Winterization ?'s

[turkish6]

hello everyone.

I was wondering how everybody winterize there bilge pump, freshwater pump, shower pump, head and holding tank?
From what I have read and heard is that for the freshwater pump I should first empty my tanks obviously then add anti-freeze and then turn on all my faucets and run them till I see anti-freeze coming out. I am assuming this should take care of the pump and the water heater. How about the bilge pump. How should I do that? Or do I even have to?. And latestly the head/holding tank. I read the same for the head about the antifreeze. Just pump it thru the system. But a few people have told me that anti-freeze will damage my holding tank and head?

[Pblais]

I am assuming this should take care of the pump and the water heater. How about the bilge pump. How should I do that?

You could follow the same procedure. For a bilge pump I don't do anything since it's well below the water line and in the water can't freeze easily. A shower sump could perhaps freeze. Just pour enough down the drain until it pumps. I usually pump antifreeze into the head as well.

[turkish6]

we will be storing her on land so the bilge pump would be exposed to the elements?

[Pblais]

we will be storing her on land so the bilge pump would be exposed to the elements?

If there is any moisture then it is possible to freeze the pump. If you added enough antifreeze to force the pump float switch to make the pump engage then it would ensure there was no water in the pump.

[Vasco]

Here's what I do. Empty the FW tanks. In the FW system disconnect the in and out of the hot water tank and join them together. Drain the hot water tank into the bilge. Pour the pink stuff in the FW tank. Run it through the system. Open all the taps and run till nothing comes out. Leave the taps open. One gallon of pink stuff should be plenty. If you don't bypass the hot water tank you'll need gallons so bypass the hot water tank. That's it for the FW system. The shower pump is in this system so open that too. If it's the shower drain you're worried about pour some pink stuff through and pump.

Pump the head dry. Pump out the holding tank. I pour a bit of AF in the head just to make sure. Pump it into the tank.

The bilge pump I've never worried about because the bilge is dry. If you're concerned pour some pink stuff in the bilge once the boat's on the hard and pump it through. It doesn't hurt to leave some AF (the pink stuff) in the bilge.

Don't forget the fridge drain. The engine is a whole different story. We're here in the great white north and I don't know where you are. Our boats are on the hard in winter, most of the spring too.

[turkish6]

Thanks for the information. That seems the way most people do it. The boat will be in the hard in CT. With the bilge I am mostly concerned about the pump. But I will just run some AF to be safe. The engine we are having the yard do this year. Just because this is our first boat and we don't want to end up with the weather below freezing and still trying to winterize.



on a side note. you know how if you run the engine for a while you have hot water without running the hotwater heater. how is this possible. does the fresh water lines run around the engine somehow or is the engine and hotwater heater hooked up in a way? The only reason I ask is because we will disconnect and winterize the hotwater heater and freshwater lines before the engine is serviced so we were wondering if this would cause a problem?

[Lancerbye]

Assuming that you have a fresh water cooling system which has automotive antifreeze in it, emptying the hotwater tank will do nothing to that system. The engine heats the water in your tank via coiled tubes that are in your hotwater tank. This is an enclosed system which is seperate from the fresh water system. The two only meet as a transfer of heat.( Basic heat exchanger). Don't disconnect the heating lines on the heater or you will have automotive (poisoness) antifreeze all over the place. The hot water heater should have four hoses hooked up to it.

[turkish6]

we finished the winterization today. expect for the head because our pumpout station is closed on weekends in october(which we did not know) so we will do that later. everyone we talked to said use 50/50 AF and water mix. This is what we did but we were wondering... why? why are we mixing it with water. won't that make the freezing point of the AF much less?

[Vasco]

Pure af will not work. Af must be mixed with water.

[AnchorageGuy]

You could do what we did and move the boat south of the freeze line

[never monday]

Originally Posted by Vasco

Pure af will not work. Af must be mixed with water.

Vasco, I have to argue this point.

If you are using the RV/Marine pink anti freeze don't dilute it with water. It states this on the label. This will cause it's effective temperature to rise and not protect. If you use some other type of anti freeze, please follow the label directions.

[Vasco]

Pat,

I was talking about the automotive af. That stuff will gel if it's not mixed. I know the pink stuff (plumbing antifreeze) shouldn't be diluted. Sorry if I wasn't clear on this.

[Lancerbye]

Don't use automative AF in the water or waste plumbing system. It is poisonous. and corrosive.

[turkish6]

We used the AF that was went for marine use. Even the guy at West Marine suggested to dilute it. as did many other people that also said to use a diluted marine AF

[Lancerbye]

Marine AF for engine cooling or plumbing, two different things. Read carefully. You don't want to contaminate your fresh water system. WM sells a propylene glycol that is good for both (Ethylene glycol is the bad stuff)but they recommend not diluting it. However -100F seems overdoing it a bit, unless your in Alaska.