[VAC] Re: winterizing again

[Jim Dunmyer <jdunmyer@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dick,
  The antifreeze can leave a bad taste in your water system if you pour 
it into the tank. After draining, the little bit of water that is left 
in the tank is harmless when it freezes.

It's important to remember that frozen water in your lines, pump, or 
whereever isn't the issue. What's important is that there's expansion 
room. That means if you have most of the water out of the system, with 
no pockets, you won't have damage from what's left. It's difficult or 
impossible to get the system totally dry, but it's pretty easy to get it 
"dry enough".

However, it's also easy to protect the system with anti-freeze, at least 
if you have a bypass valve setup on your water heater. Many folks obtain 
a spare fitting for their pump's suction connection if they're using the 
standard ShurFlo pump. It's then trivial to disconnect the line from the 
  (drained) tank, connect a short piece of tubing, drop it into the a-f 
jug, and start pumping. Open faucets one at a time until you see "pink" 
and you're good to go.

                                   <<Jim>>