Winterization 28te

[Pedro]

1-How do you winterize the head and holding tank?
2-Freshwater system?
3-hot water tank has no drain valve,nor bypass,
4-Engine?
I get the idea for the engine,,pour in 5 plus gallons of -50 stop when it looks to be pure antifreeze

Mechanic says you can't be sure you have enough -50 in when You do it without a refractometer?any other way to test?
5-raw water wash down. I removed the hose from the raw water iwashdown seacock into a jug of antifreeze until spigot ran pink, re attach hose,close seacock, leave spigot open? Or closed?

[Sspdiesel134]

Head pump out put three gallons non tox right down toliet flush it
Fresh water drain water install 10 gallons non tox some 12 run hot water first till you see pink , if you own reflectometer test as it turns pink , do al hot facets first then do cold , when done run hot to no more non tox is in tank , this will take care of water system , and water heater .
Engine
Change oil and filter
Check freezing point of antifreeze. Any auto parts tester
Shut sea cock , remove top of sea stainer basket, I usually drain it down , but every time you play with things can lead to another issue non tox cheaper , use 8 gallons get two people one to start engine on to pour it in sea basket stainer , 8 gallons done but it off do not run dry at all , make sure you open sea cock When boats cut of water."

Clean and paint rusted parts

[Pedro]

Thanks Sspdiesel, One question, why would you open raw water seacock when done?

[Sspdiesel134]

I always want it to drain out , I have found when people leave it closed , that sometimes they can not reopen in the spring ,
Some people say to leave closed because when you drain it allows the air to get into coolant passages , myself if marina water is still on I will flush with fresh water first , other wise use a little extra non tox as I noted , will get more of the salt water out of your engine . Also when it drains zincs and coolers etc have no connection to feed unlike metals reaction ,
The book way was always just to drain the system down that why yanmar has drains on engine for salt water side .
Hope this helps ,
The key to all wintering of the engines is to flush the salt out of the coolers , when it comes to owning a diesel the most expense you can face is to buy new coolers ,Aftercooler , heat exchanger , a lot of the mechanics that care will drain down the salt water side , then use non tox so it does not mix with salt water .

[Pedro]

I'm not sure I understand your point?I was thinking about the raw water intake seacock at the strainer, after its full of antifreeze ,what does opening it do besides drain out that last foot or so if hose and let air back up into seacock.?thanks for your info thus far,
I paid a mechanic last year but wanted to get to know the boat better (and save$)by doing it myself

[Sspdiesel134]

It does drain back even around impeller , many people for many years , put six gallon of non tox and done and it does work .. If you want to keep it simply ..,

[chesapeake albin]

do you guys pull your impeller over the winter?

Travis

[Pedro]

So,,,I did all the winterization of all systems but,,,,, my mechanic did the motor while I watched 4 gallons of -50. 4 gallons of -100 while his assistant checked the exhaust with a refractometer, when it was at -58 they shut her down, So next year I'll do it myself,,, To be honest I was going to do the same thing but use 6 gallons,, I would have been a little light on the antifreeze I guess, He did not pull the impeller.

[Maine Sail]

Fresh water drain water install 10 gallons non tox some 12 run hot water first till you see pink , if you own reflectometer test as it turns pink , do al hot facets first then do cold , when done run hot to no more non tox is in tank , this will take care of water system , and water heater .

It is 100% reliable, to completely drain and then bypass the water heater. I also don't put any PG into any of my customers water tanks. I drain the tanks completely, unless access entirely prohibits this (pretty rare), then suck PG only through the systems piping. The tanks sit empty with only the piping remaining with PG. In the spring I flush the piping before re-commissioning the tanks & water heater.. This cuts down on odd smells from the water system and the PG necessary to match bottle strength is considerably less. Always test with a refractometer or you can eventually have issues. None of the PG products should be diluted and refractometer readings should match a new sample from the bottle.

Every spring, without fail, I am called in to do thousands of dollars in improper winterization repair work. This past spring it was three water heaters, 1 heat exchanger, 1 SeaFrost heat exchanger and a number of valves, faucets, shower heads etc. The #1 reason? Diluted antifreeze and not enough AF used.

One of those water heaters required very carefully drilling out 60 some odd bungs and then doing a complete strip & re-varnish of all the associated wood work (7 coats) for a grand total of about 46 hours of labor... Properly winterizing the water heater would have consummed less PG and saved thousands in repair work.. This was a 6 gallon water heater so the owner sucked in 8 gallons and assumed he'd be safe and he never tested what came out of the faucet. Please be careful!!

[Pitou]

FWIW / Here's my drill -

Freshwater:
Same as Maine Sail on freshwater system: I drain down the water tank and drain and bypass the hot water tank leaving the drain spigot open for the winter. Pouring PG into the freshwater storage tank will dilute the PG somewhat as you never get every bit of freshwater out. Filling the hot water tank (6 gallons on the 28) is wasteful, but also can leave a tinny taste and smell behind come spring commissioning. I pull the PG directly from the 1 gallon bottle through the fresh water pump by attaching a simple clear hose. In the 28 it took 2 gallons of PG to winterize the freshwater system inclusive of the shower sump. In the 31 I use 4 gallons inclusive of pulling into the freshwater head. After pumping the head holding tank I added 2 gallons more and then pumped again.

Engine:
After pumping out the saltwater from the strainer, I flush with two 5 gallon buckets of a mix of freshwater and SaltAway and let set for a few days and come back to winterize. Before running the PG through the engine I pump the freshwater / SaltAway mix from my sea strainer and drain my coolers and heat exchange by removing the anodes as well as draining the muffler. I followed this on the 28 as well. With the seawater side drained as best can be done I then fill the strainer and run 6 gallons of -50 PG through the engine. Using this method I found 5 to be sufficient on the 28.

Generator:
Same drill as the engine, but no anodes on the Northern Lights to drain the cooler and heat exchanger in the 31. Drain the waterlift muffler too. 2 Gallons of PG and done.

Other SaltWater Systems:
SaltAway Solution in a 5 gallon bucket drawn through the saltwater wash pump through the cockpit spigot with a hose connected to backflush the baitwell inlet and out the baitwell pump. For the reverse cycle AC/heat system I then connect the hose coming from the saltwater wash onto a modified Groco strainer cap that accepts the male end of the hose and just push the SaltAway mix through the system and out the the thru hull. I let that set a few days just like the engine and the generator and then push PG through just as the SaltAway mix and done. (I had Perko filters on the 28 and still have the AC modified strainer cap if anyone is interested)

For those with a Saltwater Head:
Same drill with SaltAway and then PG. Disconnect the intake hose from the thru hull and place the hose into a gallon jug or bucket and draw the liquid up into the head by electric flush pump or hand pump. Pump the holding tank repeat process with a couple gallons of PG and pump tank. You may want to repeat with PG.

[Pitou]

So,,,I did all the winterization of all systems but,,,,, my mechanic did the motor while I watched 4 gallons of -50. 4 gallons of -100 while his assistant checked the exhaust with a refractometer, when it was at -58 they shut her down, So next year I'll do it myself,,, To be honest I was going to do the same thing but use 6 gallons,, I would have been a little light on the antifreeze I guess, He did not pull the impeller.

Did your mechanic drain the seawater side and muffler before running the PG through?

[Pedro]

He vacuumed out the sea strainer then poured in the PG,

[Halcyon]

I have been blowing the fresh water and salt water wash down lines clear with a compressor for the past few years with good results. I changed because it always seemed to take a long time for the anti freeze taste out of the fresh water system.
The boat yard does the AC and head with anti freeze.