Winterisation

[dmr]

As a full time liveaboard I am not too expert at winterisation. However as we are now spending more time up North, and might have a little holiday at some stage, I need to thing about frozen pipes etc.   So, do people drain down the calorifier, or is the mass of water and insulation enough to prevent freezing???.

 

I intend to put non toxic antifreeze into the pipework but it would cost a fortune to fill the calorifier with this.

 

..............Dave

[Movin' on]

4 minutes ago, dmr said:

As a full time liveaboard I am not too expert at winterisation. However as we are now spending more time up North, and might have a little holiday at some stage, I need to thing about frozen pipes etc.   So, do people drain down the calorifier, or is the mass of water and insulation enough to prevent freezing???.

 

I intend to put non toxic antifreeze into the pipework but it would cost a fortune to fill the calorifier with this.

 

..............Dave

I thought you might like to see the schedule provided by my (very experienced) engineer for the job he has just done for me - FYI YES it included fully draining the calorifier - cost £50 cash!

 

Boat all done.

Engine and heating systems are well protected so no need to add antifreeze there.
Water system drained, pumps drained, shower mixer drained, taps drained and pumps/wastes protected with an antifreeze mix. There are lots of drain points in the system to make this a bit easier than most boats.
Generator wet exhaust system protected with an antifreeze mix.

Water tank and generator raw water inlet isolated but, all systems easily put online just by opening the relevant valves. 

[Alan de Enfield]

We always want to be able to use the boat 'at a moments notice' so never 'winterise it'.

 

I turn off the water pump, open the taps shower etc, disconnect the shower head and lay it and the hose in the bathroom floor.

Switch on the engine room heaters* (green house heaters) which keeps the cauliflower and all engine cooling pipes above zero C.

Plug the battery charger in.

Put a bowl of 'cat litter' (some sort of crystals) in each cabin.

Lock the door and walk away.

 

*The engine room heaters cost £1 per day to run on timers. One down each side of the engine room, both on all night (8pm until 6am) and then alternating one in the morning and one in the afternoon.

[mrsmelly]

48 minutes ago, dmr said:

As a full time liveaboard I am not too expert at winterisation. However as we are now spending more time up North, and might have a little holiday at some stage, I need to thing about frozen pipes etc.   So, do people drain down the calorifier, or is the mass of water and insulation enough to prevent freezing???.

 

I intend to put non toxic antifreeze into the pipework but it would cost a fortune to fill the calorifier with this.

 

..............Dave

Do you leave it on leccy hook up? If so its a doddle. 

[dmr]

12 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

Do you leave it on leccy hook up? If so its a doddle. 

Probably not where we are this year.

Last winter we put the boat into a marina for a couple of weeks, with leccy, so we left the immersion heater and the fridge on. I did not appreciate that fridge-freezers have only a single thermostat in the fridge, and the boat got so cold that the fridge never turned on so the freezer defrosted.  This year we will have to eat the entire contents of the fridge-freezer the night before we go away. ?

[mrsmelly]

4 minutes ago, dmr said:

Probably not where we are this year.

Last winter we put the boat into a marina for a couple of weeks, with leccy, so we left the immersion heater and the fridge on. I did not appreciate that fridge-freezers have only a single thermostat in the fridge, and the boat got so cold that the fridge never turned on so the freezer defrosted.  This year we will have to eat the entire contents of the fridge-freezer the night before we go away. ?

Shut up!!! I am on a poxy diet ☹️

[dmr]

15 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

Shut up!!! I am on a poxy diet ☹️

Yup, its that time of the year, I'm trying to get some hill walking done but will probably need to do something more drastic such as cutting down on beer and cheese. Trouble is we are in Hebden Bridge which has at least 14 pubs, almost all of them ok, in fact I can see two right out of my window.

 

..............Dave

[mrsmelly]

Just now, dmr said:

Yup, its that time of the year, I'm trying to get some hill walking done but will probably need to do something more drastic such as cutting down on beer and cheese. Trouble is we are in Hebden Bridge which has at least 14 pubs, almost all of them ok, in fact I can see two right out of my window.

 

..............Dave

My diet is because my specialist at ospital in november basicaly said I needed it to try and slow down my stage 4 CKD. There are only five stages!!!!! ? . I lost four pounds last week alone. Its easy to diet all you do is eat stuff that is boring and flavour free. Ive lost 12 pounds so far and its the first time in my life that I have tried to diet. Oh and we now eat no cheese, no chocolate, no buns, no fruit juice, no proper milk, no fried food, vitualy no butter and LESS BEER ☹️

[TheBiscuits]

Just now, mrsmelly said:

My diet is because my specialist at ospital in november basicaly said I needed it to try and slow down my stage 4 CKD. There are only five stages!!!!! ? . I lost four pounds last week alone. Its easy to diet all you do is eat stuff that is boring and flavour free. Ive lost 12 pounds so far and its the first time in my life that I have tried to diet. Oh and we now eat no cheese, no chocolate, no buns, no fruit juice, no proper milk, no fried food, vitualy no butter and LESS BEER ☹️

You will soon be able to fit in a cross bed on a 45' boat. 

 

[Boater Sam]

Leaving ours all winter I am quite thorough with the preparations.

Close water tank off, drain out all water from hot and cold pipes ( all Copper ) and calorifier. Drain washing machine hose, & shower hose. Leave all taps open. Water pump off.

Remove pipes from water pump and drain it. Remove cold feed unions from shower, washing machine & main hot thermostats and drain water out. ( otherwise the cold cannot be drained and the ice can damage the stats )

Pump Loo feed tank empty ( its a sea toilet fed from a grey water tank under the basin. )

Antifreeze into sink, basin, & shower wastes and the loo bowl.

Check antifreeze concentration in radiators and  engine ( skin tank )

Then its all off except bilge pump auto feeds ( check they work! ) and solar panel.

Must be right, never had a burst in 20+ years.

[dmr]

7 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

My diet is because my specialist at ospital in november basicaly said I needed it to try and slow down my stage 4 CKD. There are only five stages!!!!! ? . I lost four pounds last week alone. Its easy to diet all you do is eat stuff that is boring and flavour free. Ive lost 12 pounds so far and its the first time in my life that I have tried to diet. Oh and we now eat no cheese, no chocolate, no buns, no fruit juice, no proper milk, no fried food, vitualy no butter and LESS BEER ☹️

My wife now has several digestive issues, hence except for cheese we are now very nearly vegan. It is still possible to have some very lovely food, cheese is the only real problem.  Less beer is much better than no beer at all.  Can you have the nut based milk? Although soya milk is a bit tedious some of the nut milks are actually nicer than cows milk.

 

...............Dave

[Momac]

Up to now the frosts have been quite feeble. Not enough to present a risk to w boat in the water.

I have shore power and frost protection heaters on thermostats. The domestic water drained off and a frost protection heater near the calorifier.

A dehumidufuer helps keep things dry.

[mrsmelly]

Just now, dmr said:

My wife now has several digestive issues, hence except for cheese we are now very nearly vegan. It is still possible to have some very lovely food, cheese is the only real problem.  Less beer is much better than no beer at all.  Can you have the nut based milk? Although soya milk is a bit tedious some of the nut milks are actually nicer than cows milk.

 

...............Dave

I cant fault that indeedy!! ? I can eat drink anything, there is no dietery restrictions luckily. Its just pretty obvious about cutting down innitt ☹️  I always ate what I liked when I liked and thats gone out of the window. Its partly in the brain just thinking  I am hungry, we still eat proper dinners like we always did but no fancy stuff which I sorely miss. Cheese and chocolate for instance. It doesnt help with my present mooring being were theeeeee best pork in the world is produced!!!!!!!

2 minutes ago, MartynG said:

Up to now the frosts have been quite feeble. Not enough to present a risk to w boat in the water.

I have shore power and frost protection heaters on thermostats. The domestic water drained off and a frost protection heater near the calorifier.

A dehumidufuer helps keep things dry.

Yes its easy on shore power. We leave a couple of oil heaters set at about ten degrees and the webasto comes on for two hours a day so never gets rock solid cold and water tank is kept war/hot. Its when there is no shore power if it gets realy cold the problem arises.

[Robbo]

23 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

My diet is because my specialist at ospital in november basicaly said I needed it to try and slow down my stage 4 CKD. There are only five stages!!!!! ? . I lost four pounds last week alone. Its easy to diet all you do is eat stuff that is boring and flavour free. Ive lost 12 pounds so far and its the first time in my life that I have tried to diet. Oh and we now eat no cheese, no chocolate, no buns, no fruit juice, no proper milk, no fried food, vitualy no butter and LESS BEER ☹️

Probably not for your condition but for a healthier milk try and find non homogenisation milk, the fat isn't as digestible so you basically don't digest as much of the fat in the milk.

[ditchcrawler]

I drain ours completely except the cold water storage tank that is left half full. When we come back on board all I have to do is open the isolator valve on the cold storage tank and switch the pump back on. the system is refilled well before we are ready to set off. I do have a plumbed in drain on the calorifier.

[jddevel]

2 hours ago, mrsmelly said:

2 hours ago, dmr said:

 

My diet is because my specialist at ospital in november basicaly said I needed it to try and slow down my stage 4 CKD.

Sorry to hear that. Good Luck from here on in. Makes Brexit a good deal more insignificant.

[jonathanA]

10 hours ago, Boater Sam said:

Leaving ours all winter I am quite thorough with the preparations.

Close water tank off, drain out all water from hot and cold pipes ( all Copper ) and calorifier. Drain washing machine hose, & shower hose. Leave all taps open. Water pump off.

Remove pipes from water pump and drain it. Remove cold feed unions from shower, washing machine & main hot thermostats and drain water out. ( otherwise the cold cannot be drained and the ice can damage the stats )

Pump Loo feed tank empty ( its a sea toilet fed from a grey water tank under the basin. )

Antifreeze into sink, basin, & shower wastes and the loo bowl.

Check antifreeze concentration in radiators and  engine ( skin tank )

Then its all off except bilge pump auto feeds ( check they work! ) and solar panel.

Must be right, never had a burst in 20+ years.

God what a faff I couldn’t be bothered with that palaver I’d sooner repair the odd/unlikely burst...

 

you probably spend all summer fixing leaks from all those joints you messed about with...

All I do is :

switch off pump and stop tap at tank open all taps and shower controls open drain at low point to drain most of water out of pipes. 

 

Leave cauliflower full but it’s well insulated and under bed.

 

we have previously been on shore power so used to leave small oil filled rad on a timer for a couple of hours a day. Currently no shore power so will not have oil rad on. Takes minutes to winterise and minutes to get going when we want to use the boat in winter. 

 

I think a more thorough regime might be appropriate if you are going to leave the boat unattended for 3 or 4 months or longer in winter imho

[Nightwatch]

10 hours ago, mrsmelly said:

My diet is because my specialist at ospital in november basicaly said I needed it to try and slow down my stage 4 CKD. There are only five stages!!!!! ? . I lost four pounds last week alone. Its easy to diet all you do is eat stuff that is boring and flavour free. Ive lost 12 pounds so far and its the first time in my life that I have tried to diet. Oh and we now eat no cheese, no chocolate, no buns, no fruit juice, no proper milk, no fried food, vitualy no butter and LESS BEER ☹️

Hi was wondering where my temporary drinking partner had gone. Now I understand and appreciate why. Keep it up.

[Boater Sam]

28 minutes ago, jonathanA said:

God what a faff I couldn’t be bothered with that palaver I’d sooner repair the odd/unlikely burst...

 

you probably spend all summer fixing leaks from all those joints you messed about with...

All I do is :

switch off pump and stop tap at tank open all taps and shower controls open drain at low point to drain most of water out of pipes. 

 

Leave cauliflower full but it’s well insulated and under bed.

 

we have previously been on shore power so used to leave small oil filled rad on a timer for a couple of hours a day. Currently no shore power so will not have oil rad on. Takes minutes to winterise and minutes to get going when we want to use the boat in winter. 

 

I think a more thorough regime might be appropriate if you are going to leave the boat unattended for 3 or 4 months or longer in winter imho

As its left for 4 months and all the pipework is behind panelling and is copper, its less of a faff than finding and fixing even one burst. The antifreeze in the loo is vital as its a Baby Blakes Sea Toilet, £4500 worth so I don't take risks. Being farm moorings it very exposed to the chill winds of winter.

Professional plumbers (I was) don't have leaks when they connect unions.

[Momac]

Fortunately the forecast for the next week includes only light frosts  (at my location). Therefore nothing much to worry about.

That doesn't  eliminate a risk later in the month or February, as  we had last year.

[matty40s]

20 hours ago, mrsmelly said:

...... I lost four pounds last week alone. ......... Ive lost 12 pounds so far .......

This for a Yorkshireman is tragic......?

Good on you for resisting temptation and fight it all the way.

[dmr]

12 hours ago, jonathanA said:

God what a faff I couldn’t be bothered with that palaver I’d sooner repair the odd/unlikely burst...

 

you probably spend all summer fixing leaks from all those joints you messed about with...

All I do is :

switch off pump and stop tap at tank open all taps and shower controls open drain at low point to drain most of water out of pipes. 

 

Leave cauliflower full but it’s well insulated and under bed.

 

we have previously been on shore power so used to leave small oil filled rad on a timer for a couple of hours a day. Currently no shore power so will not have oil rad on. Takes minutes to winterise and minutes to get going when we want to use the boat in winter. 

 

I think a more thorough regime might be appropriate if you are going to leave the boat unattended for 3 or 4 months or longer in winter imho

Yes, this is more in line with my philosophy. I reckon/hope it would take a lot of cold to freeze the calorifier, but it would be embarrassing if it did burst.

 

..............Dave

[Boater Sam]

40 minutes ago, dmr said:

Yes, this is more in line with my philosophy. I reckon/hope it would take a lot of cold to freeze the calorifier, but it would be embarrassing if it did burst.

 

..............Dave

And where would you stand claiming for the damage incurred from your insurer who insist that you take all reasonable frost measures? They would refuse to pay for the calorifier as the cause of the damage, and only pay for the subsequent damage if you meet their conditions.

This I know from frost claims on flats left unoccupied in winter.

[dmr]

20 minutes ago, Boater Sam said:

And where would you stand claiming for the damage incurred from your insurer who insist that you take all reasonable frost measures? They would refuse to pay for the calorifier as the cause of the damage, and only pay for the subsequent damage if you meet their conditions.

This I know from frost claims on flats left unoccupied in winter.

I've always assumed that if the calorifier burst then I would be replacing it myself. ?

 

...............Dave

[MHS]

17 hours ago, Boater Sam said:

The antifreeze in the loo is vital as its a Baby Blakes Sea Toilet, £4500 worth so I don't take risks.

That is one really expensive loo. For that price, I would want it to wipe my bum for me.