Which pink for A/C?

[boatrboy]

Winterizing the A/C on my 340 Sundancer and wondered if I've been doing it correctly.

I was using the "Pink" that is for the fresh water system, NOT the pink with corrosion protection for boat motors.

Is that correct?

Many posts on this just say ..."pour the pink in" but which Pink?

 

[Lazy Daze]

You CAN use the stuff for the engines. But you'd be paying more than you have to. The stuff you have been using, though, CAN NOT be used for engines. In other words, you're good with what you've been doing.

 

[boatrboy]

You CAN use the stuff for the engines. But you'd be paying more than you have to. The stuff you have been using, though, CAN NOT be used for engines. In other words, you're good with what you've been doing.

Thanks for the quick reply.

I actually use the “purple” for the motors and generator to be extra safe . As you stated, I hated to use $10/gallon on the a/c if I don’t have to.

 

[km1125]

The pink for potable water systems typically contains alcohol, and you really should avoid using that for engines or mechanical stuff (with metallic parts). That would include your HVAC or A/C systems. Periodic use is probably not going to be a big issue though, so if you've already done it don't worry about it, just know going forward. The alcohol-based ones usually have a "flammable" stamp on them somewhere.

The other "pink" that's intended for engines is propylene glycol based and most of it can also be used in potable water systems. There are VERY FEW versions of the "winterizing" propylene glycol have have any corrosion inhibitors added. This includes most of the -50, -60 and -100 versions. They're just higher concentrations of propylene glycol to water. They actually "inhibit corrosion" by just displacing the AIR that would be left in an open system.

There are SOME propylene glycol based antifreezes that DO contain additional things like actual corrosion inhibitors and lubricants and they're used in cooling systems year-round for antifreeze and boil-over protection. These also could be used to winterize boat engines and HVAC systems but you would NOT want to use them for the potable systems.

The only way to really know is check the MSDS sheets. I did that several years ago for the products that WM was selling at the time and those were all just PG and water.

 

[Skybolt]

For the AC and the fresh water system I just use air. A lot less messy and doesn't take that much longer. Alcohol based anti-freeze isn't bad for things that are metal, but you don't want to use it with any that has rubber, it dries that out and makes it brittle over time.

 

[km1125]

For the AC and the fresh water system I just use air. A lot less messy and doesn't take that much longer. Alcohol based anti-freeze isn't bad for things that are metal, but you don't want to use it with any that has rubber, it dries that out and makes it brittle over time.

I'll beg to differ on that one. National pipeline companies don't run Ethanol or Ethanol-based fuels through their pipelines because of all the corrosive effects. There are newer pipelines that are intended for Ethanol but they are pretty rare.

I also mostly used air to blow out the potable and HVAC lines, but then I'd blow through just a little "pink" PG-based stuff so if there were any low spots that collected water they'd be mostly the PG stuff.

 

[Skybolt]

I'll beg to differ on that one. National pipeline companies don't run Ethanol or Ethanol-based fuels through their pipelines because of all the corrosive effects. There are newer pipelines that are intended for Ethanol but they are pretty rare.

I also mostly used air to blow out the potable and HVAC lines, but then I'd blow through just a little "pink" PG-based stuff so if there were any low spots that collected water they'd be mostly the PG stuff.

I don't disagree with you on that, for what you quoted.

But in an AC unit with copper lines, it doesn't hurt that any. Personally I would worry more about that in the fresh water lines and what it does to the non-pex based systems.

 

[wayne0]

I've been using the cheap pink on the AC for 12 years with no issues. Copper and plastic lines are not damaged by it.