Broken Heater core after winterizing

[Jimmypooh]

I had my bu winterized and stored at a marina last winter. I told them exactly what needed to be winterized:

3 ballast tanks (2 pumps per tank)

Engine/drive system

Heater core

Low and behold on my first outing the boat started pi$$ing hot water at my feet. Their excuse was that sometimes the heater cores get silt in them and that causes them to crack because the winterizing doesn't work. Does this sound reasonable?

They did offer to take it back and fix the problem. I don't think I have to pay for the repairs, but I'm not sure (they were pretty vague). The engine seemed fine, but is there anything I need to look for? I haven't tried the ballast yet, but will check that out right away when I get it back in the water.

[rodman]

It all depends on how they winterized your boat. Some run antifreeze through the motor while it is running that will flush the water out through the whole system. Some open all the drain plugs and just keep the water out of the block and it cant freeze over. They just probably just overlooked the heater.

If they are fixing it for free that is great for both of you. That is a good dealer that is willing to take care of it.

As far as the sacks they would be fine as long as they were empty. The only thing that we worie about is the pumps they are made of plastic and just a little freeze will crack them.

All in all just to sooth your mind just look over your boat motor, fittings, hoses, for leaks I am sure it will be fine. Or better yet while the dealer is looking at the heater have them check out everything now that you have them on the ropes.

[Bill_AirJunky]

My heater was installed (by the dealer or factory, I don't know) with the hose inlet/outlet on the top of the box. So unless there was air or water forced into & thru the core, there is no way it would drain on it's own.

I winterized the boat our first winter, and used a shop vac to suck the water out, which worked. Over the winter I installed a pair of Prestone radiator flush Ts in the heater lines down in the bilge so that I could just remove the caps & the core would gravity drain easily (something we've done on numerous other boats in the past). That first spring, we had a freeze one night that popped the core so I got to dig the sub-woofer out from under the driver's dash, then found the core installed "upside down". I pulled the box, installed a Napa core in it, reinstalled it with the intlet/outlet hoses on the bottom, and have been removing the flush T caps to drain it for 3 years now.... with great results.

I suppose there could be silt in there. You are sucking water from right under the boat, so maybe it sucked some junk in there & it lodged in the core. Seems like heat would be effected, at least partially.

Good luck getting the replacement done. It's not terribly tough to do, just in a tight place to work (under the dash).

[Jimmypooh]

Thanks for the help. I will be doing my own winterizing this year for the first time. We will be able to get the boat in our boathouse and therefore I can do it. (We don't own a trailer).