Annual Panic-Mode how do I winterize my 31PC thread


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SeaSkip

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We are expecting a big cold snap next week (10's and 20's). We are also expecting a much colder winter than last year. Thus, I need to at least partially winterize my boat.

Last year, toofast was kind enough to show me a thing or two about winterizing. I was able to flush the house system this year using his air-hose-to-water-hose contraption. Got the anchor washdown, transom washdown/shower, cockpit sink, galley sink, head sink, head, and shower cleared with a little air compression. I haven't done anything with the hot water heater yet, but would appreciate any guidance on how to handle that.

I still need to put anti-freeze in the drains, toilet, syncs and water holding tank. Any recommendations on the best method to do that? Is it just simply pouring a couple gallons into the holding tank and turning things on?

I started draining the engines using the pumps, but the water just keeps coming and coming and coming. I'm sure there is something I'm supposed to close off to make sure more water isn't coming into the engine, but I'm not sure what. Can anyone help? I tried looking through the manuals but found nothing that indicated where that was at.

Further, after all of this, I'd love to know how to get the boat ready again once the cold is over.

I tried looking for previous threads on this topic that were most helpful, but I'm coming up empty. Any help on what I should do here would be appreciated ... again.
 
Mornin' Skip.......

I'll bite on the water heater part.....

Turn the circuit breaker off for the water heater 2 or 3 hours in advance. (You'll avert a potential scalding this way.)

Drain water heater. You will notice a hose bib on it. Cut the discharge end of an old hose to "custom" length so as to drain the water heater...without a mess....either into the bilge, or into a bucket. Attach hose to water heater hose bib. I used an old washing machine hose for this, as it's smaller in diameter than a garden hose and easier to bend to desired shape given the tight space. (If you drain into the bilge, don't forget to extract any water that remains in the bottom of the bilge.) Once the hose is attached to the water heater, open the water heater's discharge valve, and crack the heater's pressure relief valve....the latter by moving the small pressure relief arm on the relief valve 90 degrees.....to a position that is straight perpendicular to the heater. Drain completely, then close water and pressure relief valves, and remove hose. (After done, save hose for next year!)

Buy a 90 degree "whale fitting" .... like the one pictured (ONLY a whale fitting....as other brands will appear to fit, but they will leak), remove the blue and red water lines from the heater, and connect the two together using the whale fitting. It's hard to describe how to release the water lines from the whale fittings that are already on your water heater, so just get someone who knows how to show you. A picture is worth a thousand words, and the task is fast and easy.

Once the blue and red water lines are released from the water heater, and interconnected via the whale fitting you purchased, the water heater is bypassed. Done.

Good luck.
 

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V1 has it right, but I would like to just add one more thing. If you leave the hot water tank by-passed, its easier to flush all the anti-freeze out after winter.
Once you flush all your lines , connect them back to the tank.
I wire tie my Whale coupler directly to the pressure relief valve so it does not get lost.
Good luck.
 
GSENT said:
V1 has it right, but I would like to just add one more thing. If you leave the hot water tank by-passed, its easier to flush all the anti-freeze out after winter.
Once you flush all your lines , connect them back to the tank.
I wire tie my Whale coupler directly to the pressure relief valve so it does not get lost.
Good luck.
Click to expand...

Good point GSENT. I leave mine bypassed all winter too. I should have made that clear.
 
I put a wet dry vac on the hot water heater and I suck out a lot more water than just draining, it may be worth a try. Also, do NOT turn on the water heater on if it is empty even for a second, I put a piece of paper over the switch in the breaker panel just to remind myself not to flip it by accident.

As far as winterizing the holding tank, sinks, etc. Pour a few gallons in your holding tank and start at the furthest device, your transom shower, and run until it turns pink, then go to your wet bar do the same thing and keep going until all of them are running pink. I dump a couple of gallons down the head after I see pink running into it to make sure the head vacu flush has plenty in it.

I'm not familiar with your engines so I can't provide much help but last resort is to open the drain plugs on the manifolds and just let them drain out.
 
Skip,

Nate brings up a good point about not allowing the water heater to be powered when it is empty, and his commentary reminded me of something:

I seem to remember you occasionally running your boat through the winter. If you do this after emptying the water heater, you will likely cause its thermal reset switch to trip. The reason is that the starboard engine has a heat exchange loop connected to the water heater, which allows water to remain hot when you are out running the boat. Without water in the heater, the heat exchange loop allows the water heater to exceed its thermal limit, potentially tripping the reset switch, which is kind of a pain to reset.

As for putting water system anti-freeze in your fresh water holding tank, a little hint: After normally "emptying" the holding tank using the ship's pump and fixtures, you can extract an additional couple gallons of water out of the tank with a shop vac before introducing anti-freeze. It's a good practice, as you then are not distributing a diluted solution of anti-freeze throughout the system.

Lastly, as Nate said above.... Start at the back of the boat, and work your way forward. Don't forget your anchor washdown. It's the last thing to be winterized when going stern to bow. Reverse the process in the Spring.
 
The engines should just PUMP up, then the little things should "pop" out due to pressure and the raw water sides should drain. End of story....

Not sure what you have going on if it keeps pumping and pumping...how much pumps out ?

Also, if you have a light bulb (old fashioned kind) you could put in engine compartment and you will be ok. Your water is still warm and it would take a lot of cold to freeze.
 
I use a boatsafe 600w bilge heater and a freedom pop router to let me know I've still got power to the boat. Open the cockpit sink, hot & cold transom shower, and drain the water heater as suggested. All the unheated water lines will be empty. Draining the raw water side of engines and Genny is added insurance but not necessary with the bilge heater as long as power is maintained.

Good luck and btw, we've put our boat in a covered slip in Ballard for the winter since our summer trip to the san juans & gulf islands got foiled (story for another time).
 
undercover said:
I use a boatsafe 600w bilge heater and a freedom pop router to let me know I've still got power to the boat. Open the cockpit sink, hot & cold transom shower, and drain the water heater as suggested. All the unheated water lines will be empty. Draining the raw water side of engines and Genny is added insurance but not necessary with the bilge heater as long as power is maintained.

Good luck and btw, we've put our boat in a covered slip in Ballard for the winter since our summer trip to the san juans & gulf islands got foiled (story for another time).
Click to expand...

Thanks. I do have an Xtreme Heater in the bilge. I just want to prepare in case we lose power. I also wanted to drain the external water lines because they clearly aren't covered by cabin or bilge heaters.

I'm really going to have to rendezvous with you next year. BTW, I started a facebook group for "Formula Owners of WA". Please join. Would love to get a Formula rendezvous going on the west coast too. :)
 
Dumb question regarding the hot water heater. Could you just run the hot water at the sink until antifreeze starts coming out? I think that’s how my marina does it.

One more dumb one… how do you winterize the ice maker?
 
The hot water tank is self draining and takes a lot of antifreeze to fill it. Best if bypassed. The ice maker is made to freeze and antifreeze will eat the finish off the evaporator plate. Disconnect the water supply, push the antifreeze into the system and out the open line. run the ice maker two cycles to get all the water out of the internal line. Reconnect the line so you are ready for next year.
 
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