New boat to me 1 week ago; 1987 C&C MKIII; not sure how to drain the fresh water tanks; not sure how to drain the hot water tank; not sure how to winterize the. sink foot pumps; any help is appreciated; Jim
Winterization?
- Thread starter Jimongee
- Start date
Draining the water tanks is pretty much just a matter of letting the pump run until everything is empty. The water heater probably has an outlet that you can drain from near the bottom of the tank, or you can just disconnect the input or output like and maybe tip the tank to drain it. You’ll want to run antifreeze through all of the lines to displace any remaining water. My preference is to just do that by pouring a few gallons into the regular tank fill, and running the pump to pull it through to all the faucets. Bypass kits are available to keep from letting that antifreeze into the water heater. Also consider that you’ll need to run antifreeze through your engine cooling circuit. That’s usually done by taking the intake hose off the seacock and putting it in a 5 gallon bucket of antifreeze. Other spots to remember to get antifreeze are the are shower sump and the head.
Lots more details in the archives of the Ask All Sailors and Plumbing and Sanitation sub-forums.
Lots more details in the archives of the Ask All Sailors and Plumbing and Sanitation sub-forums.
Only food safe antifreeze in your water system. This is not the same stuff as engine antifreeze!
Our marina pumps antifreeze into our engine when they haul it out in the fall. We run antifreeze into the system by emptying the tank and pumping antifreeze through as described. In the spring, we pump the antifreeze out of the water system, and rinse a couple of times before filling. The engine replaces its antifreeze with water when we first start it up after splashing. All the antifreeze used is environmentally friendly. WE don't have a hot water heater, so that is not an issue for us.
See the "Winterizing Plumbing" sticky at the top of the Plumbing and Sanitation forum...it's the second post, directly below "Spring Recommissioning."
--Peggie
--Peggie
Don't run antifreeze through your hot water heater or your water will stink for a long time. I just bypassed the hot water heater by removing the in and out hoses and I joined them together and just let the hot water heater contents drain,
Mileage may vary. I don’t bypass mine. In the spring I purge it with compressed air then run Peggy’s commissioning bleach mix through the whole hot and cold system. By the time I get the bleach out (one or two tanks) everything smells perfect.
I have a bypass on my water heater, so I dont fill mine with AF.
I bypass the WH, open the drain valve and push some air into the system with an air compressor. This speeds up draining the WH.
I disconnect the water line from the water tank, apply a short piece of water line so I can reach into a gallon jug of AF…open faucets…suck in the AF.
I have 2 water tanks, so I repeat the process on the other tank…the tanks were drained first, and I don’t put any AF in the tanks themselves.
Greg
I bypass the WH, open the drain valve and push some air into the system with an air compressor. This speeds up draining the WH.
I disconnect the water line from the water tank, apply a short piece of water line so I can reach into a gallon jug of AF…open faucets…suck in the AF.
I have 2 water tanks, so I repeat the process on the other tank…the tanks were drained first, and I don’t put any AF in the tanks themselves.
Greg