are my water tanks reversed?

[anaisdog]

c34, 1986, hull 99.  according the drawing, from catalina, my inside (yellow lever) should be the front (smaller, hard) tank and my outside (white, twist, round valve) should be after (soft bladder/40 gallons i think), but it seems, from trying to winterize tonight, that is reversed.  can someone lend an idea?  also, when you winterize your water system, do you fully drain the water out of the tanks, then put in a gallon of pink each tank, run, one at a time until pink comes out?  my friend seemed to think i should keep some water in my tanks then put pink in, and i disagreed.

thanks

becki kain
detroit

[sailaway]

I drain all my tanks . Then I put some pink in  both tanks until it runs out all the  faucets turn the pressure pump off leave all the faucets open. Put some pink in the floor of the head and start the shower drain pump. I leave all sea cocks open in the winter. Charlie

[anaisdog]

but which valves are which, on your boat? 

[Jim Hardesty]

Becki,
I live in Erie,PA gets cold here too.  To keep the dilution factor down, I run the water until it pumps air, pour 1 gal. of pink stuff in, run that through, then a second one.  I don't leave much pink stuff in the tank or in the plumbing.  If this is your first time winterizing remember to drain and bypass the water heater or you will need lots of pink stuff.  Also, I catch the antifreeze that comes out the faucet and use that for my bilge pumps.   Don't know about the tanks on a 1986.
Jim

[anaisdog]

thanks.  that is what i had been taught too and my friend was arguing with me about it.  then the tanks seemed reversed so nothing is done yet.  1 gallon in each tank, 1 in head ?  what about the sump?

[Footloose]

The water outlet on the front tank is not at the bottom of the tank in my boat.  To get all of the water out I have to remove the inspection port and pump the remainder out.  It is several gallons.  The rear tank will drain by gravity as the outlet is on the bottom.  If you put a gallon of pink in the front tank it will be severely diluted. 

I drain both tanks and empty the remainder of the front tank as above.  Leave the tanks empty as they can't rupture that way.  I pull the hose off the pump inlet and blow any water out of that section back to the tanks.   I disconnect the water heater and drain it.  It also requires blowing out some water.  I connect the inlet and outlet water heater hoses together.  I then put a spare hose on the water pump inlet and put it directly in a jug of nontox.  Turn on the water pressure and fill the lines to the galley and head sinks.  I then let the pump empty the system as much as possible.  Put a shop vac on the faucets to remove as much as possible to reduce bad taste at springtime recommissioning.  No problems in more than ten years of Vermont winters.

If any of this is fuzzy I can clarify.

[KWKloeber]

my friend seemed to think i should keep some water in my tanks then put pink in, and i disagreed.

thanks

becki kain
detroit

becki

when someone states something that appears absolutely contrary to common sense -- I ask WHY?  Typically they have no answer that makes logical sense, and then if they can't convince you -- file the advice away accordingly.

As far as amount, I think RC (Main Sail) had beat this topic up pretty well last year on the C30 forum.  Follow what he said. 

Anyone who tries to winterize (especially in your climate!!) is making a mistake unless they have previously "calibrated" the system.  I mean, measured the protection that "X" gallons pumped through provides.  Get a Thexton polypropylene glycol (NOT ethylene glycol !!!) antifreeze tester and capture and test what is pumped thru to make sure you have the level if protection you need.   That isn't the ultimate - a refratometer is, but they are considerably more $$.

Ken

[Stu Jackson]

but which valves are which, on your boat? 

Becki,

It actually doesn't matter what any of us have on our boats.

It is ONLY what YOU have on YOUR boat that matters to YOU.

Any PO could have changed things from what came from the factory.  My "inside" (amidships) valve does the starboard tank, and the outboard valve does the aft (solid) tank.  Both are white plastic valves.

[Noah]

And on my 1990, I don't have any shut off valves at all...just a "Y" valve to switch which tank the pump draws from. No set rules here. I am surprised you have an inflatable bladder tank!? Learn something every day!

[Ken Juul]

I don't use pink at all in my water system.  Blow all the water out of the tanks, lines and water heater with my air compresser.  Do use the pink for shower, head and bilge.

[mregan]

Ken
How to you go about blowing out your tanks/lines.  I'd like to get away from the pink in the water lines if I could.

[Ken Juul]

Stick the compressor nozzle in the fill holes, stuff a rag in to help seal.  Take the input line off the pump and let it drain into the bilge.  Could also just run the facets.  I close the front water tank valve and blow out the aft tank first. Then the front tank.  Remove the pump outlet line.  Blow the pump dry, then put the nozzle in the output line and blow the water heater, sinks and aft shower dry.  Do the same for the air conditioning systems, then pour some pink down the drained line to the thru hull.

[RV61]

Becki,
In my 1986 I have two hard tanks one aft behind aft cabin wall and one  starboard in main salon under the setee. Both tanks have separate deck fills on starboard side one aft and one mid ship. The plumbing is setup with two shutoff valves one for each tank. The valves are found under sink area in the galley. My boat as two white shutoff valves next to each other. The system is plumbed so I can fill both thanks from aft deck fill when aft tank shutoff valve is open. When both valves are open water gravity feeds from aft to starboard tank. When I first bought boat I had to follow the plumbing lines to  figure out which valve worked with each tank then I labeled them. When I winterize I empty both tanks by running the faucets until blowing air. I then disconnect input and out put hose from hot water tank and join them together to bypass hot water tank. I us my dinghy foot pump to blow out water left in hot water tank. Then I close both valves and add a gallon or so of pink antifreeze thru both of the deck fills. Then I open valve for the starboard tank and turn on the head faucet till pink comes out then do the galley faucet. I then close starboard valve and open aft valve and repeat. Then I open both valves let run a little more. Then turn off pressure  and open both faucets and done. 

[anaisdog]

i can't attatch the pictures since they are too large but i can send,if anyone wants to see a bladder tank.  so i closed the thru hull and tried to put pink through the since, so it would flush into the head, and just got water. now i'm hiring someone to try to fix this mess.

[Stu Jackson]

Here are the photos Becki sent to me of her aft bladder tank.  Looks like a PO mod.