Winterising

[colin59]

any tips for a newby with H290 on lake Ontario.....yanmar 2gmf (euro) jabsco man toilet , seaward water heater.".conflicting info in Hunter manual on jabsco winterizing and not sure how much engine A/F or h2o system to use.
thanks for any input
happy haul outs
Colin

 

[Don S/V ILLusion]

1. Eliminate all the water
2. displace water (which can’t be eliminated) with antifreeze
3. cover the boat

 

[Davidasailor26]

Quite a bit on this in the archives. A good place to start for both the water and sanitation systems is in a sticky thread in the marine plumbing forum at WINTERIZING PLUMBING

 

[colin59]

Thanks, tried a search in this but could nit find much… will try again
Thks
Cilin

 

[Tally Ho]

I run 2 gallons of AF (pink) through my 2GM20F. Some of my friends do 1 gallon…but figure $5 is not too much to waste to guarantee my engine doesn’t get damaged.

For the head, you need to pump the AF through the pump, not just dump in the bowl and pump it out. I remove the hose from my strainer and stick that in a gallon jug…then pump away. Less than a gallon needed.

I also run about 2 gallons through my potable water system. Make sure to drain the water out of the tank(s) first. I don’t like to put AF in my water tank, so I pull the hose off the outlet and put that in a bucket of AF. Also, I bypass my water heater, otherwise you will fill the water heater with AF. Turn the water pump on… I open each faucet (first hot, then cold) ant each faucet until pink stuff runs out. Don’t forget any anchor wash or outdoor shower faucets. That should be good .

Ladtly, I put some AF in my bilge in case I get any water in the bilge. I also turn the bilge pump on to pump some AF through the bilge hose.

I think that covers what I do.

Greg

 

[sailme88]

ALL water lines are allowed to drain into the bilge. I've cut them in strategic places and added brass garden hose fittings. A jumper hose attaches to the pump side and the end placed in a jug of PINK RV antifreeze. Open the water heater drain along with the relief valve and drain into bilge. Remove the cold feed and then hot out going from the water heater and join them together with connector barbs. Galley and head hot and cold faucets are functioned until just PINK is being discharged. Capture the sink PINK and pour it into the head. Flush the head. That PINK might be slightly diluted. Then pour straight PINK ( half gallon) into the head and pump down but not empty.
Engine: Change the oil and filter after warming ( running the engine). Start the engine to circulate then new oil and simultaneously let then engine suck up 2 gallons of PINK..
The bilge.... I manually override the power float switch to pump the bilge as close to dry as possible. Then I release then check valves. The water that floods back is removed with a wet dry vac.

good luck....

 

[jssailem]

@Maine Sail 's website these two jewels of his experience are available to the boater world. He has contributed volumes here in the plumbing section of SBO.

Freshwater System Winterizing - Marine How To

What Not To Use For winterizing your fresh water system you will need a few items. The number one item to have is RV type propylene glycol antifreeze that is safe for domestic plumbing systems. Unfortunately, I see this type of alcohol based RV type product all too often.

marinehowto.com

Engine Winter Freeze Protection - Marine How To

This Came Out of a Boat Stored Winters in Maine I got a call from a customer who felt his motor was running a little hot in the fall and thought he should address it during the off season. We decided to pop the caps off the heat exchanger,

marinehowto.com

If you find his knowledge helpful. Share the value of a beer with his site.

 

[colin59]

Hi Greg , do you use the pink plumbing A/F for the fresh water cooling portion of your engine? I see R/v pink plumbing for sale vs. the starbrite -50/-100 on sale at the marina store? I was planning the r;v pink for plumbing and the starbrite for the engine. Jabsco toilet manual says drain the toilet with the drain plug at base after pumping dry and thats it. H290 manual just says place A/f in bowl and pump into tank. Makes more sense to disconnect pick up line at thru hull and place in A/f jug as you say and pump thru system....conflicting info and want to be careful.
thanks again
Colin

 

[colin59]

thanks John, but these links dont work...
Colin

@Maine Sail 's website these two jewels of his experience are available to the boater world. He has contributed volumes here in the plumbing section of SBO.

Freshwater System Winterizing - Marine How To

What Not To Use For winterizing your fresh water system you will need a few items. The number one item to have is RV type propylene glycol antifreeze that is safe for domestic plumbing systems. Unfortunately, I see this type of alcohol based RV type product all too often.

marinehowto.com

Engine Winter Freeze Protection - Marine How To

This Came Out of a Boat Stored Winters in Maine I got a call from a customer who felt his motor was running a little hot in the fall and thought he should address it during the off season. We decided to pop the caps off the heat exchanger,

marinehowto.com

If you find his knowledge helpful. Share the value of a beer with his site.

 

[jssailem]

Not sure why. I tested both and they took me to Maine Sail's site. Perhaps you have disabled connection to 3rd party sites on your system.

If you are still interested, you can key into MaineSail's website at www.marinehowto.com
I did a quick lookup on the site for AntiFreeze. Both of the above links showed up.

 

[colin59]

thanks John will give it a try on my PC vs Ipad see it makes a difference.
Colin

 

[Peggie Hall HeadMistress]

Colin, go to the Plumbing and sanitation forum, where you will find an article "Winterizing Plumbing" that's permanently "stuck" (hence the designation "sticky") as one of the first three posts. It provides detailed instructions for winterizing both the fresh water and the sanitation systems.

--Peggie

 

[Davidasailor26]

Hi Greg , do you use the pink plumbing A/F for the fresh water cooling portion of your engine? I see R/v pink plumbing for sale vs. the starbrite -50/-100 on sale at the marina store? I was planning the r;v pink for plumbing and the starbrite for the engine.

Just be sure whatever you’re using in both places is Propylene Glycol. Some cheaper stuff is Ethanol which is detrimental to rubber in both the engine and water systems, and more likely to grow bacteria.

Ethylene Glycol, which is traditional engine antifreeze/coolant is extremely toxic to mammals so definitely don’t use it in your fresh water system or anyplace where the waste can puddle and be consumed by animals. Its marine toxicity is less and it degrades quickly enough that using it for engine exhaust in the water may be acceptable.

Jabsco toilet manual says drain the toilet with the drain plug at base after pumping dry and thats it.

That may be good enough for the toilet itself, but it could leave water sitting in the hoses on either side. By flushing antifreeze through you eliminate that possibility.

 

[Tally Ho]

Hi Greg , do you use the pink plumbing A/F for the fresh water cooling portion of your engine? I see R/v pink plumbing for sale vs. the starbrite -50/-100 on sale at the marina store? I was planning the r;v pink for plumbing and the starbrite for the engine. Jabsco toilet manual says drain the toilet with the drain plug at base after pumping dry and thats it. H290 manual just says place A/f in bowl and pump into tank. Makes more sense to disconnect pick up line at thru hull and place in A/f jug as you say and pump thru system....conflicting info and want to be careful.
thanks again
Colin

Yes, pink AF in the raw water intake for the Yanmar. You have automotive AF in the heat exchanger and engine block and this doesn’t need to be winterized. Just suck 1-2 gallons of the pink stuff through the intake. I have even poured it into my strainer with the engine running..,but makes a bit of a mess).

You can use something more expensive, but I think it is just a waste of money because it says “Marine” on it. I have been using pink RV AF for many years.

On the pilot, I have a Raritan manual toilet, andI don’t think it has a drain Plug. If your Jabsco says to drain, then that should be OK. But I like pumping some pink AF through the system to ensure any water in the pump, lines or bowl/rim are pushed out.

Always a little daunting to winterize the first time…but you seem to be asking the right questions and being conscientious…you should be in good shape.


Greg

 

[TimFromLI]

You should bypass the hot water heater otherwise you will be filling it with antifreeze - diluted antifreeze to boot. There are kits which you can buy and once installed make the annual process a breeze. Otherwise disconnect the in and the out from the tank and connect them together with a coupler or union. The tank should be left to drain. A small amount of water in the tank is OK since it has room to expand. I finally installed a kit last season along with a drain line to my bilge.

 

[Peggie Hall HeadMistress]

You should bypass the hot water heater otherwise you will be filling it with antifreeze - diluted antifreeze to boot

Plus, you'll never get the taste of it out of your hot water.

--Peggie

 

[Davidasailor26]

Plus, you'll never get the taste of it out of your hot water.

--Peggie

That might depend on the shape of the tank. I don’t have a bypass so I just let my water heater fill with AF. I use an air compressor to blow that out, and in the spring I use your commissioning bleach solution to purge everything. By the time I get the bleach smell out there’s no AF smell or taste left.

 

[Jan11]

Colin - After 43 years on Lk Champlain, which runs into Quebec, and having frozen my a** off at the Toronto boat show I know -20*F (-29*C) is common (global warming be damned). After running the pink through my engine to get rid of the water I always ran a gallon of -100*F through it. Heat exchangers are expensive. No testing involved.

 

[dLj]

Colin - After 43 years on Lk Champlain, which runs into Quebec, and having frozen my a** off at the Toronto boat show I know -20*F (-29*C) is common (global warming be damned). After running the pink through my engine to get rid of the water I always ran a gallon of -100*F through it. Heat exchangers are expensive. No testing involved.

-100 is typically ethylene glycol - I don't like the toxicity compared to propylene glycol.

-50 is plenty for where you are talking and where the OP is located. Plus, bear in mind that rating is for when the AF begins to freeze. When it's beginning to freeze, it is slushy - not solid. While I don't know when it actually gets solid, it is below the -50. Damage only occurs when the liquid becomes completely solid and further expansion then begins to break things.

I grew up in upstate NY - as a kid there was only once, for one day, where we saw -52F. That was a long time ago and nothing has ever approached that since.

I personally would not recommend adding in ethylene glycol in a system that dumps out onto the ground. For me it's a risk/benefit analysis and the risks in this case don't warrant the benefit. YMMV

dj

 

[Justin_NSA]

I built my water heater bypass system. Easy to winterize.

One more plumbing project checked off

Just finished up my water heater bypass project. Up to now, every Fall I manually disconnected the in/out lines and connected them together. Now I just flick a couple valves and I'm done. (De)commisioning the heater is eazy peazy now. The PEX isn't as "bendy" as the old PB plumbing so I had to...

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