which type of antifreeze for storage

[simple]

Is it ok to use the pink rv pre-mixed stuff or is it better to use regular green colored automotive antifreeze?

[RedRangerVIP]

Unless it gets below -35* constantly, use the RV fluid. It will do the job no prob. Plus it's enviorment friendly.

[tommays]

you realy just need to drain everything compleatly at that point nothing can freeze and you wont be spiling anything in to the water that does not need to be theretommays

[simple]

Originally posted by simple: Is it ok to use the pink rv pre-mixed stuff or is it better to use automotive antifreeze?

Opps. never mind people.

[Don S]

If you want to protect your engine from corrosion and rust, use Salt Away to flush your engine and while fogging. That is what it was designed for. Salt corrosion protection. My guess is it works with fresh water corrosion also.Then just drain the raw water system like tom said. If the air freezes hard enough to break things, then there is more to worry about than the boat.

[f_inscreenname]

Does all the water come out of the block, water pump(s), exhaust manifolds, hoses, check valves, outdrive, etc????? I don't think so. Water trapped in the smallest places when freezes will cause damage. Sometimes you get away with it sometimes you don't and for the $15.00 for antifreeze and 20 mins of work I will sleep a lot better while my boat sleeps over the winter. All it takes is one cracked block and you will do it right every time.

[rogerwa]

I use the sierra because my pets will not drink it and die and the pink stuff may not be suitable for engine pickling. Something to do with corrosion inhibitors. The pink stuff is great if you are putting up your water system on your RV, cabin, or boat cabin, but I have heard this stuff will not protect against corrosion in the block while it is stored there.In my view, I fully pickel the engine because dry iron will form rust. If it is contact with Antifreeze it will not. For the time and the cost I'd rather be safe then sorry.

[Don S]

f_inscreenname When you drain the engine using the drains provided by the manufacturer, and you make sure they are not clogged, there will not be enough water left in the block, heat exchanger, oil cooler or whatever, to cause any problem. The water must be trapped so it can't expand in any direction to cause breakage of anything.Fill a dinner plate full of water and put it in a freezer.....the plate won't break. Why??? Cause the water isn't trapped and has a place to expand.Even a little bit of water in a block that is enclosed except for the top will not break the block because the water has room above to expand.

[tommays]

i think the antifreeze users still dont get it if you read the fine print doing it that way is a volitation of the clean water act and if you * it by millions of boats it a lot of stuff going into the food chain which we will then eat at sometime in the futurethe safe antifreze is not that safe the chemical used in it is and industral grade it is not a USP food grade which cost about 10 times more and many things that go into your food have more to do with the food lobby in DC than what is realy safe the best example is red food color the food lobby is strong so it is used in food the soap lobby is weaker so you cant use it soap tommays

[WillyBWright]

I use the pink on dozens of boats every year. It's cheap, non-toxic, effective, readily available, and easy to use. I'm sure the fish don't appreciate any kind of antifreeze, but if I were to be silly enough to eat fish pickled in antifreeze, I'd prefer it was the pink stuff. As far as corrosion, in a closed cooling system it is important. In a raw water motor, you'll get more corrosion from a few minutes use than months of sitting with the motor full of any kind of antifreeze. Leaving the motor empty causes huge amounts of rust to form, so for me that is definately not an option. It's only one tiny baby step better than leaving the water in there. There are even people that drain the gearlube and leave it empty. Another huge mistake! Rust forms with oxygen exposure. Fluids slow that WAY down.

[Laddies]

If you don't have enough faith in your mechanical ability to do some thing as simply as drain a engine for winter get a job and pay some one who does! quit messing up the water

[RedRangerVIP]

I don't imagine that the people that do use the RV antifreeze dump it into the water. The guy is looking for opinions, not sarcasam

[tommays]

i am going to list some facts from a bottle of prestone rv just to cause real confusionFine print on prestone RV1. Do not use in gasoline or diesel engines2. Clean up any spills or leaks3. If swallowed call poison control center or emergency department4. Keep away from pets and childrenContains1. Propylene glycol (57-55-6)2. Water (7732-18-5)3. Rust and corrosion inhibitors (proprietary) and the most dangerous IMHP and i dont understand why plastic rv plumbing needs anti rust stuffTo de-winterize flush a lot I donÂ’t know what you do with the flushIt doesnÂ’t really seam any safer to me it has the same propylene glycol that any other antifreeze has and seams to harm childern and petsmost rv makers have changed to freeze proof plumbing to avoide the whole problemthe whole world seams to be able to remove the water from a sprinkler system with thousands of feet of pipe useing only air and brainsi read on the merc site that they sell a handpump to remove water on motors hooked up to brave drives seams a good way for any motortommays

[WillyBWright]

Unfortunately most of the antifreeze that is used in winterizing ends up in the water, so laddiesservice has a point. Few people pre-flush before they go out first thing in spring, but even those who do do it in their driveway and the stuff ends up in the storm sewer which isn't treated before it gets to the lake, river, ocean, whatever. Just think about the millions of gallons of antifreeze that ends up there from the millions of boats. Kinda like piss in a pond in proportion, but still not a good thing. Better non-toxic RV than toxic automotive at least. Nothing at all would be better for the environment, but not so good for the motor.Regarding tommay's first item just above...not for use as an antifreeze...for running purposes. It isn't well suited as a permanent antifreeze. But for pickling purposes, just fine.Regarding anticorrosion additives that are absent in RV...I have flushed out motors that were empty all winter and it takes a lot of running before no more rust comes out. With RV it's clear as a whistle before the motor even warms up. But then, rust isn't a pollutant and glycol certainly is. But then again, rust means there's less metal between the water and the oil. Lots of give and take.

[simple]

Have a look at this. I guess mercruiser says it's ok as long as it has a rust inhibitor. http://www.mercruiser.com/winterization_faqs2

[tommays]

from mercs siteIt is not essential to fill the cooling system with antifreeze i want merc or and engine builder to go on record as to how it would be possable to use any type of antifreeze and not be in violation of the clean water act when the engine goes back in use and the antifreze goes into the water even in small amountstommays

[garycinn]

Dump the Prestone low-tox poly glycol in the bilge and drain it from the transom plug and use it for next year.

[waterone1@aol.com]

Regarding winterizing inboard and I/O motors:Here is my two cents worth. Use the automotive type antifreeze, do not leave the engine dry, do not use the RV type. Run your engine on muffs or ears connected to a garden hose untill engine reaches operating temperature, then disconnect the muffs from the garden hose. I then use a clean shop vac that has a waterpump built into it and has a hose fitting on it. I put a couple of gallons of antifreeze in there and connect the hose fitting to my "muffs" or "ears" and put them on the outdrive water pickup (for inboards connect the hose to your water inlet hose). With a large plastic storage bin or similar(found at home depot, etc.) placed under the outdrive (or under the exhaust for inboards) start the shop vac, start the boat engine and run untill the boat exhaust is pumping out the green stuff.You now have an engine that is protected from freezing and is not rusting internally do to being exposed to oxygen. Take the "expelled" antifreeze from the plastic bin and dispose of properly....to an autoparts store, to a waste dump for chemicals, or as a last result flush it down a toilet( do you really think that drano or sno-bowl isn't toxic?)....at least it is being treated before ending up in a lake or water supply. In the spring, put the plastic bin back under the boat and hook up the muffs to a garden hose and start the engine before going to the lake or river and dispose of the antifreeze the same way.

[tommays]

so basicly nobody cares about the end result of were there antifreeze ends up which is in the ground water so that they can drink or eat it at some point in the futuretommays

[KM2]

I hope people care. I swim in the water, eat fish from it and eventually drink it as it enters the water supply. As boat owners we should care and have a responsibility to be good stewards of the waterways we enjoy. Personally I do what Gary suggests and drain it into the bilge and out the plug. I have reused the low tox antifreeze for a couple of years now. It's really pretty easy and saves me money.Don't most boat owners start the boat on muffs at home before going to the lake? I like to be confident that my boat will start and run when I get to the landing. So I don't waste my time and others.

[tommays]

well i dont no how it works in other parts of the USA but in NY when i spill a chemical in my yard it enters the ground and enters the water table were it then flows to who ever happens to drink that water and the corrosion inhibitors are the most toxic part of the blendsince you can use FWC or salt away if you have RW cooling to protect your motor from rust why use something that says it will harm your pets and children and that it should not be flushedsalt away is safe to flush and has EPA approval for this use30 years ago it was ok to use oil at the race track for dust control i dont think anybody would even conisder doing that today they use a sprinkler system and get the same resulttommays

[waterone1@aol.com]

It is amazing to me how many sudden "enviromentalist" people come out of the woodwork as soon as you say the words anti-freeze.While I would not advocate dumping antifreeze on the ground, or worse yet, taking an engine full of anti-freeze to the lake in the spring to "pump it out" there, I still contend that using antifreeze in our boats once a year is no worse than what we do to the enviroment all summer long.Anyone that is a pleasure boater cannot possible claim to truly care about the enviroment. Unless you are running a sailboat, or perhaps an electric trolling motor, aren't we all contibuting to pollution just by boating, just for the fun of it ? Last weekend I took my cabin cruiser on a small trip, I think my twin mercruisers gobbled up about 150 gallons of gas. How many people could get back and forth to work for a week on 150 gallons of gas ? How many boats on the water today still have carburators, and no type of smog reducing equipment ? How many are still burning a mixture of gas and oil ? How many marina's across the country are full of boats sucking up electricity conected to shore power so the air conditioning and refridgerators can run.Lets all be as responsible as we can, but please lets not talk about keeping the water and air clean for our children. Most of us, just by being pleasure boaters are not setting the best example.

[tommays]

i dont agree all the no-tox and low-tox antifreezes are clearly mislabeled if you read the front of a prestone bottel it seams as safe as drinking waterif you read the fine print on the back lable it tells you that a child or pet drinking even a small amount should be taken to a hospital i feel were this is were the fight starts people only read the front lable and want to believe it is safe and harmlessi left the marine trade in 1975 during one of the early gas crunches and went into industral repiar i have spent the last 29 years at work complying with what ever new laws were made about how things were dissposed of the public seams to expect industry to respect the laws and it useless for me to follow the law at work if people are not going to follow the same law at home or to decide which ones they will followtommays