# Water Heater Drain Valve Mod



## Blue Oval (Jun 7, 2010)

Removed plastic plug and installed home depot drain valve. Had to cut of one tang on the handle for clearance. Work great, ops check good.


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## forceten (Nov 14, 2008)

I went with this

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0024ECD2I/ref=oss_product

I like your idea too.

There was no anoid rod at the drain plug for you?


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## Tangooutback (Apr 16, 2010)

Blue Oval said:


> Removed plastic plug and installed home depot drain valve. Had to cut of one tang on the handle for clearance. Work great, ops check good.


Neat. I am going to do this mod with an addition of a flexible tube at the end of the valve to direct water outside the compartment. Water drained from the valve and run down the side of trailer leaves an ugly stain mark. In the long run I am concerned that the heat would also damage the bottom dark color section on the camper exterior wall. This area is not painted. It looks like glued in color sheet similar to decal.


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## Blue Oval (Jun 7, 2010)

Forceten - I like the looks of that drain/anode combo. My trailer didn't have an anode (owner before me may have replaced it with the platic plug, dunno)

Tangooutback - So far no stains on mine, but I usually shut the water heater off when we go to bed the night before departure, so the water has cooled down some. It is amazing how warm the water still is even after 12-14 hours of being off! I'll have to look at attaching a hose to it, cause I dont want any hard water stains (I work to hard keeping it clean now)!


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## jasonrebecca (Oct 30, 2007)

I am not sure of the year, but older (than mine) had the plastic plug and the newer models have the anode. I believe it was a brand change in the HW heater.


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## Lmbevard (Mar 18, 2006)

My '06 had the plastic plug, no anode. I have went through 2 of them with one braking off in the hole and having to dig it out. finally found a petcock and 1/2 to 1/4 npt plug. so now all I have to do is to open the petcock and allow the tank to drain out. I made sure to us sealing compound so that it can be removed easily to flush the tank at least once a year. Cost? $3. May go with the anode later. I had tried a couple of 1/2" ball valves but could not get them to fit. Nice find on finding one that would.


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## GlenninTexas (Aug 11, 2004)

I used a 6" flex-riser pipe with a 1/2" cap on it. Flex riser purchased in the sprinkler section.

Regards, Glenn


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## thefulminator (Aug 8, 2007)

Be careful using sprinkler pipe. Some of the plastics used for them are not made to handle heat. You can have problems with failure under pressure and off gassing some nasty chemicals.


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## outback loft (Sep 22, 2008)

The Atwood water heater uses a plastic plug. The Dometic water heater uses an anode. The Dometic has a metal tank, the Atwood is either coated inside or is composite.


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## wtscl (May 22, 2007)

The valve I have in mine has the anode. Just curious if anyone know what the anode is for?


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## hautevue (Mar 8, 2009)

The anode rod is made of a metal that will corrode instead of the metal tank, when electrolytic corrosion takes place. Home (residential) hot water heaters (HWH) all have an anode rod that is maybe 4' or 5' long and sticks down into the tank from the top.

The anode slowly corrodes away and in doing so, extends the life of the water heater tank. The rods last years and years. My tank at the beach lasted 23 years before it finally started leaking. I checked the anode rod when I removed the old tank and there was still a little bit of it left!

I'm not sure if an anode rod is really necessary on a TT, unless the TT is used for year-round camping. If the water heater is wet from, say, March to October, that's 8 months. It should take 20 years for the tank to wear out and leak...Will that HWH last that long or will burners, jets, thermocouples, and so forth die and the owner simply just replace the whole unit? My guess is that it will be replaced well before the tank develops corrosion leaks...

But anode rods certainly can't hurt.


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## battalionchief3 (Jun 27, 2006)

Your statement is true but whats in the water can wipe out an anode rod quickly. I have seen campers with anode rods gone in a year. Don't know if its because of the different types of water hitting the rod from trip to trip or some other reason but it happens. I replace my water heater 7 years ago cause it was starting to rust at the bottom, figured I better before it makes a big mess, I should have check the rod just to see how it was. Oh well, maybe next time.


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## thefulminator (Aug 8, 2007)

I would do this mod except camco doesn't make one with the integral drain valve that fits a suburban water heater.


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