New-to-us 2008 Hunter 36. With the goal of winterizing the house water system, drained the tank at the bow, drained the hot water tank. Put 5 gallons of pink stuff in the fresh tank. turned on the water pressure pump. Toilet, check, most but not all cold lines, check. Hot lines, not so much. Did I just fill the hot water heater with pink stuff? nothing at all comes out of the stern shower, pressure pump just runs. Do I just need more, or did I do something wrong. Boat is new to us, still have a bunch of stuff to figure out.
Winterizing question
- Thread starter George Braun
- Start date
The one time my boat was stored on the hard for the winter, I had good luck in using a super cheap 12V air pump to blow out the water lines, one faucet at a time. Removed a lot of water and no problems with split lines.
i was actually thinking of using a shopvac in reverse to push air into the main water tank, run the pressure pump at the same time.
Like many "problems", there are often multiple solutions.
What has worked for me on the fresh water side was to bypass and drain the hot water heater, so as not to run into exactly what you found - pushing that much antifreeze in, where it inevitably then needs to be properly drained in the spring to get rid of "that taste". I've rigged up the fittings so that at end of season I can disconnect cold in and hot out, and then connect them together. I would then open the drain and let that all go to the bilge to be pumped out. Drain open over the winter (and open hot/cold sides) means nothing is going to burst there.
For the water lines themselves, while I really like the thought of blowing the lines out with air, having the proper handy compressor hasn't worked for me. I've always drained tanks to empty, poured in a few gallons of antifreeze, and then ran the faucets (from closest to furthest) until they ran good dark color. You want strong antifreeze, not diluted.
And for antifreeze, I've had good luck with the hardware store RV antifreeze which is generally much more affordable than the marine antifreeze (and the exact same stuff).
And it's only 152 days until our marina opens, not that I'm counting!
What has worked for me on the fresh water side was to bypass and drain the hot water heater, so as not to run into exactly what you found - pushing that much antifreeze in, where it inevitably then needs to be properly drained in the spring to get rid of "that taste". I've rigged up the fittings so that at end of season I can disconnect cold in and hot out, and then connect them together. I would then open the drain and let that all go to the bilge to be pumped out. Drain open over the winter (and open hot/cold sides) means nothing is going to burst there.
For the water lines themselves, while I really like the thought of blowing the lines out with air, having the proper handy compressor hasn't worked for me. I've always drained tanks to empty, poured in a few gallons of antifreeze, and then ran the faucets (from closest to furthest) until they ran good dark color. You want strong antifreeze, not diluted.
And for antifreeze, I've had good luck with the hardware store RV antifreeze which is generally much more affordable than the marine antifreeze (and the exact same stuff).
And it's only 152 days until our marina opens, not that I'm counting!
If you didn't bypass the water heater, yes you've just got a bunch of antifreeze sloshing around in there now.
I personally blow out my lines in the fall and never had a problem, found I can just get the job done with a 6 gallon pancake compressor and one "load" of air since the power situation at my winter storage location is sketchy.
I personally blow out my lines in the fall and never had a problem, found I can just get the job done with a 6 gallon pancake compressor and one "load" of air since the power situation at my winter storage location is sketchy.
I have a procedure that I have used for years with no damage. I drain all of my water tanks and the HW tank. Then I connect my air compressor set to 35# to the input line to my fresh water pump. I blow the supply lines back into each tank, then blow out all of the lines to each faucet. I blow straight through the pump and valves. I open each faucet in turn and rotate through them a couple times until only air blows out of each one. Enjoy a beer while the lines are purging. Done.
No pink stuff used at all. $$$ saved. No flushing the bad taste out in the Spring.
I did make up a special fitting to connect my air compressor to the input of my pump, but that is a one-time project. A short stub with a plugged end is installed for normal operation. The fittings are quick-release so it is very easy.
No pink stuff used at all. $$$ saved. No flushing the bad taste out in the Spring.
I did make up a special fitting to connect my air compressor to the input of my pump, but that is a one-time project. A short stub with a plugged end is installed for normal operation. The fittings are quick-release so it is very easy.
I suspect that the hot water heater is holding much of the pink stuff so there is none left to get to the stern shower. You need more pink stuff. This is the reason that the HW tank is bypassed.
Don't feel bad; when you are a new owner there are lots of details to learn. We have all been there. Read my post above for an even easier procedure.
That's pretty slick, I might have to copy it. I use a blowgun with a rubber tip which gives me a tight seal but means I have to undo one of the fittings.
Not necessarily. Some RV antifreeze (not all, but generally the cheaper stuff) has ethanol instead of or in addition to propylene glycol. Ethanol is hard on some rubber parts in pumps and plumbing. Your mileage may vary depending on the exact rubber used in your plumbing and where the AF sits. Ethanol can also allow more bacterial growth especially in spring as temperatures warm.
Indeed you did. Not the end of the world though. A bypass is easier but not a necessity.
Personally I don’t have a water heater bypass. I use an air compressor to push all the water out of the water heater, but then I fill the main tanks with antifreeze and let the water heater refill with that. Then I turn on faucets and get antifreeze out of each one. Personally the risk of water sitting in a low spot is not worth the time saved skipping the antifreeze for me.
In the spring I go through Peggy Hall’s recommissioning process to purge the tanks with bleach to prevent any smells for the season. By the time I get the bleach out the antifreeze smell/taste is long gone anyway.
This sticky thread is also really good -https://forums.sailboatowners.com/threads/winterizing-plumbing.1249926269/
I installed a heater bypass circuit so the pink stuff doesn't get into the water heater tank. I only have to drain the heater tank to keep it from freezing up.
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...
forums.sailboatowners.com
To bypass the water heater, I used to just remove the hot and colder hoses (mine were gray plastic) and I put a pipe fitting (same gray material) between the 2… very cheap and easy to do.
My current boat has 3 valves on the water heater and a pipe between the hot and cold lines that by passes the WH.
If you filled it (and you did), you can just add more AF until you fill it and pink stuff starts coming out of the hot taps.
Greg
My current boat has 3 valves on the water heater and a pipe between the hot and cold lines that by passes the WH.
If you filled it (and you did), you can just add more AF until you fill it and pink stuff starts coming out of the hot taps.
Greg
I have a manifold with 5 valves to my 5 tanks. I put a shop vac on the water strainer to get all the water out of lines to the tanks. Then I drain/bypass the water heater, disconnect the line after the manifold put it in a gallon jug of AF and pump antifreeze through the lines and the pump. I only use 2 or 3 gallons to winterize the 160 gallon system with 2 heads, one galley sink and transom shower. I don't have a pancake compressor or I would use compressed air.
I used to do that. It cost me more, but now I just have to turn 2 diverter levers to bypass the tank. It's the engineer in me.
I'm also in the process of adding a diverter between the fresh water tank and the pressure pump so I don't have to put the pink stuff in the tank. I can let the pump suck it from a jug. I'll post pics when I'm done.
Sounds like you filled the water heater with the pink stuff. I made that mistake too the first time I winterized my boat. Big waste of antifreeze and real hard to completely flush out of the tank. I think used about 8 gallons of antifreeze that year. You must by-pass and drain the water heater.
To by-pass the water heater I used to pull the hot & cold hoses off and connect them to each other with a coupler. That was a PITA, so I added a water heater by-pass kit. Think it was around $30 from an on-line RV supply place. I just turn two little valves now.
To drain the water heater, run a cheap vinyl hose from the drain valve to the bilge, open the valve and hold the pressure relief valve open to let air in. It drains much faster with the pressure valve open. My drain hose just stays in place all year, but that may not be practical in some boat layouts.
A bit of a tangent to the original question, but I also recently added three-way valves and permanent winterizing hoses just outside the water tank hose fitting and just above the seacock for the head sea water intake. It cost about $200 in materials, but it greatly streamlines winterization of the head and water system, and keeps antifreeze out of my water tank. It took less that three gallons of pink stuff to winterize my water system this year. I run all the the faucets until they spit air before I start adding antifreeze.
To by-pass the water heater I used to pull the hot & cold hoses off and connect them to each other with a coupler. That was a PITA, so I added a water heater by-pass kit. Think it was around $30 from an on-line RV supply place. I just turn two little valves now.
To drain the water heater, run a cheap vinyl hose from the drain valve to the bilge, open the valve and hold the pressure relief valve open to let air in. It drains much faster with the pressure valve open. My drain hose just stays in place all year, but that may not be practical in some boat layouts.
A bit of a tangent to the original question, but I also recently added three-way valves and permanent winterizing hoses just outside the water tank hose fitting and just above the seacock for the head sea water intake. It cost about $200 in materials, but it greatly streamlines winterization of the head and water system, and keeps antifreeze out of my water tank. It took less that three gallons of pink stuff to winterize my water system this year. I run all the the faucets until they spit air before I start adding antifreeze.
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I drain the fresh water system, disconnect the freshwater pump hoses, sponge dry the main fresh water tank and leave it at that. I pump maybe a quart of auto antifreeze through the head manual pump. Drain the two Groco raw water filters. Empty the fresh water cartridge filter canister, toss the filter. Drain the raw water engine circuit at the engine pump. Add a small amount of auto antifreeze to the engine raw water pump via the input hose. For what it is worth, I neither blow the fresh water lines nor fill them with pink antifreeze. Forty years I have been doing this in two different boats and no problems. My fresh water hoses are simple clear reinforced vinyl type.
Ok, here is what I do, and why
Drain all the tanks until empty
Go to the tank manifold, and shut each one into the pump feed sequentiality. If you just run the pump until it’s sucking air, you could still have water in one tank
Install hot water bypass tube
Open drain on hw tank, and leave it open all winter.
Disconnect input to fresh water pump
Connect a pail with hose at the bottom which has a whale fitting on it to connect to pump input
Fill pail halfway with pink antifreeze
Turn on water pump, and then go around boat turning on each faucet until pink runs out of them.
Because you installed the hw tank bypass link, this will winterize both your hot & cold faucets
For air conditioning, do the following
Disconnect hose from output of strainer. (Shut off through hull)
Then, connect your pail hose to the hose you just removed (will require a minor adapter)
Fill pail with pink, and turn on airco
Watch the side of the boat for pink exiting the airco though hulls.
By running the antifreeze directly into the fw pump, you have no issues in the spring with clean lines, and no taste problems
I tried variations of air compressor, vaccuum, etc., over the years. I always had problems that water in “low spots” wouldn’t evacuate, and had damaged fittings, etc.
Not all the pink stuff is the same.
Multiple solutions for this problem.
I drain the main fresh water tank and the hot water heater and then add about 10 gallons of AF to the fresh water tank. I pump it through everything. Then I drain the remaining AF from the hot water heater back into the original containers and use it in the drains and engine. Works for me.
Multiple solutions for this problem.
I drain the main fresh water tank and the hot water heater and then add about 10 gallons of AF to the fresh water tank. I pump it through everything. Then I drain the remaining AF from the hot water heater back into the original containers and use it in the drains and engine. Works for me.