engine winterization tools

[Shrew]

This is a two person job (One person to fill the buckets, one person to stand by the engine start/stop switch). Pre-fill the 5 gallon bucket, then have several gallons opened and ready to go.

Person filling the bucket instructs the switch person to start the engine. The Filler person begins filling the 5 gallon bucket. I usually need a gallon in each hand. You may need a 3rd person to watch the color being discharged. Once pink start coming out, the person watching hollers, then the person at the switch shuts off the engine.

My wife can see the water discharge from the lower helm door, so she is both the engine start/stop and the discharge watcher.

Technicall, I don't use a bucket, I just close the seacock and open the sea-strainer and fill the seastrainer.

 

[TJM]

In the picture you show reinforced hose, which is good. The antifreeze is sucked into engine via the pump. A collapsing or kinking hose will be a MAJOR problem. The circulation pump has a certain flow rate as it spins with the engine RPM. I would also remove your thermostat. In normal operation, the thermostat stays closed until the engine reaches a certain temperature, maybe 140° F, then the sea water can enter the system, (which will now be antifreeze in your case). If the Thermostat is not open, you will only winterize some hoses and will crack your block very soon.

How long it takes to drain a bucket is based on that circulation pump flow rate and the volume of AF that is needed to fill your wet sided system. Example: Circulation pump sucks 3 gallons per minute. Volume of seawater in the engine from intake to exhaust is 10 gallons. Solution: Your system would be full of AF in just over 3 minutes. 3 gpm flow x 3 minutes= 9 gallons. If that were my boat, I WOULD HAVE A 20 GALLON BUCKET FULL OF AF AND STOP THE ENGINE UPON BEING EMPTY. Approximately 3 gpm x 6 minutes = 18 gallons. All numbers were made up to show the thought process. You need to be able to think like this.

The diameter of the hose has nothing to do with the time it takes to empty the bucket, unless the flow is restricted of course. I agree, this is a two person job. DO NOT SKIMP on antifreeze or big bill will plague you in the spring, $$$$$

 

[Chuck34]

I would also remove your thermostat. In normal operation, the thermostat stays closed until the engine reaches a certain temperature, maybe 140° F, then the sea water can enter the system, (which will now be antifreeze in your case). If the Thermostat is not open, you will only winterize some hoses and will crack your block very soon.

If the engine is raw water cooled, I agree it is a good idea to pull the T-stat, but if the engine is fresh water cooled, no need to pull it as anti-freeze is already in the engine block.

 

[Helmsman]

In the picture you show reinforced hose, which is good. The antifreeze is sucked into engine via the pump. A collapsing or kinking hose will be a MAJOR problem. The circulation pump has a certain flow rate as it spins with the engine RPM. I would also remove your thermostat. In normal operation, the thermostat stays closed until the engine reaches a certain temperature, maybe 140° F, then the sea water can enter the system, (which will now be antifreeze in your case). If the Thermostat is not open, you will only winterize some hoses and will crack your block very soon.

How long it takes to drain a bucket is based on that circulation pump flow rate and the volume of AF that is needed to fill your wet sided system. Example: Circulation pump sucks 3 gallons per minute. Volume of seawater in the engine from intake to exhaust is 10 gallons. Solution: Your system would be full of AF in just over 3 minutes. 3 gpm flow x 3 minutes= 9 gallons. If that were my boat, I WOULD HAVE A 20 GALLON BUCKET FULL OF AF AND STOP THE ENGINE UPON BEING EMPTY. Approximately 3 gpm x 6 minutes = 18 gallons. All numbers were made up to show the thought process. You need to be able to think like this.

The diameter of the hose has nothing to do with the time it takes to empty the bucket, unless the flow is restricted of course. I agree, this is a two person job. DO NOT SKIMP on antifreeze or big bill will plague you in the spring, $$$$$

This is for a system that uses raw water flowing through heat exchangers to cool the Engine antifreeze, the oil, and transmission and then exits the boat with the exhaust to cool the exhaust. Since the raw water flow never goes through engine coolant hoses and is not controlled by the thermostat there is no danger of missing hoses. Your point about the raw water pump is a good one, which is why I use a Seaflush, with their hose to winterize the engine raw water system. Never had a problem with it.

 

[paulga]

you have added 3 minutes reserve to the required 3 minutes fill up time. is this because you are considering for twin engines?

what I did was simply adding 5+ gallons AF to the engine via the strainer adapter. it could have been better arranged but I decided to do it before the cold snap yesterday. I will do it again in one or two weeks when I winterize the genny and 2 reverse cycles. At least the 5 gallons AF reduces the chance of the big bill.

In the picture you show reinforced hose, which is good. The antifreeze is sucked into engine via the pump. A collapsing or kinking hose will be a MAJOR problem. The circulation pump has a certain flow rate as it spins with the engine RPM. I would also remove your thermostat. In normal operation, the thermostat stays closed until the engine reaches a certain temperature, maybe 140° F, then the sea water can enter the system, (which will now be antifreeze in your case). If the Thermostat is not open, you will only winterize some hoses and will crack your block very soon.

How long it takes to drain a bucket is based on that circulation pump flow rate and the volume of AF that is needed to fill your wet sided system. Example: Circulation pump sucks 3 gallons per minute. Volume of seawater in the engine from intake to exhaust is 10 gallons. Solution: Your system would be full of AF in just over 3 minutes. 3 gpm flow x 3 minutes= 9 gallons. If that were my boat, I WOULD HAVE A 20 GALLON BUCKET FULL OF AF AND STOP THE ENGINE UPON BEING EMPTY. Approximately 3 gpm x 6 minutes = 18 gallons. All numbers were made up to show the thought process. You need to be able to think like this.

The diameter of the hose has nothing to do with the time it takes to empty the bucket, unless the flow is restricted of course. I agree, this is a two person job. DO NOT SKIMP on antifreeze or big bill will plague you in the spring, $$$$$