Re: domestic water winterization
Ok, now that the caution has been posted....... here we go.
There are a-lot of variables involved, that are specific to the actual boat and the order that things should be done. If I screw up, hopefully someone will catch my mistake and correct me.
You only asked about the water system and head system. I will not address the engines, genset, air-conditioning, etc.
The hot water heater and head are not an after-thought....they need to be done with the rest of the water system.
Start by turning off the breakers to your hot water heater ( if it's not full of water and the power is on ....you can burn up the heating elements). Have your holding tank pumped out and drain your fresh water tank. Drain your hot water heater.
Identify the inlet and outlet water lines on your hot water tank. Get a coupler or "female to female" from your ships store or hardware store to join together these two lines, bypassing the hot water heater.
Put a few gallons of RV antifreeze into your fresh water tank.
Power up the fresh water pump.
Starting at the farthest faucet from the tank, open the faucet and run untill you see the RV antifreeze. do this for both the hot and the cold.
Do this for all faucets including the shower.
As far as I am aware, all true "vacuflush" heads use fresh water (from the tank) for flushing. flush the head untill you see the RV antifreeze in the bowl. Directly pour 1/2 gal of RV antifreeze into bowl....flush. Do that one more time. You're done. I have to advise, that your boat may have one or more drain/sump pumps.....such for the shower . If you know where these are and can get to them, take the top off and suck out the standing water with a shop vac. Otherwise, pour a generous amount of RV antifreeze down these drains.
