Winterization of unused ballast

[nh206ski]

This may be a dumb question but this issue has come up this year.

Do unused ballast tanks still need to be winterized. I have a buddy with 211 and asked him before my kids went wakeboarding -I didn't want to have to winterized for 1 ride. He said he was going to have the Marina do it anyways just to be safe. I have another friend who never has used his ballast and doesnt think they are winterized every year.

What if you never turned out your heater we use ours alot but if we didn't use at all one summer would it still need to be blown out?

[WakeSlayer]

RE: Winterization of unused ballast

Heater defintely needs to be blown out.
If the ballast is aerators, I would blow them out, if they are ballast puppies, you should run antifreeze through the system. My intakes are threaded so I can just screw a hose on and stick it in a bucket. I run about a gallon into each bag. Youprobably have pull the intake hose off the tank and put that into a bucket. Reverse in the spring. You just need to worry about the pumps and lines, not the tank.

[nh206ski]

RE: Winterization of unused ballast

Would you blow them out even if not used during the season?

[WakeSlayer]

RE: Winterization of unused ballast

Yes. The heater flows regardless, and the ballast just to be safe.

[harddock]

RE: Winterization of unused ballast

Use Marine/RV antifreeze, (pink) available at Walmart. Kmart etc. It is made for drinking water tanks and will not harm plastics. It may freeze water into slush but not freeze solid.

[WakeSlayer]

RE: Winterization of unused ballast

the pink stuff has a burst point of -50*, which should pretty much be safe anywhere. I used -80* purple last year, and that was probably wasteful as far as the expense, but, it gets stupid cold here and I am quite paranoid of the -30 temps we get here.

[Nautiqueman]

RE: Winterization of unused ballast

how do you blow out the heater lines?

[WakeSlayer]

RE: Winterization of unused ballast

take both off the motor. One is on your intake, and the second should be on either your block drain or circulating pump. I have one each way. Either use a compressor set very low PSI, or just manually blow through the hoses. You need to do it both ways because if the heater is mounted on it's side, you really don't know which is the higher or lower hose. If you want to be ultra safe, force some antifreeze up there too. I don't do this, but it is not a bad idea. then reconnect, or if you like, leave them open and use a short piece of hose to jump the ports on the engine for the winter. If you use this method, you need to reconnect again to use your heater.

[snowboardcorey]

Unless you shut off the ball valves on your ballast system make sure to winterize them as some water will generally work its way into the system. A little RV can save you a lot of time and money in the long run.