Water System Winterization - Blow out or antifireeze

[ni7irs]

I have a cruisers 330 and used to have a maxum 2800. I used to pump antifreeze into the whole system, but then I would get staining in the sinks and the water smelled funny. I dont want to go through that again and was thinking of blowing out the water lines instead.

Anyone have ideas on this?

 

[Mikeopsycho]

I've always gotten away with just draining the tank, disconnecting the lines at the pump, and leaving all the taps open. I also disconnect the wash down pump and drain the lines, and I leave all through hull valves open (stored on the hard of course). Blowing out the lines should work out fine IMHO. If you use antifreeze don't put it in the tank, just the lines and drain traps.

 

[Blind Date]

I did the RV antifreeze thing the first year i owned my SeaRay and then never again. I had to smell that crap the whole summer every time I opened a faucet despite all the flushing I did. Now I drain and then disconnect/blow out the lines. But honestly I'm not sure that blowing the lines out is even necessary. A little water left in the system here and there won't hurt a thing. I do leave everything disconnected during the winter. Seems the majority of people don't bother with the RV antifreeze when it comes to winterizing the plumbing on a boat.

 

[ni7irs]

Thanks. This is helpful. Its that new pex stuff and I took a section, filled it with water and left it outside in a northern Wisconsin frozen night. No cracks so the only issue would be the hot water tank. I think you are right on this one.

 

[garbageguy]

I've always run the pump till the faucets and head run dry, then put RV antifreeze in the tank and run some through the system. Maybe that's not the way to go. I will be interested to hear what others do. Maybe the key to not using antifreeze is disconnecting the water supply lines at the pump?

 

[Grub54891]

I drain the tank and lines, Disconnect at the pump, bypass the water heater, run pump till all faucets are pink. re-connect everything and open the faucets and walk away. No smell in the spring after flushing with fresh water. I belive the smell comes from the water heater, and mold in the tank. ​

 

[garbageguy]

I drain the tank and lines, Disconnect at the pump, bypass the water heater, run pump till all faucets are pink. re-connect everything and open the faucets and walk away. No smell in the spring after flushing with fresh water. I belive the smell comes from the water heater, and mold in the tank. ​

What do you disconnect at the pump? Do you reconnect there, put antifreeze in the tank, then run all faucets (and head) til pink?

 

[JoLin]

I bypass and drain the heater and leave the heater bypassed. I run the galley and head faucets until the fresh water tank is empty. I put 3 gallons of antifreeze into the tank and run the faucets until they run pink. I don't put any antifreeze into the heater. I leave the drain valve open.

In the spring I run out the rest of the antifreeze before doing anything else. Then put a few gallons of water in the tank and run it until it's empty. Repeat that a few more times, then reconnect the heater and close the drain valve.

You want to get all the AF out of there before you fill the tank and heater with fresh water. If there are any trace amounts left after you've done that it'll be so diluted that you'll never know it's there. I don't get any staining, odor or taste from the antifreeze.

 

[dpoff]

I don`t have plumbing on my Proline CC but for years on my camping trailer I`ve just been blowing out the lines. Bypass the water heater, drain heater, made an adapter for my air compressor (reduced the pressure to somewhere between 30-40 lbs) to fit the city water hookup and start opening faucets and low water drains from the closest to the furthest. Then pour some pink stuff in the p-traps. I also would disconnect the lines from the 12 volt pump to expell any water left sitting there. I used to use to pump to push pink stuff through the system and that was OK but like the OP said it was a little tuff to get the smell out of the lines.

 

[Thalasso]

Open the hot water tank and drain. By pass the hot water tank and use pink stuff in the water system until it comes out of the fixtures.
In the spring just flush with water and large dose of Clorox. After that put vinegar (white) in the water and flush again and you won't taste or smell anything. After that use 1tsp of Clorox to 25 gal of water

 

[Grub54891]

Sorry, I should have said,I hook up the anti freeze on the intake side of the pump, then run it through the system. Since the water heater is bypassed, it don't take as much anti freeze, And the water tank don't get nasty.

 

[smokeonthewater]

Pex tubing isn't hurt from freezing but pex fittings are.

 

[WIMUSKY]

Thanks. This is helpful. Its that new pex stuff and I took a section, filled it with water and left it outside in a northern Wisconsin frozen night. No cracks so the only issue would be the hot water tank. I think you are right on this one.

I live in N Wi too. As someone mentioned, it sounds like Rvs and boats are handled the same way. Either option will work. I'm going to blow out my lines an dump antifreeze in the traps in my RV. I already drained the hot water tank..... The previous owner drained the hot water tank, bypassed it and hooked up antifreeze to the pump and ran it thru all the faucets..... I ran a bunch of water thru the system to flush the antifreeze and there was no smell....

 

[RGrew176]

To each their own. I do put the pink stuff into the tanks and I run it through the system including the water heater. Then I drain the water heater so the pink stuff is gone or mostly gone. Yes you can blow out the lines with an air compressor but if by some reason some water is left behind you will have a broken water line in the spring so I personally use the pink stuff. Better safe than sorry. Doing it with my method there is not much flushing needed in the spring to clear the lines and the pink stuff they sell here is good to -50* and it never gets much below -20* here.

 

[roffey]

I have a park model trailer and in the fall I hook up my compressor to the same connection as the water supply and pressurize the system. I turn on each tap one by one ending with the outside tap. I put the RV antifreeze in anywhere the water drains. This has worked for me with out incident, so far....

 

[Starcraft5834]

Just drain it, "air don't freeze", save the money you would have spent on anti freeze and buy lunch

 

[K-2]

I used to drain it and blow it out. One year a little water layed in a brass 90 degree fitting and froze and cracked it. Very small amount of water.
So now I use the pink RV antifreeze, flushing it in the spring isn't a big deal.

 

[RGrew176]

I know that "air does not freeze" and while that is true if you do blow out the lines but for some reason a little water is left behind!!!!! Water does freeze so I don't have a problem buying some of the pink stuff and running it through the water lines. IMO its cheap insurance against freeze ups. But, whatever floats your boat. Both methods if done properly do work.