I went to check our boat today. It was 50 degrees here on the coast of
Maine. That should make anyone who ever spent a winter in this part of
the world believe in global warming.

When I winterized the boat, I pumped three gallons of antifreeze into
the bilge by turning the wrong valve and then forgot to pump it out.
When I looked in today, there were clumps of white crust floating
around on top of it that turned out to be ice.

What’s going on here? The bilge was pretty dry last fall so it isn’t
diluted and I can see that no water has been getting into the boat by
the level. I sure hope it isn’t freezing in the engine.

--

Roger Long

Roger,
Antifreeze is not effective if it is not mixed with water in the proper
ratio. The manufacturers don't recommend using undiluted antifreeze for
this reason, and you know they would love to sell you more if that was
viable, but it isn't...Take a bowl of pure antifreeze and put it in
your freezer and see what happens....
Regards,
markvictor
http://groups.google.com/group/badboatbiz?hl=en

100% antifreeze will freeze as solid as a brick. Antifreeze has to be
mixed with water to the right proportions. Technically its called the
molal freezing point depression of the 'mixture'.
What happened is that the water vapor saturated air condensed on top of
the antifreeze, didnt mix with the antifreeze and formed a skin of
water ice on top of the antifreeze.
Ive done the same thing .... ;-) .... thats why I know the answer.




In article , Roger Long
wrote:

I went to check our boat today. It was 50 degrees here on the coast of
Maine. That should make anyone who ever spent a winter in this part of
the world believe in global warming.

When I winterized the boat, I pumped three gallons of antifreeze into
the bilge by turning the wrong valve and then forgot to pump it out.
When I looked in today, there were clumps of white crust floating
around on top of it that turned out to be ice.

What’s going on here? The bilge was pretty dry last fall so it isn’t
diluted and I can see that no water has been getting into the boat by
the level. I sure hope it isn’t freezing in the engine.

"Rich Hampel" wrote in

100% antifreeze will freeze as solid as a brick.


Yikes! Will it freeze hard enough to crack an engine block or is it
just like salt water slush? The yard service manager who told me how
to winterize the engine didn't say anything about mixing it with
water.

--

Roger Long

50% ethylene glycol and 50% water will take you down to -20degrees F.

100% antifreeze 'probably' (no guarantee) wont harm the block because
just about all substances on earth get smaller when they get colder.
Water is an exception however and becomes less dense and 'larger' at
near its freezing point; hence, the need to add antifreeze, ..... the
getting 'larger' produces the pressure to break castings, etc.

Incidentally ---- If water didnt have this 'little quirk' property, all
the ice in the ocean would fall to bottom of the ocean, never thaw, and
the highest ocean temperature in mid summer (thawed surface ice) would
be only 4 degrees Celsius .... and there wouldnt be much life on earth.
Be very thankful that frozen water floats.

Looks like you should drain the antifreeze, add water (the mix ratios
are usually listed on the side of the container) and reinstall.to be
absolutely safe.



In article , Roger Long
wrote:

"Rich Hampel" wrote in

100% antifreeze will freeze as solid as a brick.


Yikes! Will it freeze hard enough to crack an engine block or is it
just like salt water slush? The yard service manager who told me how
to winterize the engine didn't say anything about mixing it with
water.

****. That would be a huge project at this point. Getting a diesel
going in the temperatures we'll have by the day after tomorrow is no
joke. The batteries are in the shop, there is ice all around the
boat. Uhg.

This is a two cylinder raw water cooled diesel BTW. I knew you had to
mix antifreeze for cooling systems but I thought that was for proper
heat transfer. The idea that it freeze never occurred to me. This
stuff (non-tox with corrosion inhibitors; not RV anti-freeze) is just
in there to winterize the engine. Freezing solid won't hurt anything
unless it expands.

--

Roger Long

markvictor wrote:
Roger,
Antifreeze is not effective if it is not mixed with water in the proper
ratio. The manufacturers don't recommend using undiluted antifreeze for
this reason, and you know they would love to sell you more if that was
viable, but it isn't...Take a bowl of pure antifreeze and put it in
your freezer and see what happens....
Regards,
markvictor
http://groups.google.com/group/badboatbiz?hl=en


Yes...isn't it 50/50 for your auto radiator.

I checked with the boat yard this morning. It was Panol that they
sold me. They use it straight for winterization only. It may freeze
into a slush but won't expand and isn't a problem for a system that
isn't running so that it has to pump the stuff around.

The straight RV stuff , without corrosion inhibitors, says "No Mixing
Required" right on the bottle.

--

Roger Long



"Rich Hampel" wrote in message
...
50% ethylene glycol and 50% water will take you down to -20degrees
F.

100% antifreeze 'probably' (no guarantee) wont harm the block
because
just about all substances on earth get smaller when they get colder.
Water is an exception however and becomes less dense and 'larger' at
near its freezing point; hence, the need to add antifreeze, .....
the
getting 'larger' produces the pressure to break castings, etc.

Incidentally ---- If water didnt have this 'little quirk' property,
all
the ice in the ocean would fall to bottom of the ocean, never thaw,
and
the highest ocean temperature in mid summer (thawed surface ice)
would
be only 4 degrees Celsius .... and there wouldnt be much life on
earth.
Be very thankful that frozen water floats.

Looks like you should drain the antifreeze, add water (the mix
ratios
are usually listed on the side of the container) and reinstall.to be
absolutely safe.



In article , Roger Long
wrote:

"Rich Hampel" wrote in

100% antifreeze will freeze as solid as a brick.


Yikes! Will it freeze hard enough to crack an engine block or is
it
just like salt water slush? The yard service manager who told me
how
to winterize the engine didn't say anything about mixing it with
water.

Roger Long wrote:
****.

Took the word right out of my mouth.
This is _not_ good news for me.
WHy the effing hell did I not know this?

"The straight RV stuff"...are you talking about the red -non toxic
fluid for winterizing the potabke water system?... That isn't designed
for your engine, it's for your plumbing...
If not, and you're referring to a glycol based anti-freeze, the reason
no mixing is required is that you are buying a jug of 50% water....it's
a lot cheaper to buy it undiluted and add your own water....I know you
already have done your winterization, I'm just pointing out the
difference....

regards,
markvictor
http://groups.google.com/group/badboatbiz