Quick Drain

I finally got a nice day with some free time, so I decided to make an upgrade to cure a nagging issue....draining my fresh water tank.  My fresh tank has an auto shut-off, so when cleaning larger commercial, I just hook up the hose and let it fill through my water softener.  The problem is that many times at the end of the night, I have a full tank of water to drop before driving home.  Do you know who long it takes to drain a 160 gallons through a garden hose with gravity??  I do, and it sucks, especially on chilly nights.

So, I called up Butler and ordered their quick drain kit which will allow me the option to drain via a garden hose or open up a gate valve to rapid drain.  The kit came complete with teflon tape and pipe sealer and was a very heavy assembly with ample amount brass to ensure a long life.



After about 20 minutes with a pipe wrench, problem solved.  A really nice upgrade that is well engineered to clear the hose reel and fit perfectly.

The way my machine is set up, I can bypass my fresh water tank and hook the hose direct to my water box if I wanted to and not fill up my fresh water tank.

Why dont you just save the water in your tank and not have to fill up on the next job?

Thats what we have always done, have never drained a fresh water tank before unless removing all the equipment to clean the van.

Unless your driving really far its not that bad on gas, just like driving home with a van load of passengers

ACpower1 wrote:Why dont you just save the water in your tank and not have to fill up on the next job?  

Thats what we have always done,   have never drained a fresh water tank before unless removing all the equipment to clean the van.    

Unless your driving really far its not that bad on gas,    just like driving home with a van load of passengers

That's the thing, this account is an hour away and is over 12,000 sqft, so I have to be loaded to the gills. Saving about 650 lbs of water weight helps a lot on the drive home.

water is about 8lbs/ gallon approx so 160 gallons is pretty heavy, but once you have momentum on the freeway its not that bad

I would think its cheaper than waiting for 160 gallons to drain by gravity, and cheaper than the water cost itself although they pay that.

maybe the fast drain is the cheapest way idk

If one wanted to build a valve system like that themselves, and likely save a lot of cash, go to a farm supply store and buy all that. Everything you have in your assembly can be bought at TSC, Rural King, or a Quality Farm and Fleet.

Good job though MilSpec. Me, I might have bought a cheap pump at harbor freight (110 Volt model) and used it to pump out my tank. (Such as a water pressure booster pump)

Freemind1 wrote:If one wanted to build a valve system like that themselves, and likely save a lot of cash, go to a farm supply store and buy all that. Everything you have in your assembly can be bought at TSC, Rural King, or a Quality Farm and Fleet.

Good job though MilSpec. Me, I might have bought a cheap pump at harbor freight (110 Volt model) and used it to pump out my tank. (Such as a water pressure booster pump)

I was actually going to go that route too, but I am pressed for time and didn't want to drive back and forth the 8 miles to my nearest store when I needed something else or bought the wrong size...you know how that goes. The pump was my other choice, but this kit was actually pretty cheap and it made it an easy upgrade.