Winterize Hot Water Heater

M

meant2be

New Member
Jul 16, 2009
39
CT
Boat Info
240 Sundancer 2007
Engines
5.0 Mercruiser
Bravo III
This is my first year winterizing myself. The owners manual refers you to the hot water heater manual which I don't have. I have put 4 gallons of the pink non toxic antifreeze into to water tank. To winterize the water heater, is it just a matter of turning on the hot water until the pink antifreeze comes out, just like the cold water process or is there something specific I need to do to the water heater itself?:huh:
 
meant2be said:
This is my first year winterizing myself. The owners manual refers you to the hot water heater manual which I don't have. I have put 4 gallons of the pink non toxic antifreeze into to water tank. To winterize the water heater, is it just a matter of turning on the hot water until the pink antifreeze comes out, just like the cold water process or is there something specific I need to do to the water heater itself?:huh:
Click to expand...

Well... there are 2 ways you can go about it (probably more but i only know 2 haha). You can take the water input and output off the HW tank and connect (bypass the water tank). There is a drain on the bottom of the HW tank you can open to drain the remaining water out.

Or... (and this is prob a better idea for you since you already added pink the FW tank)

Put pink in the FW tank, turn on the HW heater... and open each hot water faucet starting from the furthest point and working your way back... then repeat again. This is same process for cold faucets as well.

Just keep in mind how much pink you put in your FW tank. You said 4 gallons... im not sure how big your hot water tank is but if you don't get pink coming out of the facets you need to add more pink to the FW tank.

Good luck.
 
I bought a Hot water by pass kit for around $12. I did have to remove a nipple from the hot water heater to make it work on my boat and get a couple adapters. But very happy with the setup. I have a similar setup for my water tank. Therefore I can drain the tank and then run antifreeze through the water lines without having to get the antifreeze out of the tank next spring.

http://www.campingworld.com/shopping/item/quick-turn-by-pass-kit/15717
http://www.campingworld.com/shopping/item/pump-converter-winterizer-kit/6279
 
skolbe said:
I bought a Hot water by pass kit for around $12.
Click to expand...

I just drain the tank then manually bypass the water heater before running the pink stuff through. I had considered a bypass kit like the one that skolbe used but was concerned that water would remain in the lines between the bypass kit and the water heater. I may just be paranoid though.

Note: According to the manual for the water heater, it will not drain completely, the drain is higher than the bottom of the tank but there will be plenty of room for expansion to occur without damaging the tank.
 
gnealon said:
Put pink in the FW tank, turn on the HW heater...

Good luck.
Click to expand...

DO NOT turn on your heater when you have the antifreeze in the hot water tank. The antifreeze will "burn" into the element and you will have foul smelling/tasting water for a long time. (I know because I did not know the previous owner had the pink stuff in the tank and I turned it on after closing on my boat). After over 30 filling/dumping of water, it still had the smell and taste... I used liquid mint used for baking. Use a 1/2 bottle (.5 oz) and all bad taste and smell went away after two more rinse outs...

Since air does not freeze, all you need to do is empty the lines, the tank (has a valve at the bottom) and leave open your taps. Some water will remain in the lines but since there is room for the water to freeze, you should not have any pipe damage occur. Some people blow compressed air through the lines using low pressure. I have not done that since my winterizing does not call for that.

BTW, read the label on the pink stuff... The big print says its OK for water systems, the fine print on back says it is poison and not to be consumed...

From Prestone:
[SIZE=-1]INGESTION: Considered relatively non-toxic following acute ingestion,
however, lactic acidosis, stupor and seizures have been reported
following chronic ingestion and in individuals with underlying kidney
disease.

Enjoy!
[/SIZE]
 
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It is likely you have a 6 gallon water heater. If you just turn on the HW faucet(s), your pink AF will be diluted to a point where you will not have much / any protection from freezing temps...plus it is going to take a lot more AF to flush through the HWH to bring the AF up to near full strength. I know, I did it this way my first time...never again.

The best way is what gnealon mentioned. Drain it, and bypass the HWH by jumping the cold water line to the hot. There are bypass kits available, I made my own by using Sea-Tech elbows with push in tube connections and a short length of 15mm tubing. One note on draining the HWH, I have a check valve on the cold water inlet. There is a little stem that protrudes out of the cold water fitting that I have to press to allow the water tank to vent so it will flow out the drain spigot. Otherwise it will not drain out quickly. I leave the HWH drain spigot open until spring.

Do yourself a favor, purchase a good quality AF tester for propylene glycol (specific for the pink stuff) I just bought a Thextron 107 disk type tester for around $15 bucks. Test the strength out of each faucet etc. as you winterize your boat. Don't panic if you only see a -26 to -28 reading from your tester, this is normal for full strength pink AF right out of the jug. The -50 rating comes from the point at which the pink stuff transitions from a slush to a solid. I bench tested a full jug last winter, and at -35F, the pink stuff was in a part slush / liquid state, but it never once swelled the jug or tried to push the cap off.
 
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From Prestone: [FONT=Courier said:
[SIZE=-1]INGESTION: Considered relatively non-toxic following acute ingestion, however, lactic acidosis, stupor and seizures have been reported following chronic ingestion and in individuals with underlying kidney disease.
Enjoy!
Click to expand...

Is that label from RV antifreeze or Prestone for cooling systems? The RV stuff is supposed to be absolutely safe and is even an approved food additive.

Agree with the earlier posts to bypass the water heater, drain it and forget it. Freezing water in a heater is not an issue as long as there is room for the ice to expand. This is the case if you open the tank valve and let it drain. I open the pressure relief valve as well to allow the water to drain better if the bypass is permenantly plumbed into the hot water loop.
 
this is all great info. thanks. i am using the non toxic rv/marine -50 anifreeze that i got from west marine. i am trying to get the owners manual from atwood so that i know how to bypass the hotwater heater. i am not sure where the water comes in to the heater and where it comes out. i ordered the bypass kit from camping world. i have already started this process going thru the hot water heater so maybe i will just get more antifreeze and finish the way i started. whats another 4 gallons at this point. i will just make sure the water coming from from the faucets has a high content of antifreeze. i'll know better next year.
 
Might anyone have any pics of how you by-passed the hot water heater? I would like to see this before I attempt to do it which I have decided to do now. My by-pass kit should be in this week. I have an Atwood hot water heater.
 
Just pull the two plastic lines out and connect them with a short length of garden hose (lightly use clamps to hold the hose on). Sorry, no pic, but I'm pretty sure you can figure it out.

As far as knowing which line is hot and which is cold... are your lines not red and blue? If not, just feel the lines when you are using the heater - the warmer line is the out, obviously.

By the way, to avoid having to flush out the fresh water tank, I don't put pink into the fresh water tank. I just remove the plastic line from the tank and insert it into a 1-gallon jug of AF. I use that as a "make-shift" fresh water tank to run pink through all the lines. Just a thought - saves a lot of time next year.

You might try a search - there are so many threads about winterizing, there's probably more info than you'll know what to do with.
 
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just to understand?? is every one saying to bypass the hot water tank so no antifreeze gets in there. Do you not want it in the tank??
 
Boots,

Correct. If no water in the tank, then no freezing. Same with the fresh water tank, which is why Dennis is not adding AF to the FW tank, just sucking AF straight thru the plumbing. The reason you are adding AF at all is the potential for standing water anywhere in your plumbing that will expand and damage fittings.
M
 
I will try and remember to take some pictures this weekend. With the little residual water in the tank - it should be fine as long as you run it dry. I did it more for speed. By the time I am winterizing, the weather has gotten cold and I want to get the job done. I usually change oil and stuff a week or two prior.
 
OK. I got the by pass kit and installed it. I installed the by pass onto the cold water input (blue hose) and connected it over to the hot water out line (red hose). I had previously drained the hot water heater but closed the spicket. I put more antifreeze into the tank and ran the faucets. Antifreeze seemed to come out of the faucets quickly. But when I opened up the drain line to the hot water tank, there was water and antifreeze that came out again. Alot of water. Why would there be more water going into the hot water heater if I by passed it and had drained it previously? :huh: Did I not install the by pass correctly or is this normal?
 
If you installed the bypass correctly there shouldn't have been any water coming out of it. There are a couple of different kinds of bypass kits.

One uses a single three-way valve and a check valve and a tee. This is the kind I've got. This type blocks cold from getting into the tank by redirecting it with the 3-way valve over to the tee. The inline check valve, between the tee and the tank, is supposed to block the water from going back into the tank. You do have to be sure to install the check valve in the correct direction.

Another type of kit uses two three way valves. You re-route the incoming cold over to the other valve on the hot side, effectively blocking the water from going back into the tank. When you've got good physical access to both lines this type work nicely. On ours it's a real stretch to reach the hot outflow line so I went with the single valve type.

The simplest form of bypass is a pipe. You disconnect the lines and put a short piece of pipe (usually 1/2" NPT) from the incoming cold to the outgoing hot. This disconnects the tank entirely. It's cheap too. The only downside being you're screwing and unscrewing the lines on the tank every time. This can lead to failure on the connection where the hoses meet the fittings, or get cross-threaded.

So which type of bypass kit did you install?
 
meant2be said:
OK. I got the by pass kit and installed it. I installed the by pass onto the cold water input (blue hose) and connected it over to the hot water out line (red hose). I had previously drained the hot water heater but closed the spicket. I put more antifreeze into the tank and ran the faucets. Antifreeze seemed to come out of the faucets quickly. But when I opened up the drain line to the hot water tank, there was water and antifreeze that came out again. Alot of water. Why would there be more water going into the hot water heater if I by passed it and had drained it previously? :huh: Did I not install the by pass correctly or is this normal?
Click to expand...

Tough to say without a picture of your install. Seems to me from your description that perhaps your T to the cold water is drawing water into your tank and into your bypass. I would imagine if your bypass has only ONE valve then that valve needs to be on the cold water inlet? The the kit has a fitting for the hot water that acts like a check value and only lets water flow from the bypass tube into the hot water lines????

Just a guess really not knowing your set up. For me I just pulled off the cold water elbow, pulled out the 15mm pipe from the hot water elbow. Left the hot water elbow on and used a short section of 15mm tube to go from the cold water elbow I pulled off to the hot water tee that the water heater feeds. Just was more room for me to work on it that way.

Also thanks to the poster about opening the pressure valve!!! Have to do that to fully drain my tank as my cold water inlet is non-standard and I could not get at that check valve stem to purge the tank.. Don't ask long story!!!! I'll change that around some day..
 
Anyone experiencing a restricted flow of hot water during normal use when having the permanent bypass installed?

I read this review on Amazon about the Camco 36543 RV Pump Converter Winterizing Kit:

"This is a really good idea that's flawed in execution. The small 3 way ball valves are not "full port" and the tiny holes really restrict the flow from the water tank to the pump. You're better off buying full port 3 way ball valves and making your own.
 
Skolbe...did you have any of the restriction hornblower is talking about after installing the kits from camping world?? RIc
 
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