Winterize - Method A or method B?

[Ttiger]

My Searay owners manual says to winterize, I need to drain the water from the engine, everywhere. The majority of stuff I see online says to flush with marine anti freeze and leave it in the motor.

i understand that draining and leaving empty could accelerate corrosion, but is that why the anti freeze method is more popular? Or is it a better to safe than sorry as it's impossible to get all the water out of the engine?

Thanks

 

[PlayinHookie1]

My Searay owners manual says to winterize, I need to drain the water from the engine, everywhere. The majority of stuff I see online says to flush with marine anti freeze and leave it in the motor.

i understand that draining and leaving empty could accelerate corrosion, but is that why the anti freeze method is more popular? Or is it a better to safe than sorry as it's impossible to get all the water out of the engine?

Thanks

I work with boilers and cooling towers and I know it is always better to keep a system wet and treated as opposed to being dry and corrosive. I like to drain all my water with my petcock on motor. Then, fill with the RV antifreeze treatment you can buy at wal-mart in the RV isle. I open up all the hoses on the water pump and fill it up with the antifreeze. I live in North MS so we only have a couple of months of freezing weather.

 

[tbirdvet]

You can run your engine using the pink stuff until you see good outflow then shut down. Should be OK for storage.

 

[AndyF]

I agree in leaving them wet and protected from corrosion. We store in a heated environment and call me crazy, but I still winterize the engines, water system and A/C system with marine antifreeze to keep corrosion down and the seals wet. I use a 5 gallon water tank and an adapter I made to cover the top of the strainers. This is a great time to also clean the strainers. Just close off one sea-cock at a time and install the adapter in place of the strainer cap and turn on the system / engine until the antifreeze runs out the other end. Of course, you need to drain the hot water tank and install a by-pass kit to accomplish this on the hot water system. Same with the shower sump. I clean the heck out of it and then run a mild bleach solution through it. Once completed, a gallon of Pink goes in there too. It may be overkill; however, if there is a power failure or something and the facility looses heat, I will still be protected too.

 

[Dark Age 53]

Is there any good video's on the net out there?

 

[Bt Doctur]

Bad info Tbird. quick way to crack a block. Introducing A/F into an engine from the drive or strainers WITHOUT DRAING EVERYTHING FIRST will almost gaurantee a cracked block come spring.
There is no way for you to determine IF the thermostat opened up and IF you have adequate freeze protection in the block.Should you wish to do it this way, after your done drain some from the block and test it to determine the freeze number. In almost all cases it will test above 32 degrees and that means a new block come springtime.
As far as heated storage , unless your manning the wood stove there is no gaurantee of not having an extended power outage during freezing weather or storms.
Dark, left a cell number

 

[HUMPH]

Wait a minute. How cold does it get in Hollister? Put a blanket over it or better yet, use it all year!

 

[tbirdvet]

Bad info Tbird. quick way to crack a block. Introducing A/F into an engine from the drive or strainers WITHOUT DRAING EVERYTHING FIRST will almost gaurantee a cracked block come spring.
There is no way for you to determine IF the thermostat opened up and IF you have adequate freeze protection in the block.Should you wish to do it this way, after your done drain some from the block and test it to determine the freeze number. In almost all cases it will test above 32 degrees and that means a new block come springtime.
As far as heated storage , unless your manning the wood stove there is no gaurantee of not having an extended power outage during freezing weather or storms.
Dark, left a cell number

You are correct. I always drain first before running the AF thru. I was just typing too fast and left that step out.