Cleaning water heater with vinegar

I have seen a few videos and read a few articles on cleaning the water heater and adding vinegar is great however each video and article shows how to add the vinegar using a diversion hose or switch or antifreeze additive hose.

My question is how do I add a vinegar mixture into my Atwood 6 gallon without these contraptions which I do not have? Do I just pour it into my fresh water tank with a funnel and add water to it then turn on the water pump and turn on the hot water in my kitchen sink to get it into the drained water heater?

Totally ready to do this yet cornfussed

my question to you is why do you want to clean it? generally unless your full timing the heater wont be on long enough to mineralize - i drain mine in the winter and fill it back up in the summer which is about 3 months in the spring and fall i drain it after every weekend incase we get a cold spell

Pull the psi valve. And then pours in with a. Funnel

I just recently purchased a 2000 Fleetwood Terry 30ft 5er and have no idea how long it has been since its last cleaning and as I drained it junk came a tumbling out and I am gonna be full timing it within the next week or so.

Robertusa123 do I pour it into the psi valve or into the fresh water tank and run it through that way?  The psi spout is at a difficult angle and pointed down and to the left directly at about a 45 degree angle next to the exhaust vent

I thought about doing this when I removed my water heater earlier this summer.  Atwood specifically says not to clean the aluminum tank with any type of acid.  Acid and aluminum do not play well together.

A simple spraying with the water heater spraying wand should be enough.

Yes! Acid and aluminium do not mix well! Have you ever tried wrapping a lasagna with aluminium foil without a parchment liner laid on top first?  It basically dissolves the foil. I thought about that as well but watched a video that the person then flushed the system with baking soda therefore neutralizing the acids effect seeing as how the vinegar isn't sitting in there forever.

Totally new to this and all input is greatly appreciated.

Obviously, the WH needed drained!!  Cleaning may help.

Method 1  Remove drain plug and flush thoroughly with a flush wand.  No vinegar needed.  The water pressure should dislodge most of the hard water "rocks" and flush them out.  This is 8 Muddy Paws method.

Method 2.  REMOVE PRESSURE RELIEF VALVE from the WH, then add vinegar directly to the tank.  Reinstall valve, fill with water and proceed.  Robert suggested this.

Either one should work well.

This is verbatim from a Atwood handout: 

CLEANING ATWOOD WATER HEATER
1. Turn off your main water supply.
Drain you water heater tank.
Reinstall drain plug.
Remove the pressure-temperature relief valve.
With a funnel use 4 parts white vinegar to two parts water. (In a 6 gallon tank that would be 4  gallons vinegar to 2 gallons water).

2. Cycle the water heater, letting it run under normal operation 4-5 times.
At no time do you remove the vinegar from the tank.
Once this has been completed, remove the drain plug and drain the water heater.

3. After thoroughly draining the tank, to remove the sediment, flush the water heater. If you elect to use air pressure, it may be applied either through the inlet or outlet on the rear of the tank or applied through the pressure-temperature relief valve. Remove the pressure-temperature relief valve and insert your air pressure through the pressure-temperature relief valve coupling. In either case, with the drain valve open, the air pressure will force the remaining water out of the unit.
If air pressure is unavailable, your unit can be flushed with fresh water. Fresh water should be pumped into the tank either with the onboard pump or external water pressure. External pressure may be hosed into the unit either through the inlet or outlet found on the rear of the tank or the pressure-temperature relief valve coupling located on the front of the unit.
Continue this flushing process for approximately five minutes allowing ample time for the fresh water to agitate the stagnant water on the bottom of the tank and forcing the deposits through the drain opening.

4. Upon completion of the steps above, replace the drain plug and the pressure-temperature relief valve.

5. Refill tank with fresh water that contains no sulfur.

I'm curious where that handout came from, Dutch. Atwood makes no mention of that procedure, or any use of vinegar, in the Atwood owner manual or their water heater maintenance manual. Was it an Atwood representative, or somebody else? I see YouTube videos about it, but don't think that is official Atwood.

This is the brochure that Atwood provides for heater service:
http://www.askforatwood.com/images/WaterHeaterServiceTri-Fold.pdf

I have those same instructions in my Atwood book. It's listed as a way to remove "rotten egg" odor.

Gary RV Roamer said:

I'm curious where that handout came from, Dutch. Atwood makes no mention of that procedure, or any use of vinegar, in the Atwood owner manual or their water heater maintenance manual. Was it an Atwood representative, or somebody else? I see YouTube videos about it, but don't think that is official Atwood.

This is the brochure that Atwood provides for heater service:
http://www.askforatwood.com/images/WaterHeaterServiceTri-Fold.pdf

Click to expand...

This procedure is mentioned on page 2 of the brochure you linked to. (See under Unpleasant odors)

This procedure is mentioned on page 2 of the brochure you linked to. (See under Unpleasant odors)

Click to expand...

Well, DUH! And Mea Culpa too!  Thanks for pointing that out!!!

Have always used the regular "sanitize" procedure for rotten eggs or any other water content concern.

Gary RV Roamer said:

Well, DUH! And Mea Culpa too!  Thanks for pointing that out!!!

Have always used the regular "sanitize" procedure for rotten eggs or any other water content concern.

Click to expand...

I also used the "bleach" method to sanitize my fresh water system and let it run thru the water-heater but could not get the rotten egg smell removed until I used the Atwood advised method. You should have seen the gunk that came out of the tank, vinegar really works like a charm.

I just dis the bleach method for all the lines and drained and flushed the water heater now I will do the vinegar treatment this weekend just to see what else comes out of the water heater.  Great info people thank you!

I know this is an older thread, but I referenced it today to de-stink my water heater.  I tried to use the Atwood method on my Suburban heater, and it rebelled!  The PT valve is probably original, and never been out.  It informed me in VERY firm terms that IT WAS NOT MOVING!!!

I found another thread where Dutch  linked to a video with SLIGHTLY different instructions.  I suggest this simpler version.

Pull and drain water, then rinse.  Replace the drain plug.  Turn shore water off.  USING THE WINTERIZE FUNCTION, SUCK IN THE VINEGAR WITH THE PUMP, WHICH WILL GO INTO THE EMPTY HOT WATER TANK.

I just filled the rest of the tank with water and turned on the heater.  I will report back how this works.

Since the odor is now in both cold and hot water, I plan to chlorine sanitize the whole system again tomorrow.  I believe what I may have missed before was sanitize the low point drain.

The area where I spend the winter has horrible water.  I have to do this at least once per year to get the stink out but I use 100% vinegar (10 gallons) and let her sit overnite at running temperature.  I use my winterization fitting also to suck the vinegar into the water heater but I don't pull the drain plug to get it out.  Instead I simply run fresh water through the tank until it's gone then pull the plug to flush.  The reason is that I don't want to etch the concrete on my RV pad with the vinegar as it drains out of the tank at full strength.  Also, I DO NOT mess with the over pressure valve, too much chance of it not closing and then not being able to get it out of the tank without taking the threads with it.

As stated, I ran about 50% vinegar into the WH last evening, filled with water, heated to temp, and turned the heater off.  I ran some of this through the faucets to decalcify the aerators.  This morning, I drained the entire system, pulled low point plugs, drained fresh water tank, etc.  I added a quart go bleach to the fresh tank filled, and I am now pumping that through the system.

Before I added vinegar yesterday, I flushed the tank, but got very little anything out.  No rocks, and very little colored water.  This morning after draining the tank, no rocks, but lots of brown cloudy water.  I musta done something right!

If I am thinking correctly, to sanitize the system, add bleach to the fresh water tank, then PUMP that bleach solution through the system, including hot water tank.  If I used shore water, the system would fill much quicker, but it would NOT be the super chlorinated water.  I must use the pump to sanitize.  Is this correct???

I normally don't pump sanitizing water into my hot water tank, I have done it and it won't hurt anything but you'll have to drain and flush your hot water tank again.  If you don't you'll be smelling a very strong bleach smell in your shower for a long time.  Keep in mind that your sanitizing water really should stay in the system for at least eight hours or longer to have the desired effect.  But yes, pump your sanitizing water through the system to kill anything living in the pump itself.

I don't know how big your fresh tank is but a quart of bleach is a LOT!!  The recommendation is for 1/4 cup per 15 gallons.  You won't hurt anything but you kind of over did it just a tad.

Note:  Even after sanitizing I don't drink the water out of the fresh tank.  For years we used bottled water and then about five years ago I installed a small Reverse Osmosis system in the rig although I still don't use tank water to charge that since it uses a lot of water.

I use the 1/4 per every 15 gallons of water too. Then I pump it throughout the entire water system including the water heater. There may be some stuff growing in there. I usually just drain as much as I can just trough the low point drains then hook up my water hose and run fresh water throughout the entire rig till most of the smell is gone. Even if there is a little smell left in the water, it will dissipate in a few days anyway. No big deal. I guess on must be living on the edge because I use my fresh water tank whenever we travel and while we are in spots where there are no water hook ups. That's what the tank is there for. Use it.