Then i would add antifreeze thru strainer for engines. I never had antifreeze fill heater back up that I’m aware of.
Based on what you see do you see any issue with what I’m doing? And if I bypass cold and hot water lines which cold line based on what you see?

Mark.....I'm having a hard time following what question you are asking. The way you are purging fresh water is fine and will work.

For most of the boats I have worked:
1) we drain the fresh water system by disconnecting the supply hose at the fresh water pump which empties the fresh water tank.
2) We drain the hot water heater by opening its drain then we remove the supply and return hoses to the heater and connect them together (there are a couple of aftermarket valves you can buy so you don't have to disconnect the hoses) . At this point the Hot water heater is empty and bypassed.
3) Finally, we run two gallons of pink antifreeze through a hose connected to the supply side of the fresh water pump to the head, sinks and washdown. Basically, cycling the facets to hot and cold until the water color turns a solid pink.

That's it.

If you use pressurized air through the shore connection. It should work fine if you drain the hot water heater to start with and cycle the hot and cold at the faucets.

Winterizing the engines has no impact on the hot water heater. What you may be referring to is a problem with the process I have described above if you don't bypass the water heater by connecting the hoses together. Failing to bypass the water heater prior to feeding antifreeze to the fresh water pump will mean the entire water heater would be required to be filled with antifreeze which makes no sense.

Your approach eliminates this problem.

 

I do the following after draining the main water tank and the water heater:

1. I bypass the water heater by disconnecting the cold in and hot out lines to the heater, and connecting the cold line in to the hot line out with a hose and clamps on the lines. Here is a picture. I open the pressure vent and drain valve on the tank to let it drain as much as I can.

2. I put some-50 plumbing antifreeze into the water tank (a bout 4 gallons) and turn the pump on to run it through taps and toilet and flush the toilet a few times to get some antifreeze in the lines (and into the empty holding tank).

3. I wait about 20 min or so to allow the ice maker to cycle one set of pink slush cubes. The icemaker can't be blown out without removing it to bypass or open the water valve on it.

4. Once the ice maker is done, I reconnect the water heater hoses and close up the drain and vent, and let the water pump push the remaining antifreeze in the water tank into the water heater. After that is done, I shut it all down again and open the drain valve on the waterheater to let the antifreeze drain out again. The reason I drain it is because I have noticed that the pink that comes out at this step is not as dark pink as what went in the tank. That tells me that there is still water in the heater after it is drained with the valve. So this is a bit of a flushing out of the water/pink mixture that is no longer full -50 strength. I want as little fluid in the heater as possible.

 

I stopped using pink antifreeze in the potable water lines years ago. It left a terrible taste in the lines that was very difficult to remove. If the yard did it, they would use (and charge me for) like 10 gallons of AF and just fill up the HW heater.

Instead I would bypass the hot water tank, open the bottom drain and let the water drain out. Then use my air compressor to blow out each water outlet. I would use a blow gun attached just downstream of the fresh water pump. Worked great, no AF used, no bad taste.

 

I stopped using pink antifreeze in the potable water lines years ago. It left a terrible taste in the lines that was very difficult to remove. If the yard did it, they would use (and charge me for) like 10 gallons of AF and just fill up the HW heater.

Instead I would bypass the hot water tank, open the bottom drain and let the water drain out. Then use my air compressor to blow out each water outlet. I would use a blow gun attached just downstream of the fresh water pump. Worked great, no AF used, no bad taste.

I agree that using pink in the water lines means a lot of spring flushing to get the smell out, particularly in the water heater where I think it does not drain fully with the drain open. But I don't want to take the ice maker apart to get the water out and blowing past the water valve requires quite a bit of air pressure that may pop fittings elsewhere. If I did not have an icemaker, I probably would use the air blow out method.

 

Thank you Play date, creek wood and Arrington. I know my original post was not clear but I understand now what needs to be done. Thanks again.

 

I stopped using pink antifreeze in the potable water lines years ago. It left a terrible taste in the lines that was very difficult to remove. If the yard did it, they would use (and charge me for) like 10 gallons of AF and just fill up the HW heater.

Instead I would bypass the hot water tank, open the bottom drain and let the water drain out. Then use my air compressor to blow out each water outlet. I would use a blow gun attached just downstream of the fresh water pump. Worked great, no AF used, no bad taste.

I would like to use the blow out the line method instead of filling the water tank with pink but. Not sure where I should introduce the air. At the pump, the dock hookup or both?

 

On my AJ I used to disconnect the cold water line from the output side of the pump and put the air in there.

My last boat was configured a bit differently. I connected to the shore water inlet via a valved adapter. This made it much simpler. One end screws to the water inlet, one clicks into the air hose.

 

Your local RV store would have a much simpler version of that. No hose or ball cock just a shrader valve attached to the first fitting.

 

I've see those, and had one. Yes, they can cost less. Ones I've seen require you to continuously press the compressor hose against the fitting. It's better than nothing, but the has some downsides.

The benefit of the one I linked to is that it screws into the shore water port and you can go about opening and closing the water taps without having to hold the air hose on the fitting. Second, the valve shuts off the air supply hose so you can easily turn off the air pressure without disconnecting anything. This helps assure you don't over pressure the water system. Third, you get a larger passage way for air flow vs. a shraeder valve for higher volume of air. I found all of these of these functions very helpful when winterizing. They made the job easier and shortened the time to complete. I'd say it was worth the $15.

 

I stopped using pink antifreeze in the potable water lines years ago. It left a terrible taste in the lines that was very difficult to remove. If the yard did it, they would use (and charge me for) like 10 gallons of AF and just fill up the HW heater.

Instead I would bypass the hot water tank, open the bottom drain and let the water drain out. Then use my air compressor to blow out each water outlet. I would use a blow gun attached just downstream of the fresh water pump. Worked great, no AF used, no bad taste.

Works for me also

 

They still make the air chuck with the lever that locks onto the shrader valve threads, so no holding. When the water is done draining disconnect it. Simple stuff. Dial the compressor down before this event begins, nothing is going to over pressurize. Plenty of volume can pass through that valve.

 

Ah, the 2 chucks I have are press-on. They don't lock.

 

Many ways to skin that cat, LOL Air is def. the ticket

 

Just making sure here, once I blow out the lines, i should disconnect the red and blue hoses and make a hose to connect them together. Then run the AF through. Correct? Is there a way to make sure the hose on the pressure relief valve has nothing in it other than taking the hose off?
Anything else I am missing for the hot water heater?

 

Just making sure here, once I blow out the lines, i should disconnect the red and blue hoses and make a hose to connect them together. Then run the AF through. Correct? Is there a way to make sure the hose on the pressure relief valve has nothing in it other than taking the hose off?
Anything else I am missing for the hot water heater? View attachment 93413

Yours has different fittings than our 280 and Sabre, but the process you described was what I do. I have the water tank drained, and after the the heater is by passed (and all four water filter elements removed) I put 3-4 gallons of antifreeze in the tank and use a hose attached to the wash down to fill traps, AC raw water cooling lines (reverse flow via throughulls). In the spring I found emptying the filter bodies and replacing elements reduces the amount of tainted water. I also don’t reconnect the heater until after the antifreeze has been flushed. I generally nuke the water tank with bleach a couple times in the spring anyways so residual antifreeze taste isn’t an issue.

 

Yes, that’s basically it. Unless you want to install a bypass kit like this one.
http://www.camco.net/by-pass-kits/by-pass-kit-12-supreme-perm-for-10gallon-tanksllc-bilingual-35963

To blow out the pressure relief hose, blow air into the system and then open the relief valve.

you can leave the drain valve on the heater open too.

 

I open the valve on the pressure relief valve. That’s about it for that. The hose is usually just a rubber hose, freezing won’t hurt it anymore than a garden hose freezing.
You could always just blow a little air through it from the through hull, the water will go back into the hw tank but will run out the open tank drain valve. Leave that tank drain open all winter.

 

Thanks @b_arrington and @my3sons

Appreciated

 

Just thinking out loud, maybe T n one cold to the other, eliminate the copper T.... then add something like this in the pic

Years past I would drain water tank. With valve open I would then connect air compressor to shore water inlet and blow out all faucets. When done I close heater drain valve.
Then i would add antifreeze thru strainer for engines. I never had antifreeze fill heater back up that I’m aware of.
Based on what you see do you see any issue with what I’m doing? And if I bypass cold and hot water lines which cold line based on what you see?
View attachment 93157

 

this all seems way overcomplicated. Yesterday i put in the blowout valve ($8 amazon pic below) in the shore water fitting, and used my tire inflator / air compressor. opened each faucet cold/hot one at a time. and let the pump run, (after draining the fresh water tank). 15 mins total time, easiest method ever. when it was just blowing air and no water i was done. Left all faucets open to allow for air escape in event some water pocket needs to expand a little. in about a week i will run the compressor again for insurance just in case water settled in a line somewhere after i use the boat this weekend.

 

Is your shower sump empty?
Also, what did you do for the heads and black water holding tank?
Still deciding whether to take this on or not.

Thanks

 

Pump out holding tank, put some antifreeze in fresh water tank. Fill toilet with antifreeze from tank, flush a couple of times. Vacuum shower sump then pour antifreeze down shower drain until pump activates...pour a little more down so some remains in sump.

 

Thank you!

 

Another question about using air. If I use compressed air and open all hot and cold water faucets until no water comes out. Can I assume the hot water heater is empty or do I still need to drain?

 

You still need to drain, as the outlet from the water heater is (usually) situated at the top of the tank.

 

my thinking is.... Whats the harm in opening the drain to make sure?
Also, it's been recommended to leave that drain open all winter

 

The drain is at the bottom of the tank where it belongs.

 

On this topic, I can’t drain my tank it’s old rusted and Petcock is frozen shut,but no matter I got water out. I need a new tank. So some place online called Fred’s has them cheap, like $100 less than anybody else cheap, but my heat exchanger fittings are on back and all they have is fittings on front. So thinking it don’t matter. Maybe I should eliminate the hoses going from thermo housing for that any way cause a 160 thermo really don’t heat the water anyway, so opinion s welcome.

 

I liked my previous boat, which had the water heater piped through the engine. Water was plenty hot, and seemed to stay hot for 12 hours....

 

Back in day when had kids and we anchored out all week end running the engine once a day kept water hot. We don’t do that no more. That’s why I thinking the recirculating engine water to heat the tank is useless, or should I keep it for when I sell boat some day?

 

But my original uestion was does it matter if the heat exchanger fittings are on rear or front?

 

For those that blow out the lines and have washer/dryer combo. How do you clear those lines?

 

I would have air pressure on the lines cycle the washer to purge the water out of the lines...fill washer with some antifreeze and have the washer pump it out thru the waste line

 

But my original uestion was does it matter if the heat exchanger fittings are on rear or front?

Functionally for the heater it makes no difference, it's a matter of how easy/hard to route all the hoses.

I had the same situation, my tank rotted out, I picked one with all fittings on the same end.
It let me push the heater a bit more back against a bulkhead and gave me a bit more room to work on the end with all the fittings. (Actually allowed me to go from a six to an eleven gallon heater and still fit)

Just had to re route the engine hoses to that end.