Ballast pump - winterization

[Boonejeepin]

Is it a good idea or waste of time to use the ballast pump to suck in a RV antifreeze into the pump?

Thinking of placing the drain/fill hose in a container if RV antifreeze and running the pump.

This is a gravity III system on a 2010.

[brain_rinse]

If it were my boat I'd do it. Exactly as you described - fill a bucket and use the ballast bag fill/drain hose to pull some antifreeze through the pumps.

[DOCDRS]

I just did this today. I use 1" hose About 3 feet with a 1 " male quick connect barbed fitting , the other end in the plumbing antifreeze. Hook it up to the female fitting turn the pump on empty till i hear some shoot out the bottom of the hull then flip the switch to fill recover the majority of the antifreeze back in the container. Then i disconnect the fitting and shopvac the pump hose out. You want to leave the impeller veins in the fill position. Not why this matters ( as all summer they are in the drain position) but I just do it.

[mmandley]

Is it a good idea or waste of time to use the ballast pump to suck in a RV antifreeze into the pump?

Thinking of placing the drain/fill hose in a container if RV antifreeze and running the pump.

This is a gravity III system on a 2010.

This really depends on 2 things bro.
1 are you running Reversable pumps?
2 are you storing it outside?

In my 3 years with my boat indoors i have never had freezing temps in the garage so i only drained the engine and heatercore.
If you have reversable pumps you need to remove the impellors and store it in a baggy with some vasaline to keep it from drying out over the winter. Doing this negates the need for anti-freeze because you have added an expanstion direction if water was to freeze.

I normaly just use a little compressed air and air blow the lines out and be done with it. I dont go threw the extream of anti freeze, also i dont feel right letting anti freeze sit stagnent in my lines all winter.

[DOCDRS]

This is the 3rd winter for my jabsco impellers. They are a pita to get too and even more of a pita to remove the impellers. No reason to remove them, if the impeller fails you will know it. It will stop being able to self prime itself. No big deal. Plumbing antifreeze is cheap insurance to prevent pump housing cracking.

[Boonejeepin]

The system uses reversible pumps and unfortunately it will be stored outside.

[lsvboombox]

for my reversible pumps I remove the hoses from the pumps, run the pumps for a few seconds in each direction to empty them out. Then I use an airhose to blow out the lines.

[DOCDRS]

for my reversible pumps I remove the hoses from the pumps, run the pumps for a few seconds in each direction to empty them out. Then I use an airhose to blow out the lines.

This is fine if your pumps are easily accessible. As mine and I believe the moombas are mounted behind a panel using antifreeze is more time effective.

[KSmith]

This is fine if your pumps are easily accessible. As mine and I believe the moombas are mounted behind a panel using antifreeze is more time effective.

Agreed. I got a 3 foot section of 1 inch hose and 1 inch male quick connect with barbed end, clamped the hose on the quick connect and use that to introduce the RV antifreeze to the reversible pumps, for each bag I hook the section of hose to the 1 inch female connector that normally connects to the bag, run the pump in Drain mode until I get some RV antifreeze out the bottom into a bucket. Move the bucket, move the section of hose to the next line and repeat until all three are done. Impellers remain in the pumps, pumps have RV antifreeze in them ot keep the impellers from "drying out"...

I do have some spare impellers but unless they fail I will probably see if I can get 5 years out of them before I replace them.

[lsvboombox]

This is fine if your pumps are easily accessible. As mine and I believe the moombas are mounted behind a panel using antifreeze is more time effective.

Yes mine are behind the panel 2 screws and the panel is off.. I figure while i am sitting in the locker winterizing the motor its easy to disconnect the hoses and blow them out.. I have 4 bags plumbed in my system(with the ibs having 2 fill lines - 5 fill lines) So for me its easier to unhook and blow them out.... even with 3 bags I prefer blowing them out.

6 of one half dozen of the other...

[lsvboombox]

[QUOTE=KSmith;158750] Impellers remain in the pumps, pumps have RV antifreeze in them ot keep the impellers from "drying out"...

[QUOTE]

what antifreeze do you use?

[Jumbo]

Does somebody know how to remove the panel to access the 3 pumps in a 2011 lsv......I removed as many screws as possible but the panel doesn't move!

[DOCDRS]

On my 21 v there are 3 on the top hiding in the carpet and 4 screws in 2 angle brackets on the floor.

[lsvboombox]

Does somebody know how to remove the panel to access the 3 pumps in a 2011 lsv......I removed as many screws as possible but the panel doesn't move! on my lsv i remove the 2 screws in the L bracket(floor).. then pull the bottom out first... there are clips that hold the top of the board in place..

[Boonejeepin]

on my lsv i remove the 2 screws in the L bracket(floor).. then pull the bottom out first... there are clips that hold the top of the board in place..

This conversation made me curious. I pulled the two screws holding the baracket at the bottom of the board to the floor. The board then slipped down and out. There were two brackets holding the top of the board to the boat. I then wanted to see if the pump housing was full of the RV antifreeze that I had pumped through a few days ago. The pump housing was almost empty, just a few drops. I pulled the impellers out for winter storage and left the covers off.

My Jabsco pumps have the green impellers. Should I coat them with vasoline like the raw water impeller for the winter so they do not dry out?

BTW - I have a 2010 XLV w the Gravity III system.

[DOCDRS]

This conversation made me curious. I pulled the two screws holding the baracket at the bottom of the board to the floor. The board then slipped down and out. There were two brackets holding the top of the board to the boat. I then wanted to see if the pump housing was full of the RV antifreeze that I had pumped through a few days ago. The pump housing was almost empty, just a few drops. I pulled the impellers out for winter storage and left the covers off.

My Jabsco pumps have the green impellers. Should I coat them with vasoline like the raw water impeller for the winter so they do not dry out?

BTW - I have a 2010 XLV w the Gravity III system.


Keep doing this procedure, I have two yellow and one green impeller. I will continue to winterize without taking the covers off and impellers out and we can see the difference in life span of the impellers.

[Boonejeepin]

Keep doing this procedure, I have two yellow and one green impeller. I will continue to winterize without taking the covers off and impellers out and we can see the difference in life span of the impellers.

Do you think that pulling the impellers will decrease the life span? I would not want to do that. I was just curious to see how everything was mounted and how the pump came apart.

[DOCDRS]

Do you think that pulling the impellers will decrease the life span? I would not want to do that. I was just curious to see how everything was mounted and how the pump came apart.

I would think that that might lengthen the lifespan......but since its just a ballast pump and I have 3 years on mine already I'm not to concerned.... just an interesting little study we could do.