winterizing with pex tubing plumbing.

J

jbinbi

.
Apr 17, 2013
38
hunter 33 MA
i have a 2012 e33. it uses pex tubing for the plumbing. on other older boats i was able to bypass the hot water tank easily.

my plumbing goes as follow: water tank to shut off right by tank, to water pump, cold blue into both water tank and water tank anti scald valve, then hot and cold water.

on other boats i would just take the take the cold intake and hot out and couple them together with a piece of pipe. i would then take the input to the water pump off, attach a hose to the water pump, put it into the antifreeze bottle and turn on the faucets.

with the pex, i can't figure out an easy way to bypass the hotwater heater.

anyone on a newer boat do this, and if so, could you send pics. thanks.
 
thinwater

thinwater

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Mar 26, 2011
3,718
Corsair F-24 MK I Deale, MD
I installed a permanent bypass, with valves. Why not just do it right, once? Same on the head and potable system.
 
J

jbinbi

.
Apr 17, 2013
38
hunter 33 MA
thinwater said:
I installed a permanent bypass, with valves. Why not just do it right, once? Same on the head and potable system.
Click to expand
Sure. Tell me how you did this. Can you show me a pic. Did you use sharkbite fittings? Was it a kit you used, or did you make it up yourself.
 
Scott B

Scott B

.
Sep 20, 2006
2,952
Hunter 33 Georgian Bay, Ontario, Canada
jbinbi said:
Sure. Tell me how you did this. Can you show me a pic. Did you use sharkbite fittings? Was it a kit you used, or did you make it up yourself.
Click to expand
Sharkbite fittings don't work, they're 1/2". Pex in Hunter is metric, which is the black fittings. I disconnect all my fittings at the tank and hook up all the hoses together, then run the AF. There's only a few fittings, but it owuld save some time each year with a perm. bypass.

You could also blow out the lines with compressed air.


http://www.defender.com/product3.jsp?path=-1|2243574|2243585|2243592&id=751592
 
J

jbinbi

.
Apr 17, 2013
38
hunter 33 MA
Scott B said:
Sharkbite fittings don't work, they're 1/2". Pex in Hunter is metric, which is the black fittings. I disconnect all my fittings at the tank and hook up all the hoses together, then run the AF. There's only a few fittings, but it owuld save some time each year with a perm. bypass.

You could also blow out the lines with compressed air.


http://www.defender.com/product3.jsp?path=-1|2243574|2243585|2243592&id=751592
Click to expand
Wow. did not know that about the metric vs. SAE! Wonder why, as Hunters are made in FL! Thanks for this info!

Anyway, looked at this link. What i have is female connector on cold water line going into male connector on tank. So you take the cold water line off, screw this into the female connector on the hose, do the same on the hot water line, and what type of hose do you join these connectors with? Is it only pex that fits on the back end of this, or can you use some flexible hose. Appreciate your advice. Thanks.
 
Bill Roosa

Bill Roosa

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Jun 6, 2006
6,990
currently boatless wishing Harrington Harbor North, MD
Try taking a can of air (computer keyboard cleaner) and disconnecting the hoses and blowing air into them. Air don't freeze BTW. Blowing out the lines to the tank is easy, the lines to the sinks have to be done one at a time and nearest to farthest. Also note that you should do the cold lines first then start on the hot water lines working closest to furthest as the piping goes.
 
J

jbinbi

.
Apr 17, 2013
38
hunter 33 MA
thanks for the reply. maybe in in VA you can use compressed air from a computer can, if i was going to use compressed air I would do it from an air compressor. Where I am it hits -5 a few nights a year, single digits lots. a little left over water even with the valves open is potentially a bad situation.

been doing this for many years, pumping anti freeze thru all hoses and toilets has worked great. what's different is the pex tubing.

And i wish hunter (or at least on my model) actually had a seacock for the head's shower and sink's drain instead of going into a sump, adds more work to winterize, and not the best way to do it imo...
 
jsalley

jsalley

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Mar 20, 2007
500
Catalina 355 Kilmarnock, VA
jbinbi said:
Wow. did not know that about the metric vs. SAE! Wonder why, as Hunters are made in FL!
Click to expand
Catalinas (also built in FL) also use metric 15mm PEX. I think it's because most of the production builders source their fresh water plumbing parts from Whale, who is based in Ireland.
 
Doug4bass

Doug4bass

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Jun 9, 2004
615
Catalina 385 Marquette. Mi
Yup...second that, and don't try to use 1/2 because you will ruin the quik disconnect. If you have em. My boat has a manifold distribution next to the hot water tank. I just disconnected the in and out to the heater, made a right angle elbow to bypass....and was done.
 
quadrille38

quadrille38

.
Apr 11, 2010
973
Hunter 38 Whitehall MI
I bought the bypass kit from Defender. It's in English sizes but they include connections that are metric to English. Works great. Installation wasn't bad at all. Our yard doesn't recommend only blowing out the lines with air. They say you can still have trapped water in low spots. The air can slip by over the top of the water. And if it freezes then you have trouble. With bypass in I can winterize with less than 2 gallons of antifreeze
 
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chuckwayne

chuckwayne

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Mar 20, 2004
1,746
Hunter 356 and 216 Portland, ME
the whale metric fittings are gray/white colored, just make sure you get the 15mm metric ones
 
Scott B

Scott B

.
Sep 20, 2006
2,952
Hunter 33 Georgian Bay, Ontario, Canada
jbinbi said:
Wow. did not know that about the metric vs. SAE! Wonder why, as Hunters are made in FL! Thanks for this info!

Anyway, looked at this link. What i have is female connector on cold water line going into male connector on tank. So you take the cold water line off, screw this into the female connector on the hose, do the same on the hot water line, and what type of hose do you join these connectors with? Is it only pex that fits on the back end of this, or can you use some flexible hose. Appreciate your advice. Thanks.
Click to expand

I was just using that link as an example of the black metric fitting. I bought a few various types and pull everything apart from the hot tank and reconfigure everything. Only takes a few minutes, kinda like LEGO...
 
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