Easiest way I've found to winterize air conditoners is to use a 12 volt bilge pump in a bucket of pink with the discharge hose plugged into the side air cond water discharge port. It pushe pink backward thru the system and when the antifreeze comes out the bottom of the boat, nice and pink, you are done. This way you don't need to take any fittings aprat and don't need electricity to run the AC pump.
Water system(s) winterization?
- Thread starter Grand Larsony
- Start date
I have been doing my own water system for years on two different boats both with A/C. The pump WILL suck up pink stuff from a five gallon bucket if you prime the hose first. All I do is pour some pink stuff into the hose after removing it from the seacock hold my thumb over the end and place it in the bucket, turn on A/C and pump sucks it through. just thought I would add my 2 cents....
Why waste the pink stuff. I have always used the AC pump and pink stuff in a 5 gallon bucket. Pump sucks 5 gallons in seconds. This time I sucked out the water from the sea strainer, blew down from each OB discharge to the sea strainer until no water was in the strainer, then sucked out the stainer one more time. Then I added about 1/2 cup of the pink to one discharge and blew it to the strainer, then did the other discharge the same way. No problem blowing back through the AC pump. If you don't have a strainer, do the same thing till you see pink stuff coming out the thru hull fitting. At $4/gallon, I saved at least $18 on the AC unit alone. That's one case of Bud.
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Lotta good information above, especially from Prospective and Jim Pend (Jim tends to become a bit impatient and bombastic at times [:-bigeyes]; however we still love him... [:-bouncy])
But the information conveyed is pretty much correct. One thing worthy of mention is that most marine water heaters don't have a drain valve. If the original installer didn't include a tee and a drain plug in the installation, there's no way to drain those water heaters other than by removing the cold water input hose, and then letting it drain. I don't recommend opening the flip lever on the pressure relief valve to allow air into the tank, because once the valve has been opened the manufacturer of the valve will not guarantee that it will hold the design pressure any longer. But if you just wait and bide your time, the water heater will eventually drain. You'll hear it "glugging" away, as air works its way into the tank, which will be perfectly normal.
And, as has also been mentioned above, many marine water heaters have a check valve on the input line, which will stop it from draining. So that will have to be removed, if you have one, and are trying to drain the tank.
But the information conveyed is pretty much correct. One thing worthy of mention is that most marine water heaters don't have a drain valve. If the original installer didn't include a tee and a drain plug in the installation, there's no way to drain those water heaters other than by removing the cold water input hose, and then letting it drain. I don't recommend opening the flip lever on the pressure relief valve to allow air into the tank, because once the valve has been opened the manufacturer of the valve will not guarantee that it will hold the design pressure any longer. But if you just wait and bide your time, the water heater will eventually drain. You'll hear it "glugging" away, as air works its way into the tank, which will be perfectly normal.
And, as has also been mentioned above, many marine water heaters have a check valve on the input line, which will stop it from draining. So that will have to be removed, if you have one, and are trying to drain the tank.
For the AC I have been disconnecting the in and out hoses that connect to the AC and blowing them out with compressed air. I than get a little Pink stuff in there and so far so good.. Have I been lucky and would just blowing them out be good enough.
Al
Al
Ocean,
I use 20 gallons, but I am very conservative winterizing the boat. Trying to save a buck here or there can be very expensive in the spring, not to mention down time, replacing and engine for example. I have a 40' Carver, with two FWC engines, a generator, two AC units, two bathrooms with sinks and showers, kitchen sink, top deck sink, ice maker, Two FW toilets, H2O hookup, two grey water holding tanks, hot water tank, and a transom shower. I use 5 gallons per each engine, 3 gallons for the generator, 2 gallons for each toilet, two cups for the AC system, and 3 gallons for the water supply lines (blowdown system first, fill (excluding H2O heater) with pink through FW pump and then blowdown pink out of all lines.
I use 20 gallons, but I am very conservative winterizing the boat. Trying to save a buck here or there can be very expensive in the spring, not to mention down time, replacing and engine for example. I have a 40' Carver, with two FWC engines, a generator, two AC units, two bathrooms with sinks and showers, kitchen sink, top deck sink, ice maker, Two FW toilets, H2O hookup, two grey water holding tanks, hot water tank, and a transom shower. I use 5 gallons per each engine, 3 gallons for the generator, 2 gallons for each toilet, two cups for the AC system, and 3 gallons for the water supply lines (blowdown system first, fill (excluding H2O heater) with pink through FW pump and then blowdown pink out of all lines.
