New to TT's trying to winterize

Hey guys,

My wife and I just bought an 88 Layton travel trailer and i'm new to all of this. I'm having trouble getting anti-freeze through the hot water lines but let me start with a little back story on the water heater.

I found out shortly after we purchased it, that the cold line to the water heater was unhooked. After hooking it, I realized that the water heater was leaking like crazy from the pressure release valve on the outside of the trailer. We wanted to get out and camp quickly, so I just plugged the cold line at the water heater until I could get around to fixing it. Everything was fine and the water was running like normal out of the could side. Obviously the hot sides of the faucets weren't working right now because of having the water heater unhooked.

Now, I went and installed a water heater bypass and figured I would fill the hot lines with anti-freeze even though there weren't used this season. I installed the kit which came with two valves and a hose that goes in between them to bypass the water heater. Installation seemed straight forward so I thought all would be good. I started pumping anti-freeze through the lines and it was coming out of the cold faucets but not the hot. I went outside to check the water heater and sure enough anti-freeze is leaking out of some little valve at the bottom of the water heater with what looks almost like a wing nut threaded on to it. I triple checked to make sure the valves were in the bypass position but I can't think of anything else that would cause this. It seems to me that the valves are the only thing in this process that could malfunction. Any ideas? Am I just making some sort of newbie mistake? Thanks in advance!

The little valve you're talking about is probably a drain that the previous owner installed. It makes it easier to drain the tank without having to remove a pipe plug. If you're getting antifreeze from that little valve, your valve line up is wrong or there's a faulty valve in your bypass.  Check the orientation again.

The other thing it could be is your check valve is leaking by if there is one. On the outlet side of the tank, which is the top pipe, you should have a check valve between the tank and the piping. This check valve prevents antifreeze from going into your heater which is part of the bypass procedure. Remove the check valve and inspect the internals. These valves are prone to failing. A new valve only costs $10.00. If there is no check valve, the previous owner probably removed it if there was no need to winterize. Instead of a check valve, it may be just a close nipple. In any case, you need a check vale there or go with a three valve bypass system. Just add a valve there in place of the check valve.

There doesn't seem to be any valves on the output other than the one I just installed. The water line screwed right to the back of the water heater before I added the bypass kit. I removed the bypass kit valves and they seem to be opening and closing properly from what I can see. So I guess i need to purchase a check valve! Do I need to go to the RV store for this or is this a standard hardware store item? Thanks!

Edit: After thinking about it, don't the bypass valves bypass any type of check valve that would be in the line. Since there is no check valve there now, the bypass valve should keep anything from reaching the heater right?

Hopefully this picture comes through. You can see the brass check valve in the top pipe at the tank.
https://www.google.com/search?q=2+valve+rv+bypass+kit&biw=1058&bih=448&tbm=isch&imgil=32gwgjRWFJzOIM%253A%253BEuf4KeSZe7l07M%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fblog.rvshare.com%25252Frv-hot-water-heater%25252F&source=iu&pf=m&fir=32gwgjRWFJzOIM%253A%252CEuf4KeSZe7l07M%252C_&dpr=1.25&usg=__pESjviCfYPhDZDioslhwb_mriZ4%3D&ved=0CGcQyjdqFQoTCPPspZngnckCFUY3PgodVhAHyg&ei=JWpOVrPGGcbu-AHWoJzQDA#imgrc=32gwgjRWFJzOIM%3A&usg=__pESjviCfYPhDZDioslhwb_mriZ4%3D

Here is the check valve at Home Depot: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Camco-1-2-in-Brass-Back-Flow-Preventer-23303/204220179?cm_mmc=Shopping%7cTHD%7cG%7c0%7cG-BASE-PLA-D26P-WaterHeaters%7c&gclid=CKfN_6njnckCFdc2gQodOFUP4g&gclsrc=aw.ds

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Camco-By-Pass-Kit-8-Supreme-Perm-Brass-for-6-gal-Tank/29764311?action=product_interest&action_type=title&item_id=29764311&placement_id=irs-106-t1&strategy=PWVUB&visitor_id&category=&client_guid=fb225ae6-d033-431a-b35d-6dd597fb1e35&customer_id_enc&config_id=106&parent_item_id=21781705&parent_anchor_item_id=21781705&guid=1d86f0f9-1ed3-41e7-a44a-053597fa67ef&bucket_id=irsbucketdefault&beacon_version=1.0.1&findingMethod=p13n

This is the kit that I have. Since there is already a valve on the output/hot side will the check valve still help my situation? Seems like a good idea once I get the water heater up and running but the valve I have on the output should block any back flow I think.

Your valves are different than the ones in the picture I provided.
It should work without the check valve as long as you have the valves installed correctly. It looks like if you installed the top valve backwards, antifreeze will go right into your heater instead of the hot water system piping. I think what you should do is remove the valves and make sure that they are installed correctly by blowing into the valves and see which port the air comes out while in bypass position.  The bottom valve, when in bypass position, the antifreeze should go up and into the supplied hose. With the top valve in bypass position, the antifreeze should be directed away from the heater.