Replaced the hot water heater

[Blue~Go]

We used to do a lot of winterizations (boats). Just to corroborate the above, we didn't customarily put antifreeze in the water heater, or in the water tank itself. Reasons:

1) If you bypass/drain the water heater (via anode hole in case of Suburban), there is no need.
2) If you don't bypass/drain, it would take gallons of anti-freeze ($$).
3) It's a pain to get the antifreeze residue out of the water heater and tank (foaming, taste, etc.).

We'd still blow out the rest of the system, plus put some small amount of anti-freeze in the rest of the system (just in case any small pockets of water remained). But not in the water heater.

If you are confident of blowing out all of the water, then you can avoid any anti-freeze (thus avoid after-taste, etc.). But some systems are better than others for knowing you have all the water out. Hence using some anti-freeze is the safe choice in many cases.

We used propylene glycol in cold winter climates, and sometimes vodka in milder climates (it is not a good enough anti-freeze for very cold climates).

Here is a tutorial for boats, but much of it can apply to Chinooks. One difference is that for some things on a boat you can't gravity drain, as the exit from the boat may be above the appliance.

http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/wate ... interizing

[Manitou]

I don't drink the tank water anyway. Just buy it from the store. Still though, taking a shower in antifreeze is ill advised

[Blue~Go]

Although maybe you could get rid of the furnace then...