Winterizing the ac unit

M

Marcus E

New Member
Dec 14, 2010
97
Chesapeake Bay
Boat Info
340 Sundancer
Engines
8.1 Mercruisers
It's difficult to get to the ac strainer to winterizing the unit. A guy at my marina told me the easiest way is to reverse the process by first closing the sea cock, undo the strainer cap, and pump the pink stuff thru the discharge hole on the side of the boat. thoughts?
 
Just blow the water out of the system via the A/C discharge fitting, then use a handheld fluid pump to pump pink through the system until you see if coming out of the intake fitting under the boat. Done.
 
It's very difficult to get the antifreeze to the sea cock and maneuver. Hard enough just getting to the sea cock
 
Are you out of the water? Do like Jimmy mentioned and pump the AF backwards through the thru-hull discharge. Just use any type of little pump you have and stick the hose into the thru-hull discharge. Wrap the hose with tape if it doesn't fit snug. Although it doesn't hurt, blowing it out with air isn't entirely necessary - you'll just use a bit more AF.
 
Boats still in the water. I suppose I can follow the same procedure but leave the strainer top off...the water, the antifreeze will come out of the strainer. It's easy to vac up the bilge. As far as the pumping the antifreeze thru the system, I was planning on using one of those pump that attach to a drill. Thoughts.
 
Sure - that'll work. Obviously... Close the seacock!

When you break it down, the path from the seacock to the thru-hull discharge is a straight shot - just has a bunch of bends in it. But, really, it's a simple as that.
 
Jimmy Buoy said:
Just blow the water out of the system via the A/C discharge fitting, then use a handheld fluid pump to pump pink through the system until you see if coming out of the intake fitting under the boat. Done.
Click to expand...

I just carry a pankcake air compressor down to the boat and blow out the system via the A/C discharge fitting on the side of the boat. Done. Have never added any anti-freeze to the system. Maybe I should though...for rust prevention...? Everything else I use anti-freeze, including the engines (for just that reason).
 
Gunn said:
I just carry a pankcake air compressor down to the boat and blow out the system via the A/C discharge fitting on the side of the boat. Done. Have never added any anti-freeze to the system. Maybe I should though...for rust prevention...? Everything else I use anti-freeze, including the engines (for just that reason).
Click to expand...
Cruisair manual says just to drain it. Doesn't mention at all about adding AF, so I don't. I just drain/blow-out.
 
Marcus E said:
Boats still in the water. I suppose I can follow the same procedure but leave the strainer top off...the water, the antifreeze will come out of the strainer. It's easy to vac up the bilge. As far as the pumping the antifreeze thru the system, I was planning on using one of those pump that attach to a drill. Thoughts.
Click to expand...

I used my coil hose and the fresh water washdown spigot to backflow pink through the AC, after first draining the strainer. (assuming you're on shore... close the seacock at the end of the process). Also assuming that you're pumping pink through the fresh water system either via the holding tank, or a bypass in front of the water pump (in my case).

I was suprised how much silt came through and out the bottom of the boat as well. Since my boat is on a lift most of the season, I think i may start pushing fresh water back through the system a few times a season. The silt that had collected in the bottom of the strainer was, um, F-O-U-L smelling too!
 
Last edited:
I also use my coil hose and fresh water washdown spigot to accomplish this task. The difference is: I don't backflow. Since I keep my boat in the water year-round, I placed a permanent tee in the hose between the seacock and the strainer. This allows me to close the seacock, unscrew the cap on the tee fitting (garden hose connection) and screw a short female to female (washing machine connection) hose to connect the fresh water washdown coil hose to the fitting. This avoids the drill attachment approach.

Then I disconnect the suction side of the fresh water pump and attach a short hose so that it can draw from a five gallon bucket of the pink stuff and push it through the system. This approach makes short work of winterizing the the reverse cycle and the entire fresh water system. (For completeness, I bypass the water heater and drain it before I start the winterization process.)
-John
 
PlayDate said:
I also use my coil hose and fresh water washdown spigot to accomplish this task. The difference is: I don't backflow. Since I keep my boat in the water year-round, I placed a permanent tee in the hose between the seacock and the strainer. This allows me to close the seacock, unscrew the cap on the tee fitting (garden hose connection) and screw a short female to female (washing machine connection) hose to connect the fresh water washdown coil hose to the fitting. This avoids the drill attachment approach.

Then I disconnect the suction side of the fresh water pump and attach a short hose so that it can draw from a five gallon bucket of the pink stuff and push it through the system. This approach makes short work of winterizing the the reverse cycle and the entire fresh water system. (For completeness, I bypass the water heater and drain it before I start the winterization process.)
-John
Click to expand...

This is my first year leaving my boat in the water and I had planned to do the same as you. Is there any worry of the water between the tee and the seacock freezing or will the antifreeze mix well enough with what water remains to keep it from freezing?
 
Stimulus said:
This is my first year leaving my boat in the water and I had planned to do the same as you. Is there any worry of the water between the tee and the seacock freezing or will the antifreeze mix well enough with what water remains to keep it from freezing?
Click to expand...

Not promoting the product, but thats one of the pitches for the sea flush funnel tool thing. Reverse flow from your shop vac through the sea flush thing while closing the sea cock. There's a thread about it on the winterization forum.
 
No problem in 11 winter years on the Potomac. I have had no issue with the short hose between the strainer and the seacock on the reverse cycle, generator or main engines. You won't have an issue either.

-John
 
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