Dewinterize Fresh Water system

[Jfrano]

First season with the boat, so trying to find the most effective way to get the antifreeze out and any bad taste out.
For the hot water heater, I guess I would manually drain it into the bilge. How do I then flush the hot water heater with cold water?

Thanks

 

[scross]

We pump out all the antifreeze first through the galley and sink in the head faucets. Move the faucets from hot to cold while doing this. Next fill the fresh water tank with about 10 gallons of fresh water. Drain as before while moving the faucet handle back and forth between hot and cold. Repeat this three times or more until all traces of pink are gone. Gingerly taste the water when all the pink is gone from both cold and hot settings from the galley faucet. Repeat flush cycle if you taste anything unpleasant. When you are satisfied with the taste from both hot and cold you are done.

 

[tschneid]

As a final touch as a fifth of vodka... really


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[jagizzi]

You will have to manually drain all of the antifreeze from the hot water heater as well. When you pump water to empty the system you are only emptying the freshwater tank, the hot water heater remains full. It is a simple matter to remove the fitting from the lowest part of the tank to drain it.

Once that is done I refill the system to flush, drain it all again (up to you if you want to drain the hot water tank at this point, the antifreeze is non-toxic and it will be pretty diluted by now). I then sanitize the system with a bleach solution, 1/4 cup to 10 gals of water. It is easiest to mix the bleach into water in a gallon jug first and then follow up with plain water after that. I don't like pouring straight bleach into the system. At this point it is important to run each faucet on both hot and cold until you smell the bleach water come from it. This ensures that the lines are full of the sanitizing solution. Once all of the lines are full I go for an hour long boat ride somewhere. On the way back I pump the water out again, using all of the faucets.

Next, and last, step is to fill with fresh. Simple, effective and keeps things fresh.

 

[Jfrano]

Will the hot water heater refill without the breaker turned on? This way I can flush cold water while there’s still antiF in the system?

 

[scross]

In our boat, which is a 2009, I’m pretty sure that running the galley and sink faucets on the hot side draws water from the hot water tank regardless of if the water is hot or not when we are flushing the lines. I say this because after following the process I outlined above, all of the antifreeze gets removed from the hot water lines. We have been doing this process for 6 seasons now and have never seen residual antifreeze in the hot water after flushing as described.

PS: When we winterize the only fluid in the fresh water system and hot water tank is the antifreeze. All the water is drained out before adding the antifreeze.

 

[Jfrano]

Thanks for the insights

Jersey Joe

 

[Hamster]

I am wrapping up my dewinterizing the fresh water system. One thing I noticed is that my sinks leaked water into the cabinets below. If your sink was installed like mine, all it had for a seal is a flimsy paper gasket. I removed the strainer and put plumbers putty in - what every sink in a house uses. Now, no more drips into my dry goods stored below the sink.

Covid-19 Task #5. 🙂

 

[Hamster]

Replaced my pump and found lots of fiberglass in the filter of the old pump. gallery2.php?g2_itemId=72314 If your pump pulses, you can clean the filter. I already like the replacement pump. 5 hp Johnson.

 

[NorthernFocus]

The hardest place to get the antifreeze out is the water heater. So I start there. Take off the inlet and outlet lines and attach a water hose to the top connection. Open the drain and just let it run for a while. Put the lines back on.

The next part is counter intuitive. The less water that you put in the tank each time that you run it down through the sinks the quicker the antifreeze gets diluted. It's just math.

Assume there is one gallon of residual antifreeze in the tank when you start. So each time you add one gallon of water and run the system down you reduce the concentration of the mixture by 1/2. So by the time you add the seventh gallon of water the concentration is down do 1/128 part antifreeze.

On the other hand if you put in 9 gallons of water(on top of the one residual gallon of antifreeze) and pump it down the concentration is 1/10. Add nine more gallons and it's down to 1/100.

So 18 gallons gets you down to 1/100 vs 7 gallons getting you to 1/128. That's not nearly low enough to eliminate the taste but you get the point. A lot less time running the pump.

 

[tjiann]

I am curious after reading these posts, particularly about the hot water heater. When we bought our R23, we were instructed to drain the hot water heater, then bypass it for the winterization by unhooking the "in" hose and coupling that back with the hose going to the main water lines to the sinks. So, I never have antifreeze in the water heater itself, and just have to flush out the antifreeze in the main tank in the spring. Any others do this, or do folks all leave their water heater hooked up and run antifreeze/water mix into it? Thanks.

 

[Pilotnavigator]

I have had boats and trailers all my life and never had to put antifreeze in the water tank or the water heater. Here is what I have always done and have had zero issues even when the temperature is 40 below zero.
Drain the water tank and water heater as much as possible. A small bit of water will freeze in each just like the ice cubes in a tray. Bypass the water heater, you can by a bypass kit at any trailer supply shop. Or you can connect the in and the out together with a coupler. Locate the suction line on the water pump and disconnect it. On the rangers this should be a quick disconnect fitting. Attach a length of hose to similar fitting and connect it to the pump. Place the other end of the fitting in a jug of plumber antifreeze. Turn on the pump. Go to the farthest water tap and turn it on and wait till you see a steady stream of pink. Turn on the hot side and wait for the pink. Move closer to the pump checking rack tap, first cold side then hot. Once all taps are checked turn off the pump and open all taps, hot and cold to ensure any expansion of the antifreeze does not mess them up.
In the spring connect the supply line to the pump. Put a few ounces of bleach in the water tank and fill it up. Wait a day and pump it all out down each drain and tap. Now reverse the bypass on the water heater and insert the drain plug. Fill the water tank with fresh water and run the pump until the hot water tank is full, water will come from the hot side of each tap.
You will now have fresh water and no taste of antifreeze anywhere. You should have to use no more than a gallon of antifreeze to complete the job.
Should be good to go for the season.

 

[NorthernFocus]

I am curious after reading these posts, particularly about the hot water heater. When we bought our R23, we were instructed to drain the hot water heater, then bypass it for the winterization by unhooking the "in" hose and coupling that back with the hose going to the main water lines to the sinks. So, I never have antifreeze in the water heater itself, and just have to flush out the antifreeze in the main tank in the spring. Any others do this, or do folks all leave their water heater hooked up and run antifreeze/water mix into it? Thanks.

I bypass the water heater and put antifreeze in it. Probably not necessary but surely doesn't hurt and it's easy to purge. With the bypass in place the whole system is easier to get the antifreeze out. My wife is very sensitive to chemical smells/tastes. The first year we had the boat I hooked the heater back up before purging the system and pretty much the whole season she could still taste the antifreeze if she used water from the hot tap to make a drink etc. Since then I purge the heater and rest of the system until I can't taste anything in either one before hooking it back up.