winterizing water system

quote:
Originally posted by JVM225

I'm kind of anal about it so I blow out the fresh water system then put some pink in the tank and turn on each faucet until pink flows.
I don't have an ice maker and don't drink from any of the faucets on the boat so I'm not too concerned with the use of the pink stuff.

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When I first decided to go the air method I did the same.
Air is the way to go
Drain hot water heater
Hook up compressor to dock side water inlet
Open all faucets colld water side
Blow air through
Open faucets hot water side
Blow air through
Flush toilet a few times while air is blowing through
Dump antifreeze in toilet bowel and then flush
Check hot water heater again (drain)

Before all above, run the water in your water tank till it is spitting

Never did the ac this way but will this year
 
quote:
Posted - Oct 27 2008 : 18:03:47
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I'll third the compressor approach. Ive used this approach for better than 14 years. I hook one up to the shore water supply and crank up the pressure to 40 psi. By what ever fittings are required from H.D.. Then I systematically move through the boat farthest out to closest in a number of times. Let the pressure build up, then quickly open the connection and let it blow out. Three or four cycles works for us. The washer is set to warm/warm so both valves open. By the way, remove the restrictors/screens from all the faucets/spigots. You get a much better "pop" that way and this will move more water out quickly.
I have a permanently installed switch to allow me to open the icemaker water supply solenoid (easy to figure out just parallel in from the 120v line) and the icemaker is merely included in the cycle through the boat (above). You will know when the job is done when the pipe stops rattling/barking due to puddles in the pipes here and there.
Once all done with the water, put a few gallons of pink into the washer and run the spin cycle.

With a jabsco, I guess you have to pump enough pink to ensure you get all the way to the tank. With vacu-flush I use a gallon of pink per head so make sure I get a good dose of it into the pumps and any low lying pipes.

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http://www.boatered.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=120905

Our latest and much better approach was to move the boat South permanently.
 
I blow out the system with air from the dockside water hook up. Then I bypass the hot water heater, dump a gallon or so in the fresh water tank and turn on the faucets one at a time until pink comes out. I know it's double work but I don't mind. I don't want to take the chance of a little water freezing in some nook and cracking something that I'll spend half the next season tracking down. I mainly use the fresh water tank to wash dishes and take showers. I keep bottled water onboard for drinking and brushing teeth. The thought of drinking out of a 24 year old fresh water tank that was owned by two previous owners isn't all that appealing to me anyway.
In the Spring I fill the fresh water tank and drop in a couple of ounces of household bleach then I run it all out and refill again. That gets it plenty clear enough for my purposes.
I do the AC by hooking up one of those plastic tanks with pink stuff in it to the inlet side with a hose. I use one of the ones they use to winterize through the outdrives because I have one and don't use it for that purpose anyway. I prime the system with the pink and then run it for probably less than a minute until pink comes out the discharge.
My head is manual so I just pump it out before hauling and then pour some pink in the bowl and flush it through to the holding tank.
I run what I can out of the bilge pumps then vacuum up the rest with a shop vac. Then I pour a little pink around each bilge pump and run it through. Then I shop vac up the last of the pink.
I probably do more than I need to but the extra effort is no big deal and doesn't cost a whole lot.

My head is a manual one so all I do there is pump it out before the
 
John
If you jump out the hot water and drain it, then blow out the system as I have you have nothing to worry about. We live on Freedom over the winter and use the fresh water from the tank which is fed by an RO system or dockside. We bleach it occassionally and all has been well.
As far as the AC systems went, I opened up the seacock pulled the hoses and blew air through them. You would be surprised how little resistence there was on the AC raw water circuits. Much less than the household water.

IMHO

Air is the way to go. Except for the heads. Send the pink down the drains where it belongs. Wait, I also run it through the sink drains and any other over the side discharge including a washing machine. So any grey water discharge gets some pink.
 
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