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Hot water tank not filling with water

Posted: July 17th, 2025, 2:57 pm
by tgebler
I have a 2000 396 Aft cabin. I know this is a strange question but my hot water tank does not appear to be filling. I reconnected the hoses after the winter and hooked to shore water. I then turn the spigot in the head to hot water and nothing came out. Help!!

Re: Hot water tank not filling with water

Posted: July 17th, 2025, 4:29 pm
by buster53
Ok, 2 things…
Make sure the drain spigot near the bottom of the tank is closed.
On my water heater water intake lines, I have 2 valves I can turn on and off to bypass the heater when winterizing. If I recall, one has to be open and the other closed, but not positive. $5 says you have those same 2 valves and they simply aren’t in the correct position.

Re: Hot water tank not filling with water

Posted: July 18th, 2025, 8:51 am
by bud37
Yup....make sure the bypass valve is closed if you have one, and give the tank time to fill with a hot tap open somewhere. To fill properly it must push the air out of the empty tank.

It'll be something real simple/missed I think on startup, we all have done it .... :-D

Re: Hot water tank not filling with water

Posted: July 18th, 2025, 12:26 pm
by Viper
I agree with all the above. If all else fails, some tanks have a check valve on one of the ports, if it’s stuck closed, you won’t get any water from the tank. Usually it’ll look like a regular brass nipple attached in one of the tank’s water ports. A lot of 2 valve by-pass setups also use these check valves as a means of doing away with one valve. If I recall, they’re usually installed on the output/hot port.

Re: Hot water tank not filling with water

Posted: July 19th, 2025, 9:38 am
by tomschauer
Also, as viper mentioned there is a check valve on the outlet of the heater. If you connected the inlet water to the outlet of the heater, it will not fill.

Re: Hot water tank not filling with water

Posted: July 20th, 2025, 9:18 pm
by buster53
tgebler wrote:Source of the post I have a 2000 396 Aft cabin. I know this is a strange question but my hot water tank does not appear to be filling. I reconnected the hoses after the winter and hooked to shore water. I then turn the spigot in the head to hot water and nothing came out. Help!!


So, any updates?