Winterizing the A/C

Shining

Shining

New Member
Oct 3, 2006
704
Upstate NY
Boat Info
Boat less / Sold
Engines
5.0EFI BII
I don't have A/C in my boat so I don't know. Here's a few pics of my brother's bilge and he was wondering the easiest way to winterize his A/C. He was wondering if he could:

1. take off top from strainer and add "pink" and turn on unit?
2. disconnect A/C hose, put in a bucket, and would it draw "pink" from a bucket?
3. Should it be set to "heat" for the pump to kick on? It's getting cold here!
Thanks for any help :)
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Based upon your pictures, there is a hose teed on the outlet of the strainer. Any idea what it is connected to? Is it the head system? The strainer seems to pulling double duty...so both circuts down stream will need winterized...

I'd start with closing the seacock, drain and clean the strainer, remove the hose at the hose barb connection on the seacock, now fill the strainer with pink A/F up to the inlet port on the stainer and replace the strainer cap. Have somone go in the cabin to run the AC controls. Turn the inlet hose up and place a funnel in the hose. Pour A/F in the funnel, have someone turn the heat or AC on at the control. With luck your AC water pump will prime, and keep pouring in the funnel so you don't starve the water pump and lose prime. I normally run a gallon through the the AC water circuit to purge all raw water. Have the person running the controls shut off the system as the funnel empties to minimize a mess in the bilge. When that is complete, determine what is on the other circuit and winterize it in the same manor. Replace the inlet hose on the seacock hose barb, tighten clamps, and keep the seacock closed until it out of the water. Open the seacock once the boat is on land to drain any trapped water in the seacock.

Don't forget to force some A/F down the condensate drain line(s) from the AC condensate pan. I use the biggest syringe that was offered at a farm & fleet store connected to a length of PVC tubing to shoot it down the condensate lines. Verify that the pink stuff made it out the condensate line by checking where it drains to which likely is the shower sump....which will need winterized too.
 
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That don't look like a SR bilge so I don't know....




Seriously try pulling the hose off the seacock. If possible find another hose that will fit over that one or inside of it and then place that in a 5 gallon bucket filled with 3 gallons of AF. Turn on the A/C system, wait for the pump to kick on and watch (and hope) it draw from the bucket. I have had to siphon AF into my exntension hose to get the pump primed. Once you get it to run through re connect the hose to the seacock and fasten the clamps. LEAVE THE SEACOCK CLOSED NOW TOO!
That should get it done.
 
Just out of curiosity, if you clean the strainer, suck out any remaining water in the strainer bowl, and finally back flush the AC discharge line from the outside, isn't that just as easy as sucking the antifreeze through the system?

Doug
 
Skuza said:
Seriously try pulling the hose off the seacock. If possible find another hose that will fit over that one or inside of it and then place that in a 5 gallon bucket filled with 3 gallons of AF. Turn on the A/C system, wait for the pump to kick on and watch (and hope) it draw from the bucket. I have had to siphon AF into my exntension hose to get the pump primed.
Click to expand...
Most centrifugal pumps require a positive head at the inlet to function. That's why the pump is mounted so low in the bilge.

So, placing the hose end into a bucket isn't certain to produce the desired results.

Flip the hose end up, jam in a funnel and fill w/ anti-freeze.
 
I found a much easier way to winterize the AC. Insert the inlet hose into the container of antifreeze. Grab a good shop vac and put the shop vac hose on the thruhull for the water discharge on the outside of the boat. Turn the vac on and wiat until about 10 seconds until all you see coming thru is the pink stuff. Check the strainer for pink. Should have little of the pink left in the container. 'Pulling' the water thru works just as well as 'pushing' it thru.
 
gerryb said:
I found a much easier way to winterize the AC. Insert the inlet hose into the container of antifreeze. Grab a good shop vac and put the shop vac hose on the thruhull for the water discharge on the outside of the boat. Turn the vac on and wiat until about 10 seconds until all you see coming thru is the pink stuff. Check the strainer for pink. Should have little of the pink left in the container. 'Pulling' the water thru works just as well as 'pushing' it thru.
Click to expand...

Again, what about backflushing? No need to worry about priming or special fittings, etc?

Doug
 
jg300da said:
Looks like a check valve. Prevents the ac pump from pulling water/air from the head plumbing.
Click to expand...

That would be logical.

Why would this fitting not need two hose clamps for safety like the rest?

I would add a second stainless steel hose clamp even if this fitting is slightly above the water line.

Say the host clamp on this fitting fails and the hose between the “T” and this check valve then hangs down below the water line. I would be fearful of a siphon effect causing the bilge to flood.

I make sure all hoses are double clamped and every other clamp is in opposite orientation. I also inspect them / tug on each hose, try wiggling each hose clamp, each season as I do a self-safety inspection in preparation of the USCG Auxiliary inspection.

Of course, I admit I am overly cautious on this. I keep onboard a variety of spare hose clamps, self-fusing tape (ever try using electrical or duck tape on a wet, oily, dirty surface?), I physically turn the test knobs on the bilge pumps often to test them, clean the bilge often, make sure its free from gunk or even a dropped screw and intentionally flood the bilge at least once a year to test the float switches. I keep onboard an assortment of plugs, rubber and cork, so if a thru hull were to fail I could pound the plug into the hole.
 
Guess its 'bout time I joined in....My brother's (Shining) been trying to get me to join for some time now, but seeing I own an Ebbtide (Mystique 2500), I felt a bit outa place. But seeing there's alot of useful info on this site which I can apply to my own situation, thought I'd finally take some advantage of it. To the best of my knowledge, Ebbtide owners don't have a forum of their own. :huh:


Presentation said:
What does the brass fitting on this "head" line do? How many hose clamps are on this brass fitting? It looks like only one.
Click to expand...

Check valve as stated above. As for the clamps, I'll have to add a couple.



douglee25 said:
Just out of curiosity, if you clean the strainer, suck out any remaining water in the strainer bowl, and finally back flush the AC discharge line from the outside, isn't that just as easy as sucking the antifreeze through the system?
Doug
Click to expand...

Hmmmm.....why not?


gerryb said:
I found a much easier way to winterize the AC. Insert the inlet hose into the container of antifreeze. Grab a good shop vac and put the shop vac hose on the thruhull for the water discharge on the outside of the boat. Turn the vac on and wiat until about 10 seconds until all you see coming thru is the pink stuff. Check the strainer for pink. Should have little of the pink left in the container. 'Pulling' the water thru works just as well as 'pushing' it thru.
Click to expand...

I like this idea! Why wouldn't this work? I like the idea of not needing the AC pump to do the work.

Presentation said:
That would be logical.

Why would this fitting not need two hose clamps for safety like the rest?

I would add a second stainless steel hose clamp even if this fitting is slightly above the water line.

Say the host clamp on this fitting fails and the hose between the “T” and this check valve then hangs down below the water line. I would be fearful of a siphon effect causing the bilge to flood.

I make sure all hoses are double clamped and every other clamp is in opposite orientation. I also inspect them / tug on each hose, try wiggling each hose clamp, each season as I do a self-safety inspection in preparation of the USCG Auxiliary inspection.

Of course, I admit I am overly cautious on this. I keep onboard a variety of spare hose clamps, self-fusing tape (ever try using electrical or duck tape on a wet, oily, dirty surface?), I physically turn the test knobs on the bilge pumps often to test them, clean the bilge often, make sure its free from gunk or even a dropped screw and intentionally flood the bilge at least once a year to test the float switches. I keep onboard an assortment of plugs, rubber and cork, so if a thru hull were to fail I could pound the plug into the hole.
Click to expand...

Alot of useful info here! Gonna reposition all those clamps (like the 'opposite orientation' idea)...gonna add a second clamp to the check valve.



What I've done to this point is simply disconnect the hose from the strainer and cleaned it out. Gonna attach a section of garden hose (cut) pushed onto the strainer and connected to a reservoir containing AF sitting up on the deck and run the AC. That should do it.

the one thing I don't like is having to disconnect the clamps and hose....would be much easier to either install a flushing system (given the length of hose, the best place to install may be before the strainer) or backflush as stated above.

Anyway...will let you know how it goes and thanks for your input.
 
Thanks for the link...great ideas there.

As for now, outa desparation, I was faced with one of two choices: 1) hooking up a garden hose to the inlet side of the strainer (cleaned and filled with AF) and attaching the other end to a 5 gal pail of AF sitting up on the deck (gravity feed AF to stainer and AC), then turning on the AC and hoping for the best (no reason to think that wouldn't work)....or.....2) using a similar setup, draw the AF throught the system as suggested by gerryb:.... "Grab a good shop vac and put the shop vac hose on the thruhull for the water discharge on the outside of the boat. Turn the vac on and wiat until about 10 seconds until all you see coming thru is the pink stuff."

The shopvac idea worked perfectly! Sucked a few gallons of AF through in a matter of minutes. Not necessarily the best method, but should suffice. What I did like...didn't need to deal with AC controls.

I'm sure by next season I'll have installed a more permanent flush system....I'm not a fan of seasonal removal of hoses and hose clamps. :smt009
 
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