Is pink pink?

So now I am confused.
What ingredient should the product have to use in motors for winterizing? I was told you want alcohol free, so Propylene glycol was for motors.
 
If you are using compressed air to blow out water lines, how do you blow air through the ice maker?
 
I use a wet vacuum to pull water through not compressed air but the idea is the same for the icemaker.
- Cycle the icemaker with the bar up so the icemaker tray is empty
- Turn water pump off and drain system as far as it will go
- Open the icemaker door , at the bottom is a screw that holds the lower grill on , remove and pull grill off
- Remove the larger hose connector which attaches to the water solenoid , blow clear
- Remove the smaller hose that leaves the solenoid and feeds the tray, tap until empty

Icemaker is now done , leave all lines and fixtures in the open position until next season. It's a good time to make a list of all the disconnections, end points and fixtures you left open so you can reverse it next spring. At least for me as I cannot remember S---.

Hope this helps
 
As far as I know there are 2 types of non-toxic pink antifreeze - one which has corrosion inhibitors and is recommended for engines, and one with no corrosion protection which is a little cheaper and not recommended for engines. Given that my fresh water tank is aluminum I stick with the corrosion protection for the water system also.
 
If you use pink for your fresh water system , read the label carefully as some is non-toxic and some is "low-toxicity".

I never drink water from the FW tank but certainly prefer "non-tox" for use winterizing that tank and hoses and fixtures, though the veracity of label claims may still be a scosh suspect.
 
quote:
Originally posted by smitty477

I use a wet vacuum to pull water through not compressed air but the idea is the same for the icemaker.
- Cycle the icemaker with the bar up so the icemaker tray is empty
- Turn water pump off and drain system as far as it will go
- Open the icemaker door , at the bottom is a screw that holds the lower grill on , remove and pull grill off
- Remove the larger hose connector which attaches to the water solenoid , blow clear
- Remove the smaller hose that leaves the solenoid and feeds the tray, tap until empty

Icemaker is now done , leave all lines and fixtures in the open position until next season. It's a good time to make a list of all the disconnections, end points and fixtures you left open so you can reverse it next spring. At least for me as I cannot remember S---.

Hope this helps

Click to expand...

It does. Thanks. I also have another ice maker in my sub zero so not sure I can do the same for that but will see if I can do something similar. The only question is how do you cycle the ice maker? Can you do that manually?
 
Smitty has an interesting idea vacuuming the ice maker line is a good thought. As for the standard ice maker I blow it out just as described
 
The Super Tech pink antifreeze $2.58/gal at Walmart has corrosion protection, I use it in the engine, head and water system for 5 yrs now, no problems. The reviews have good information too.
 
Hank,

Blow out all of the water lines with the compressor, close all faucets and leave air pressure on the system. Leave compressor connected to the system and on. When the ice maker in the sub zero calls for water, in one or two cycles air makes it way thru the system and you are clear then.
 
I blow out Hanks boat last year and that is what I did and yet it didn't work well there was still enough water in a fitting feeding the ice maker to crack the fitting it was an easy fix but if I had opened that fitting and either blow it out or vacuumed it from there it would not have been a problem. There where no other issues on the boat and there are a lot of water connections!!
 
I let the air cycle thru the ice maker a few times.
So here is the process.

1) Drain fresh water tank.
2) Drain hot water heater (hook up a hose to drain valve on it, run it outside and blow air thru it)
3) Close hot water heater drain.
4) Turn on ice maker, put bar in down position to make ice. Leave on.
5) No blow air thru every hto and cold outlet (Kitchen sink, Shower, Head Sink, transom short, washdowns, flush toilet)
6) Open up screen filter before fresh water pump and vacuum water out.
7) Open ice maker, you will see it made some ice which is the water left in the hose which is now replaced with air. You don't need to worry if water is left in ice maker tray since it is designed to handle frozen water, but there probably is nothing there if it cycled a few times.
8) Check water heater again to see if any water trapped in there, blow it out again thru drain.
9) FLush pink down toilet, Run macerator.
10) Pour pink in all drains including scuppers and bilge hoses.
11) Vacuum out sump pump drain.
 
"I also have another ice maker in my sub zero so not sure I can do the same for that but will see if I can do something similar"

I am not familiar with the sub zero but the process of completely removing water on both sides of the ice fill solenoid should be the same. Perhaps the Sea Ray manual or the sub zero manual have a reference to winterizing these items?

This is a cut and past of the fresh water winterizing we do each season - part of the total wintering steps we follow.

Fresh Water System
1 Run system dry
2 Drain hot water heater with drain on heater & open pressure lever
3 Bypass heater by removing and re-attaching heater “COLD” line to heater “HOT” line. Use the short attachment coupler made for this usage.
4 Heater is done, leave valves open
5 Pour 3 to 4 gallons of domestic antifreeze into fresh water tanks (2) and run all faucets beginning with farthest one until you see color.

Alternate method: disconnect water tanks at tank side, disconnect water pressure pump at pump outlet, use wetvac attached in place of water pump to pull water out, beginning with farthest faucet, in order ‘hot’ and ‘cold’:

a. Forward Wash Down
b. Master shower
c. Master sink
d. Washer
e. Guest shower
f. Guest sink

g. Rear shower
h. Rear wash down
i. Bar sink
j. Ice maker (2 places)
k. Galley sink

Repeat the entire sequence in order expecting no additional water out.

6 With system filled with domestic antifreeze, or vacuumed clear, open lines at both sides of pump and remove caps at hot and cold ‘ends’ in mid bilge.
7 Leave all faucets and caps open until ready for use, disconnect water at ice maker inlet and washer
8 Disconnect lines from the (2) freshwater tanks and leave open if not done so already
9 Move wetvac to inlet pipe side of water pump and alternately remove all water from each water tank line by selecting the valves one at a time - repeat each line once again.

Hope this helps
 
quote:
Originally posted by CurrentSea

I let the air cycle thru the ice maker a few times.
So here is the process.

1) Drain fresh water tank.
2) Drain hot water heater (hook up a hose to drain valve on it, run it outside and blow air thru it)
3) Close hot water heater drain.
4) Turn on ice maker, put bar in down position to make ice. Leave on.
5) No blow air thru every hto and cold outlet (Kitchen sink, Shower, Head Sink, transom short, washdowns, flush toilet)
6) Open up screen filter before fresh water pump and vacuum water out.
7) Open ice maker, you will see it made some ice which is the water left in the hose which is now replaced with air. You don't need to worry if water is left in ice maker tray since it is designed to handle frozen water, but there probably is nothing there if it cycled a few times.
8) Check water heater again to see if any water trapped in there, blow it out again thru drain.
9) FLush pink down toilet, Run macerator.
10) Pour pink in all drains including scuppers and bilge hoses.
11) Vacuum out sump pump drain.

Click to expand...


+1
 
A few thoughts if you have not winterized fresh water systems often with 'air' and/or have a new boat to winterize....

- Easiest to drain and bypass the hot water heater
- Only open one hot or cold water line at a time
- Start furthest away from the pump (blowout or suction) location
- Pay careful attention to dead ends (ie - cockpit showers, icemakers, etc)
- If you have backflow valves you may need to remove them
- When complete best to leave all valves and drains open till next season.

Have a great winter and X - Mass
 
Thanks all. I have been using air successfully for a long time but never since I had ice makers on boat so this is an area I needed assistance with. Last year was the first with the Searay which has two makers. Outside was successful. (could have gotten lucky) but the one in the sub zero had a cracked fitting. Hence, my question. I personally find ice makers a PITA. I don't use a lot of ice so I find it better to spend 2 bucks and get a bag every few weeks. Even with air purging, they never taste good. I have shut off valves for all water lines so after I take care of them this winter, I'm just going leave them off and not introduce water to them anymore. Wish the outside one was a fridge instead.
 
I find my ice tastes really good. I filter it.
As long as you cycle it with air it is fine.
I am shocked a fitting cracked, was it outside the sub-zero? If it was inside, then it makes no sense as anything past solenoid was designed to be frozen!

If you don't use it to make ice, you can use it to store ice. Just throw a bag in there with a few beers. Makes them ice cold!
 
I disconnect the garden hose fitting from the entry of my ice maker solenoid and used compressed air in the system until no water comes out. I disconnect the 1/4" hose on the outlet and blow air from my mouth until no water comes out.

BTW, I always open the faucets closest to the inlet where my compressor is blowing water, that way, as I move further away, I know that there is only air being blown into the closest ones. If you do the farthest first, you will continue to force the water in the system into those faucets.
 
"BTW, I always open the faucets closest to the inlet where my compressor is blowing water, that way, as I move further away, I know that there is only air being blown into the closest ones. If you do the farthest first, you will continue to force the water in the system into those faucets."

Hello Hogan - The most important thing is that it works for you , and if it does that then that's all that matters. If you do the open/close cycle at each fixture 2 or more times it is very likely to remove moat all of the water no matter which way you go in most boats.
Although logically I agree with you each faucet and/or fixture is not often in a regular 'series' run and in many boats has all kinds of "L's" and "T's" along each line. As you move from the closest one to one further away that may allow water to run back to the nearest "L" or "T" area in some boats.

Practically we are just imitating the idea of adding a 'pink' fluid with air so the process of displacing that 'freezable' water with an 'un-freezable' antifreeze or air is really the same process.
Typically when you look up the instructions for putting domestic antifreeze in a multi-tap fresh water systems it will tell you to begin with the furthest fixture for some of these reasons.

While I still prefer a good shop vacuum any of these can and will work.

Hope this helps
 
quote:
Originally posted by HOGAN

I disconnect the garden hose fitting from the entry of my ice maker solenoid and used compressed air in the system until no water comes out. I disconnect the 1/4" hose on the outlet and blow air from my mouth until no water comes out.

BTW, I always open the faucets closest to the inlet where my compressor is blowing water, that way, as I move further away, I know that there is only air being blown into the closest ones. If you do the farthest first, you will continue to force the water in the system into those faucets.

Click to expand...


+1
 
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