving anywhere that has water we always fill before leaving not emptying.
We then know we don't need to find somewhere with water for at least 3 says.
Nothing worse than being empty and having to run about trying to find some.

We do the same we leave home full (because we can) and arrive often at a site full. I will empty the colld water at the end of a holiday but only empty the hot for storage in the winter. In between useing if its months i will flush out the system with fresh water.

 

[JockandRita]

We do the same we leave home full (because we can) and arrive often at a site full. I will empty the colld water at the end of a holiday but only empty the hot for storage in the winter. In between useing if its months i will flush out the system with fresh water.

Same here too.

Jock.

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[donkey]

Hot water can scald at 60 degrees

I was replying to the OPs question, he was not interested in the health and safety aspect, but was concerned about boiler damage.

Geoff

 

[L' Hobo]

Yes, you can dump it while it’s hot. We often empty ours, including the water tank, before travelling in winter to ensure all the water gets shaken out the pipes before the van goes back into storage.

Just don't empty it on grass, (very hot water can kill grass) use the proper drain-away if on site and, if it's clean (as, hopefully, it should be) use a storm drain etc.
I take mine home!

 

[Spriddler]

I understand that you dont turn on either the gas or electric until its full of water.

It's for the same reason that you don't turn on an electric kettle or put it on the gas ring when there's no water in it as the heating element or gas flame would have nothing to heat.
You don't empty out left-over hot water from the kettle at home. Why would you?

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[JockandRita]

Steve_an_Nik, it may help if you told us what type of heater/boiler you are referring to, as there are those which can be operated without water in the tank, predominantly Truma and Alde.

Cheers,

Jock.

 

[Jimbohorlicks]

They have an auto trail apache 2007. I would assume that a van of this era doesn't need the boiler draining unless it's being unused/ stored in a frosty area after having had hot water in the system.
Any Apache funsters out there?

 

[L' Hobo]

In my 2007 Murvi, the hot engine coolant runs through my water heater so it can heat the hab. water while being driven, will also run though while tank empty. It does no harm.

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[lynnian]

Don't empty the hot water onto the grass on your pitch it will leave patches of dead grass ! If you need to, empty onto drive or similar .
If you switch it off in the morning when you get up , have a wash , wash dishes . Then the tank will be full of cooler or cold water , so safer to empty if you really need to empty it. Only empty mine at the end of the summer unless very cold weather due.

 

[Nirvanauk]

Don’t empty it unless it’s freezing.

 

[Googlebot]

I empty ours in winter, if it’s hot and I don’t need it, it will cool anyway and I may as well travel home without it.

I am never going to worry about 10 litres of hot water I wasn’t going to use anyway.

I don’t empty it on grass mind, it does indeed kill it.

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[hja]

We used to empty hot water tank when we had a caravan, can’t remember why now, but there was a reason. Maybe to do with stability, water sloshing around etc In the van we never empty it except if storing van. Our system is to turn off water heating in the morning. Usually between washing and washing up, so as to stop using energy. Only empty cold water if not using van for several weeks, only empty boiler at end of season, stops having to re prime the system. If weight is an issue, depending on where going next, would rather empty some cold than the boiler.

 

[pappajohn]

It can be dumped hot but as long as the gas and hookup are off why would you want or need to empty it......it's cost you to heat it, why dump it.
It will do no harm travelling with the boiler full.

 

[PeterCarole29]

Steve_an_Nik, it may help if you told us what type of heater/boiler you are referring to, as there are those which can be operated without water in the tank, predominantly Truma and Alde.

Cheers,

Jock.

Agree i was well hacked off when i thought i must have ruined our Truma water heater when i had left it on our drive connected to 240v with the water heater fuse on for days with no water.(an oversite )
To my surprise and pleasure found the eliment has a trip switch on it and just needed re setting(when i put water in)

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