Introducing Pink Antifreeze to the water system

F

firecadet613

Well-Known Member
May 10, 2007
5,253
Indiana
Boat Info
SOLD - 2007 Four Winns V358
Engines
Twin VP 5.7GXi V-Drive / ZF63s
My last big boat, I had the mechanics winterize it all. Hated them doing the water system, as they had to remove a cabinet face to gain access to the water pump and tank. I'm looking at doing it myself this year and am trying to decide between these two options.

1 - Drain the water tank and pour a few gallons of the pink antifreeze in, run it through all lines and faucets.

2 - Buy the kit and hook it up to the water pump, after getting the water tank as low as possible. My water pump is mounted about 18" from the tank and up a little bit, so I'm leary if I can get all the water out from the water tank and line to the pump.

Really leaning towards option 1, but not to sure how much of a PITA it is to clear the remaining antifreeze out of the water tank come spring.
 
Option 1 might be ok if you know how low you can get it. BUT- you would need -100 or -200 AF to account for the dilution from the remaining water and be sure it mixed well before you run through pump and faucets. Come spring you will need to fill and flush several times to try to get rid of remaining AF. If you can get to the pump, that is the better way. Use a shop vac and suck out the remaining water from the inlet line to the pump.
 
I can tell you what I do but keep in mind I live in VA.

I go to the lowest point which is my freshwater pump, disconnect both the feed line from the tank and the output line. Also I open the water heater drain valve. Open all faucets and let them gravity drain. Then I use a wet vac to pull the remaining water out and a small compressor to blow the lines out. Just don't do what I did one year and forget to blow out the water regulator. Leave all lines open. I hope this helps some
 
My method is choice #1....I run all faucets open until my fresh water tank is empty/drained/sputtering. The fresh water pump will lose it's prime when you do this. I flip the 2 valves on my hot water tank bypass and then open the hot water tank spigot to drain it all out. I then throw 5 gallons of pink into fresh water tank and re-prime the fresh water pump by slightly opening the pex connection to get air out of the line and the pump will then suck up the pink and stop once primed/pressurized with pink. Now start at back and one by one open faucets/nozzles/toilets etc and see pink come out. When I get to the bow anchor locker faucet and see pink I'm done. I also drain, clean sump box and run pink through the bilges pumps in there.
 
+1 on brewster16. Have done exactly as he has since 2006 when we purchased our 1st boat (Maxum) with water system. To re commission in the spring, I run all faucets etc till tank empty, then fill tank bout half way with water and run til empty again. Then run 4:1 dilution (5 gallons total) of white vinegar through (slowly) followed immediately with fresh water again. Then fill as usual with water and your treatment of choice. Although it is crystal clear, odorless and probably drinkable, we don't use it as drinking water.
 
This coming Spring after I clear out the pink I'm thinking re-comissioning by putting a 10 pound can of Country Time lemonade crystals and 100 gallons of water into my freshwater tank. Thoughts?
 
To wrap this up, I ended up paying them to winterize my fresh water system when they did the rest of the boat. Kept it simple.
 
My procedure that I’ve been doing for 20 years is to open the Faucets until the tank is drained spitting and sputtering then I put a blowout valve on the city water connection and bypass the hot water heater by looping the hot and cold together and putting about 40 pounds from the air compressor on the system and open up each faucet one at a time until no more water is coming out of all of them ,then I close all the faucets and reconnect the hot water heater I have a length of garden hose that I attached to the drain valve of the hot water heater that dumps into the bilge and then re-pressurize the system to blow out all the water from the hot water heater. Once the water heater is empty I shut the whole system down and open up every valve and faucet from the freshwater system and leave it that way over the winter I’ve never had an issue or broken line or damaged tank No pink soda pop required at all . Attached is a link to the valve that I bought from Amazon . I hope this helps good luck
Camco 36104 Plastic Blow Out Plug https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0006JLW3E/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_KrzSDbXR5TVPW
 
I don't run pink through the lines because I find it leaves a terrible taste in the lines. I blow out with compressed air instead. I bought one of these to blow out the water lines via the city water hookup.

I'll connect my compressor to it and it has a shut off. I prefer this over the traditional schraeder blow out plug route. That one you have to hold the air hose onto the plug. This one is attached, and I can go open the water faucets one by one without having a helper.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0056XBBB8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

81EqY2oU5ML._AC_SL1500_.jpg


I have paid to have my water system winterized in the past. I find that the yard will just use extra gallons of antifreeze to fill the hot water tank vs. using a bypass or blowing out with air. To me that's a waste of AF, and I get charged for the materials.
 
Great lakes pirate said:
If you are only using compressed air at the city water inlet, how do you get the water out of the pump that draws from your tank?
Click to expand...
I'll run the water out of the tanks, then run the pump dry. Also I'll disconnect the pump to remove any residual water. My setup allows for easy access to the fittings.
 
If you run pink AF through your water pump be sure to disconnect the lines to the pump to drain it when you're done. If the pink AF sits in the water pump over the Winter it will decrease the life of the pump significantly. My pumps were dying after 2 seasons until I started draining them. Once I started draining them by disconnecting the inlet and outlet lines I didn't have a failure for the rest of the time I had the boat (8 years).
 
Chip S said:
If you run pink AF through your water pump be sure to disconnect the lines to the pump to drain it when you're done. If the pink AF sits in the water pump over the Winter it will decrease the life of the pump significantly. My pumps were dying after 2 seasons until I started draining them. Once I started draining them by disconnecting the inlet and outlet lines I didn't have a failure for the rest of the time I had the boat (8 years).
Click to expand...
This is odd. By far, this is not the norm. There must have been some other type of variable that you weren't aware of. Leaving the pink stuff in can only serve to possibly increase the life of the pump. This comes not only from the AF manufacturer and my personal experience of a couple decades with boats having these systems, but also from experience with hundreds of boats over the years at the shop.
 
Adefelice said:
I’m wondering the same thing...
Click to expand...
Gravity mostly... depending on how yours is mounted these are diaphragm pumps not impeller pumps and generally do not hold water just before my pump on the inlet side is a small see-through filter/strainer when my pump runs dry I could see that there is no water left in there . Same procedure every year, 20+ years never broke a pump
 
joeyleggz said:
Gravity mostly... depending on how yours is mounted these are diaphragm pumps not impeller pumps and generally do not hold water just before my pump on the inlet side is a small see-through filter/strainer when my pump runs dry I could see that there is no water left in there . Same procedure every year, 20+ years never broke a pump
Click to expand...
In addition... whatever water might be left is insignificant compared to the area that it is in - meaning, there's plenty of room for the water to expand. Plus, there's rubber in there which gives even more "room for error".

Joey, you mentioned you "blow out the hot water heater". Just an FYI, all you really need to do is to drain it - use that hose you have and open the expansion valve. For the same reason as above, what little might be left has PLENTY of room to expand. It will never cause an issue. Can't hurt to do what you do - but if you wanted to eliminate a step, is all.
 
brewster16 said:
This coming Spring after I clear out the pink I'm thinking re-comissioning by putting a 10 pound can of Country Time lemonade crystals and 100 gallons of water into my freshwater tank. Thoughts?
Click to expand...
Really? I would not do that. I think you would have residue from the crystals coating your tank and pipes that you could not get rid of. In the spring I just flush the pink out of the system by filling with fresh water, then running it dry a few times. Then I put a cup of bleach in and fill the tank then run that through and run it dry then refill.

For the hot water heater I find it does not flush as easily and you do NOT want to turn it on with any residue of pink. So I put the boat on shore water and then crack open the tank drain a bit and let it run into the bilge for about 20 or 30 min.
 
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