Wondering who might have knowledge of necessary steps to winterize a Lehman diesel. I've been told to shut the raw water petcock and pour about 1/2 gal. antifreeze in the filter, but that seem light on antifreeze. I don't know what cooling water capacity is in the engine or how much is retained and needs to be flushed out.
Winterizing on the hard
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Welcome to the forum, and I'll move your thread now to an area more relevant to your specific query, for better exposure and hopefully more responses. N'orries. 
Comodave
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Welcome aboard. It will take more than that depending on your muffler and if you drain it before or not. I used to use a SeaFlush adapter to winterize my Lehmans in our last boat. I would test the antifreeze coming out the exhaust to make sure it was properly protecting the engine. I used a reflectometer to test it and either -100 or -200 antifreeze. The reflectometer doesn’t work on all types of antifreeze. Some will say put in antifreeze until you get color out the exhaust but when I would test it at first color it would test about +30 degrees. I would keep adding more until it would test at least -20 here. That may vary depending on your winter temperatures. I would use about 6 or 7 gallons per engine to get it down to -20.
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If there's a fairly long exhaust run after the muffler, I usually go for 1-2 gallons after I see color. By the time I've got color at my engine exhausts I've already had (diluted) antifreeze coming out of the muffler for at least a gallon, more likely 2.
For my engines (not Lehmans) with huge 2 stage water lift mufflers they get 9 gallons each. For comparison, the much smaller cooling system and muffler on the generator gets 4 gallons (there's color out the exhaust by 3 gallons and much less water in the muffler to cause dilution).
Keep in mind that freeze point and burst point aren't the same. The -50 antifreeze will freeze around 12* F, but it won't expand enough to hurt plastic plumbing, mufflers, etc. until about -10* F. Of course that's undiluted. So what antifreeze to use and how careful you need to be about dilution will depend on the winter temperatures you experience.
For my engines (not Lehmans) with huge 2 stage water lift mufflers they get 9 gallons each. For comparison, the much smaller cooling system and muffler on the generator gets 4 gallons (there's color out the exhaust by 3 gallons and much less water in the muffler to cause dilution).
Keep in mind that freeze point and burst point aren't the same. The -50 antifreeze will freeze around 12* F, but it won't expand enough to hurt plastic plumbing, mufflers, etc. until about -10* F. Of course that's undiluted. So what antifreeze to use and how careful you need to be about dilution will depend on the winter temperatures you experience.
You can't just dump it in the filter, you need to have the engine running and put at least several gallons through. I look at the color coming out to determine enough. In Skagway you might want to use the -100 or -200 stuff. In a raw water system, it will get diluted a fair amount, lots of volume in the engine and muffler. Many mufflers have a petcock, you can drain it before you start the winterize and maybe save some antifreeze.
Iggy
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Just for what its worth and for the new comers. I took -50 AF in a cup and put it my 0 degree freezer. After 6 hours it was slush. Different brands may get different results.
My thoughts were in my case. Get as much water out as I can, add AF and drain some out. If it does freeze, there is room. But I have been told that when AF freezes if contracts unlike water that will expand. Its worked for me.
I did drain each seacock bowl and muffler. After running the AF though the engine I redrained the muffler again since it was mixed with water from the engine.
My thoughts were in my case. Get as much water out as I can, add AF and drain some out. If it does freeze, there is room. But I have been told that when AF freezes if contracts unlike water that will expand. Its worked for me.
I did drain each seacock bowl and muffler. After running the AF though the engine I redrained the muffler again since it was mixed with water from the engine.
ranger58sb
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Our standard procedure is to close the seacock, arrange an injection source for purple antifreeze, start the engine and let it suck AF, stop the engine after we see a good stream of antifreeze coming out the exhaust.
We usually do that in the water, but it works on land too (our method, last winter).
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I use a 2 1/2 gallon bucket and remove the hose from the strainer and suck antifreeze that way. It took 3 gallons to winterize the Lehman.
Then I’d suck the remaining water out of the strainer bowl before reconnecting the hose
I never shut the ball valve so nothing got trapped and so I didn’t forget to open it in the spring.
Same method for the genny but about 1 gallon.
Then I’d suck the remaining water out of the strainer bowl before reconnecting the hose
I never shut the ball valve so nothing got trapped and so I didn’t forget to open it in the spring.
Same method for the genny but about 1 gallon.
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Like ddw said, Run the engine! I use a minimum of five gallons of RV antifreeze for the main engine. (The -50 variety) I have a five gallon gerry can with a long spout and a shut off valve on it. I have the Admiral stand at the exhaust with a clear glass jar and catch a sample of the antifreeze as it exhausts the boat. When the color nearly matches the color of a sample I will have sitting on the swim platform she notifies me and I shut it down.
Use the same method for the genny and the air conditioner. the RV antifreeze is cheap at around $3.00 a gallon and environmentally friendly. All told, including the pressurized water system, the engines, AC and a gallon or so for the holding tank I use about 12 gallons of the antifreeze.
BTW, this is about the only way I know of to insure the "no leak" shaft packing is also winterized.
pete
Use the same method for the genny and the air conditioner. the RV antifreeze is cheap at around $3.00 a gallon and environmentally friendly. All told, including the pressurized water system, the engines, AC and a gallon or so for the holding tank I use about 12 gallons of the antifreeze.
BTW, this is about the only way I know of to insure the "no leak" shaft packing is also winterized.
pete
Winterizing
Thanks for all the replies. I gather RV antifreeze is the best, to use, as it is environmentally friendly. This will be my first season of winterizing, so this advise is greatly appreciated.
Now if I could just get better at navigating my way around this site.
Thanks for all the replies. I gather RV antifreeze is the best, to use, as it is environmentally friendly. This will be my first season of winterizing, so this advise is greatly appreciated.
Now if I could just get better at navigating my way around this site.
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I'm no guru on this, so I'm sure I'll be corrected if I misspeak. You don't just want "RV antifreeze". What you are looking for is non-toxic antifreeze and it comes in 3 flavors this year (in the past, I've only seen two flavors).
There is one that is propylene glycol as the primary ingredient and that is the one you want for your raw water system. The price has skyrocketed on this product this year. Here it is now around $10 - 11 per gallon (up from $6ish last year).
The other option has alcohol as the primary anti-freeze ingredient and I don't like using that on boats as it can harm plastic and rubber components. That's around $4 a gallon.
This year, there seems to be a new product that has both propylene glycol AND alcohol. I think this must be a new formulation to help offset the skyrocketing cost of propylene glycol - it seems to be priced around $6 a gallon or the same as propylene glycol was last year. I don't know how this one might affect rubber parts. It is billed as being usable on fresh water systems. But I'm personally going to stick to the propylene glycol on both RW and FW systems until I hear otherwise.
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We use the rough rule of 1 gallon per cylinder for the engine. Freshwater we use colored vodka blown through the system with low pressure air. No pink after taste. Martinis in the Spring!
Comodave
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We never did that for the winter. You can get an antifreeze that has rust inhibitors in it though. But that doesn’t touch the inside of the cylinders.
Mainecoast
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5 gallon drywall bucket of non tox. Disconnect inlet hose from the strainer insert in bucket, start engine and run the bucket down. Stop engine. Reattach hose. Leave seacock open. Same for generator.
Comodave
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A diesel will likely run on the oil that you would fog it with where a gas engine won’t.
I do the same. Empty a 5 gallon bucket. I use a Groco flush adapter so it's a simple process for me.
A few articles that may be helpful. The 5 gal spackle bucket is the ticket. I installed a valve and hose on the bottom of mine so I can gravity feed HVAC pumps as well.
https://stevedmarineconsulting.com/winterizing-your-fuel-system/
https://stevedmarineconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Winterizing.pdf
https://stevedmarineconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/gearhead-nov-17.pdf
https://stevedmarineconsulting.com/winterizing-your-fuel-system/
https://stevedmarineconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Winterizing.pdf
https://stevedmarineconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/gearhead-nov-17.pdf
Pete Meisinger
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No need to attempt to fog a diesel if it will just be sitting for a winter, or even two or three winters. If it will be sitting for a lot of years you could consider it, through the injector holes or the glow plug holes but I wouldn't advise it. You could easily fuel lock(water lock) the engine.
pete
pete
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