496 air actuated drain system
 

Yeah I know, that's not good enough for a proper winterization. I did my homework and read the previous threads! :drink:

But being lucky enough to have the boat in a heated shelter, I'm not winterizing at all.
Otoh, I wanted to see how the pump drain works, so today I gave it a try.
Everything worked nicely, but I noticed a different behaviour of the two green indicators: the port one (below the pump fitting) popped out well before the stbd one (below the manual release valve). Besides, when done with the draining, the first seemed to stay extended, whilst the latter retracted after a while, unless I kept pumping a bit. Is that correct?

Also, I pulled the release valve before leaving the boat, and I noticed afterwatd that the manual suggests to do that just before re-launching.
Does that really make any difference?

Thanks in advance!

Mine does just the opposite, the stbd pops out first and stays out while the port is slow to pop out and then retracts after a couple of days. I'm sure its probably a slow air leak some where but never has caused any problems for me. I have replaced the air line that runs from the pump section to the drain valve in the past but didn't make a difference. As for the pull tab, it doesn't matter when you pull it just as long as you do so sometime before you use the boat due to the fact that it resets the valve, otherwise your cooling water will continue to drain when you run the boat.

After a couple of days?!? My stbd indicator retracts in half a minute or so!
And the stbd one, well, I don't know because it retracted when I pulled the tab before leaving the boat, as I said.
Do you think I should be worried, considering that I never noticed any leakage while using the boat?

I'm no expert but it is my understanding that the system is designed to stay pressurized so that any residual water that might be traped after you initually pump the system full of air will blow out as it sits so it doesn't freeze. If working properly it should stay pressurized and you should not release the pressure (pull the pull tab) untill you need to run the engine again. If the green indicator doesn't stay out than you have a air leak somewhere in the system. All that being sayed, there is no need to use the system unless your worried about freezing or in your case as a back up just incase your heater crap out.

I usually pump up until the tabs come out, let sit for a minute. Release all the presure. Now I will run about 3 gallons of AF through the muffs and into the system. Now I pump up again. Let sit for a few minutes. Release the presure. Drain any risidual AF from the 3 plugs. Now I pump up one more time just for good measure, wait a few minutes with presure on and pull the tabs to release all presure. Done