Is it okay to leave cheap Vodka in water tank?

[MicHughV]

nah, one tank with vodka...the other with rum...

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by Bill O

While the potable antifreeze is more expensive, there are no surprises in the spring.

Expensive? Cheap vodka is $7-8 per fifth. Antifreeze is $2-4 per gallon.

Only takes a couple gallons to winterize.

[Kalinowski]

Don't forget the olives!

[gonesail]

a little crushed ice and happy hour is here!

[Montanan]

Would that Vodka be shaken or stirred?

At some point the alcohol content of the vodka may evaporate if there is an opening in your tank / plumbing system and leave you with mostly just water. Otherwise I would assume it will be stable for a long period of time.

[Pauls]

Alcohol damages many rubber compounds. Never use it unless you know that all the materials exposed to it are OK for alcohol exposure.

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by Cool Hand Luke

I have a Jeanneau SO409 with two (2) water tanks... I only use one for the whole season... >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Either use more water to keep turning it over, or leave one completely empty.


How big are these tanks? I have two: a 28 gallon and a 43 gallon. The larger one is good for maybe four two days trips. I shower, too.


I find it really hard to believe you can go an entire season (six to four months?) on one tank.


I'm sure you brush your teeth. I'm sure you wash your dishes.



Tell us, how DO you do it?

[Cliffhanger]

Vodka in the water tanks? I think I have heard it all now.

I don't know what size the tank is. Lets say 300 litres. I don't know how much you pay for "cheap vodka" but in these parts $30 per litre is cheap. So, that is $9000 to fill the tank! Why not just replace the tank every year? It would be cheaper!

[Boatyarddog]

Originally Posted by gonesail

my sources say vodka has no sugar in it. just water and ethanol

Vodka is distilled not fermented, no sugar.
Never heard this query before now!
Use glycol based antifreeze, the pink stuff.
Lubricates the seals and prevents freezing.
SV Cloud Duster

[Coolerking]

Inhibited propylene glycol to prevent freeze damage, it sounds like you never use the fwd tank...so why not dry it out and isolate it?

[thinwater]

Originally Posted by gonesail

my sources say vodka has no sugar in it. just water and ethanol

Ethanol is quite biodegradable up to about 25%. Just as good as bug food as sugar (I have run wastewater plants fed on ethanol).

In fact, using ethanol at less than 25% as a sanitizing agent is myth and will actually make things worse. In fact, sugar over 25% is also biostatic. The reason is that neither is toxic to bacteria unless concentrated enough to denature the proteins.

Honestly, the whole idea of using vodka in place of PG make no sense on any level. Sorry. Urban legend.
* bad for hoses
* poor antifreeze
* poor antiseptic (PG is just as good)

[ranger58sb]

Originally Posted by Bill O

Not a big fan of using compressed air to get water out of lines. From previous experience, if there is a low spot, water can accumulate and freeze potentially cracking/bursting that section. While the potable antifreeze is more expensive, there are no surprises in the spring.

There's a technique for that "low spot" theory.

There's also an alternative -- pumping potable antifreeze through the hoses starting AFTER the tank itself -- which saves on quantity and also means not having to spend three days or so flushing potable antifreeze from the tank.

I never found that necessary, perhaps due to using "low spot" technique.

I did usually bump a few ounces of potable antifreeze through the strainer/pump/accumulator assembly... but usually not into the follow-on lines.

Once I could drain our tanks themselves, I never found it necessary to put any additives into them. The small amount of remaining water could freeze, but ice expansion inside an almost empty 100-gallon poly tank wasn't really a problem.

-Chris

[Bill O]

Originally Posted by ranger42c

There's a technique for that "low spot" theory.

There's also an alternative -- pumping potable antifreeze through the hoses starting AFTER the tank itself -- which saves on quantity and also means not having to spend three days or so flushing potable antifreeze from the tank.

I never found that necessary, perhaps due to using "low spot" technique.

I did usually bump a few ounces of potable antifreeze through the strainer/pump/accumulator assembly... but usually not into the follow-on lines.

Once I could drain our tanks themselves, I never found it necessary to put any additives into them. The small amount of remaining water could freeze, but ice expansion inside an almost empty 100-gallon poly tank wasn't really a problem.

-Chris

Chris,
Our tanks are low in the bilge/well below the waterline and we don't add antifreeze to them. Agree w/you in this matter and don't worry about the expansion in the tank if it did ever freeze.

Still not sold on the blow out technique w/your low spot technique. Seems like a lot of hassle to bring in a compressor to blow out the line, then still add antifreeze. No matter how you do it, you need a good flow of full color antifreeze coming out of the outlets before you shut it down. In our case it usually only a couple of gallons (w/a by pass on the drained water heater) to do the water system in our boat.

My experience is from growing up in Michigan and helping find then fix the lines/pipes in the Spring after we blew them out w/air in the Fall. The potable antifreeze is cheap and have had no surprises for many years (decades) w/this technique.

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by Boatyarddog

Vodka is distilled not fermented, no sugar.
Never heard this query before now!
Use glycol based antifreeze, the pink stuff.
Lubricates the seals and prevents freezing.
SV Cloud Duster

Vodka is made by FERMENTING and then DISTILLING to get from source to bottle.

The fermentation process eats up all the sugar. So unless it's some sort of flavored vodka where they added sugar after distillation, there is no sugar.

[Boatyarddog]

Originally Posted by valhalla360

Vodka is made by FERMENTING and then DISTILLING to get from source to bottle.

The fermentation process eats up all the sugar. So unless it's some sort of flavored vodka where they added sugar after distillation, there is no sugar.

Oops, thanks