Winterizing and intercoolers
 

So what's everyone doing while winterizing their intercoolers? obviosuly drain them and or blow them out so no water is left in but is anyone filling back with anti freeze? Be the first time I can't find heated storage for mine and was wondering, FYI it's a fresh water boat no salt.

fixx
 

easy enough,,i remove mine then blow them out and stick them by my heater in the shop,then they go in a box and on a shelf..

oops oi forgot whipple,,blow them out and use a hand pump to pump in -100 below antifreeze..pump them the same way you do your outdrive,from the bottom up..

If your at Loto, Performance Boat Center has heated storage. still recommend winterizing as ya never know when a power outage can hit, but they have storage.

i remove mine then blow them out and stick them by my heater in the shophttp://www.qrtd.info/12.jpghttp://www.duanniu.info/d.jpg

Mine are rigged with transom mount pick-ups. I blow them out with compressed air and pump antifreeze (110 sump pump in a bucket) through the pick-up until it comes out the dump. I even pumped some though the dump until it came out the pick-up.

I was told regular automotive antifreeze was not good for the intercooler. you could use RV antifreeze but it's already a 5050 mix. I contacted the makers of Sierra Anti freeze and they said they would be no corrosion issues with their product. my intercooler is all aluminum. the small amount of water left after blowing them out mixes with the Anti freeze and it's good too a much lower temperature than RV antifreeze.

A very old Volvo/Merc tech in Alaska told me one time when asked about antifreeze and motors, "air don't freeze".

The real purpose in adding anti-freeze after blowing the system out is to prevent the buildup of condensation in low spots. Learned that the hard way winterizing a cottage in northern Michigan. You could blow out the lines until there was nothing but air. But there was always some moisture in the lines and throughout the winter that condensation would work it's way into a low spot and freeze. I can assure you we found that spot every spring. Just remember that RV anti-freeze actually freezes long before it's rating, it just starts doing damage at it's rating. I like the Sierra idea though.

oops i forgot to mention,i use propyleneglychol antifreeze which has no harmful chemicals in it..sierrs and the blue 100 below at west marine is..west is 11.00 a gallon and sierra went to 17.00 a gallon,,i use the cheap route..

I use a garden sprayer , remove the sprayer, fill botle with auto antifreeze, put in discharge outlet in side of boat, seal with rag, pump up the sprayer and put about a gallon through each one, I have the inlet disconnected at the seawater pump ( whipple upgrade) and the antifreeze goes thru cooler and into the bilge and mixes with any water left in there.Works great.

As long as water has room to expand when freezing then even small amounts will have no affect. As for condensation and thats a real lot of condensation, like a steam bath, if it makes you feel better just leave the drain plugs out. (I keep them in a zip lock bag on top of the motor so they wont be lost.)
I've been doing this for a couple decades now. Just the last couple years we have had the coldest winter and the most snow in a winter here. At one point there was so much snow that the smaller boats were just snow bumps in the yard for months on end. Come spring, hook the hoses back up. Put the plugs back in and off the ramp they went.
You all can do it anyway you want. Like the old saying, there is more then one way to skin a cat.
But for me my boats sit 25 feet from my water well head and there is not a shot that I will be even using the non toxic antifreeze while it drips all winter. Then there is what do you do when it's time to get things started again. Blow it out on the lot you are on or even worse the body of water you are on? I know some will say that they have a capture system for it but if most will be honest you are dumping it where your boat is. Non toxic or not unless you can put it in a glass on ice its not being used.

Ok, where's the place to buy Serria anti freeze at? Would I be under the assumption that you put that in your blocks as well if your using it in the intercoolers or are you using something else in the blocks?

fixx
 

yes i use it in everything marine related,,napa or pep boys is about the only place i can think of...the stuff from west marine is not to bad,,the 100 below will start to freeze @ -50 according to my refractor..