Hissing faucet - De-winterizing Lesson Learned

Flushing out the anti-freeze

My kitchen faucet would only hiss and sputter after I flushed, filled, and sanitized the water system after finally de-winterizing a few days ago.   It was puzzling because the bathroom water supply was working normally.  After over an hour or so of fiddling with it - bypassing the hot water tank, connecting city water and also  trying the internal tank and pump, I called it quits for the night.


Next day it worked fine.  I love it when things heal themselves overnight!  

Anyway after a little more reading on this (turns out that owner's manual is a pretty useful reference), I think the problem was that air entered the water line when I filled the hot water tank.   In the future, per the owner's manual, I will be sure to leave a hot water faucet open when filling the heater to expel the air in the tank as it fills.

Also, there are safety reasons for doing this.  HowieE on Airforums says, "Firing the heater with trapped air will greatly raise the pressure and may cause a problem when you first draw water. The pressure may go high enough that the relief valves blows off while heating the tank."

Still learning….