Quote:
Originally Posted by loki805
I tried the valves sideways according to the diagram still sent antifreeze to the heater
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I went and looked at my unit again and this is how it appears to work.
The red knob directs the cold water into the heater, but it doesnt look like there is anything on the hot water side. So with the system full of water turning the red valve sideway stops the flow into the heater, you can then run antifreeze through all of the fittings in your unit, both hot and cold. Since the cold supply to the heater is off there should be no way for the antifreeze to get into the heater. Once you have flushed everything through you can drain your lines via low point drain and then finally drain your hot water heater. While this appears to be the case, I would still think a ball valve on the hot water discharge side of the unit would make this a simpler process.
If you drain your hot water tank or open the low point drain at the heater you will allow antifreeze to back flow into the heater through the hot water lines.
Having said all this, the Nautilus manual expressly says to drain the system prior to introducing the antifreeze, if you do this there doesn't appear to be anything to prevent the solution from flowing backwards into the heater unless the heater has some sort of backflow prevention.
I tested the theory that the cold water was back flowing by shutting off the valve I installed on the hot water discharge line and the put the red valve sideways, this allow me to drain the heater.
The quickest way to resolve this is to install a ball valve on the red hot water line behind the nautilus system. That way you can fully drain the system, close the valve and turn the red on sideways and you will be good to go.