Help Needed with Heater Winterizing

[kisersosay]

Hey All,

I think I have all of the info I need to winterize my baby (2004 Wakesetter VLX) except for one thing. I have no idea how to winterize the heater. I have read that you need to drain and blow out the heater lines. Problem is, I have no idea where there located / how they connect to the engine. Any help anyone can give would be greatly appreciated.

Thanx Crew

[areamike]

Your heater should have two hoses going to it. One attaches to the upper manifold "front" area of your motor and the other will be either at a 'Y' fitting just after the raw water pump or it goes to your circulating pump(most likely).

Hopefully these pics give you an idea.

Edited October 28, 2010 by areamike

[davemac]

...after disconnecting the hoses, use a compressor and send some bursts of air down the top hose. ....the water in the system will shoot out the bottom hose. Next, get a funnel and run some RV antifreeze down the top hose. Again, use the compressor to send some bursts of air down the hose to circulate the antifreeze thru. You will see the antifreeze come out the bottom hose. Add a bit more antifreeze just to be safe.

[areamike]

...after disconnecting the hoses, use a compressor and send some bursts of air down the top hose. ....the water in the system will shoot out the bottom hose. Next, get a funnel and run some RV antifreeze down the top hose. Again, use the compressor to send some bursts of air down the hose to circulate the antifreeze thru. You will see the antifreeze come out the bottom hose. Add a bit more antifreeze just to be safe.

I actually leave mine dry(no antifreeze). I've done that every time I've winterized and never had an issue.

Also, you can actually just disconnect the one hose that goes to the circulating pump and blow air through it. That will push that water out of the heater and into the engine and out the block.

[kisersosay]

Thanx for the tips Gang. I plan to do the winterizing this weekend. Hopefully with a little patience I will be able to trace all of the heater lines to and from the engine. Once I figure out which hoses go where, winterizing them shouldn't be that difficult.

Doing these things yourself seems like a PITA but, it saves you money and, you actually learn about your boat and how things work. That knowledge may come in handy in the future.

[EchelonMike]

Thanx for the tips Gang. I plan to do the winterizing this weekend. Hopefully with a little patience I will be able to trace all of the heater lines to and from the engine. Once I figure out which hoses go where, winterizing them shouldn't be that difficult.

Doing these things yourself seems like a PITA but, it saves you money and, you actually learn about your boat and how things work. That knowledge may come in handy in the future.

If you have a wet-dry shop-vac, that works great for getting the water out. I disconnect both of the water lines as others showed above, then fire up the shop vac to pull the water out of the lines and heater core.

Good luck!

-- Mike