Winterizing Water Heater

[HPLou]

Shortly I will winterize my engines for Winter.
The Water Heather in the Boat can be feed with Water coming from the engine.
For Winterizing I will remove the 2 Hoses coming from the engine, attached them together so I can Bypass the Water Heater.
From that point, Can I only empty the Heater without damaging it or I need to add some Plumbing Antifreeze Fluid in it ?
Thanks

 

[Scott Danforth]

remove the two lines from the motor, tee them together. then use compressed air to remove any traces of water inside the heater core. no need for plumbing antifreeze unless you really want to.

 

[Blind Date]

"remove the two lines from the motor, tee them together. then use compressed air to remove any traces of water inside the heater core. no need for plumbing antifreeze unless you really want to."

​+1 to that!

I pull stuff apart and blow it out with compressed air. And leave it apart until next spring. I did the RV deal first year I owned the boat. Never again. Even if there is still a little water in the system it's fine. As long as it has somewhere to go when it freezes it won't hurt a thing.

 

[Bondo]

remove the two lines from the motor, tee them together. then use compressed air to remove any traces of water inside the heater core. no need for plumbing antifreeze unless you really want to.

Ayuh,..... Or just Drain, All of the plumbin', 'n leave it All dry,.....


Air don't freeze,....

 

[HPLou]

Great
Thanks guys for the hints.
I never thought about compressed air

 

[JoLin]

Not everyone owns a compressor (like me).

I drain and bypass the water heater, and drain the fresh water tank. I then dump 3 gallons of anti-freeze into the tank, run the faucets in galley and head until it's pink... and done. In the spring I run the tank dry, put a few gallons of water in it and run it dry again. Repeat a couple times and all the AF is gone.

My .02

 

[smokeonthewater]

I do the same thing as jolin except after all steps above I open the inlet to the heater and pump a bit of the a/f into the heater.. Figure it's not needed but a little a/f to flush a little water out the drain can't hurt..

Btw I DO own a couple air compressors but I prefer to have a little pink in the lines.

I also run pink through the shower drain pump.

 

[JoLin]

I do the same thing as jolin except after all steps above I open the inlet to the heater and pump a bit of the a/f into the heater.. Figure it's not needed but a little a/f to flush a little water out the drain can't hurt..
.

Whatever gives you peace of mind, is what you need to do. Obviously, there are a few different ways of doing it successfully.

(I'll just mention that if you live in the Northeast (or farther North), and last winter you didn't crack a block, manifold, head, heater or plumbing line, it's a pretty good bet you did it 'right'. Man, on a couple of occasions we had a solid week of temps in the 'teens on Long Island. My friends and I were all concerned, but we all came out of it fine.)

 

[MTboatguy]

As long as there is no water in the lines, then you really don't need to worry, no water, no freeze, on my 5th wheel, I simply drain and blow all of the lines out including the pump and have never had a problem.