If you put a gallon of -50° diluted antifreeze into your engine and there's a gallon of water in the heat exchanger you don't know about, you will not be getting the protection you thought. If you have water in your engine when you winterize, some of it is likely to mix with your antifreeze and dilute it. You can buy antifreeze concentrated with instructions to dilute it for the protection lever.Ī word of caution: take care you are diluting to the right level and make sure you flush as much water out of your engine as you can. The higher the propylene glycol to water ratio, the better the protection. Most bottles of antifreeze are diluted with water. Propylene glycol is the best antifreeze to use in winterizing boat engines and systems. Read all about antifreeze Dilution and Protection What antifreeze to use?įor more detail on antifreeze choices and your engine, see our articles Do You Have to Use Antifreeze to Winterize a Boat and The Difference Between Marine vs. But a -50☏ antifreeze may start "freezing" at 12☏ to 18☏ (-11☌ to -7☌) and forming slush, and a -100° may start to slush at -58° to -63☏ (-50☌ to -52☌). The slush doesn't expand and cause damage to boat systems. Propylene Glycol based antifreeze will form an icy slush well before it freezes solid. This does not mean the antifreeze flashes from liquid to solid at that temperature. This number is the temperature at which a sealed copper pipe filled with that antifreeze will burst. ![]() We rate antifreeze with a temperature, for example -50☏ or -100☏. Freezing air doesn't expand, so there would be nothing to damage the engine.īut in practice getting all the water out is tricky and unreliable, and it's better to flush existing systems out with antifreeze to ensure it fills all water jackets and tubes with something which won't freeze in normal conditions. In theory, you could winterize your engine by blowing all the water from the various engine block jackets, coolers, and hoses. To keep an engine from freezing, we remove all the freezable water or blend/replace it with something which lowers the freezing point well below normal outdoor temperatures. The freezing water expands, which can crack everything from intake hoses to engine blocks. ![]() Water left in these spaces is what freezes. These components are connected with hoses and channels to move the fresh and water cooler around. Saltwater comes into heat exchangers, oil coolers, and other raw water-cooled components. It has hollow pockets in the engine block called jackets where fresh cooling water and coolant flushes to take away heat. Your engine is anything but a solid block of metal. When water freezes, it expands about 9% in volume and converts to a non-compressible solid, which applies massive force to anything constraining it. Water expands when it freezes, and the force it can exert in expansion is strong enough to split rubber hoses, crack iron, and rupture aluminum. It's the water inside your engine which freezes, and that can damage improperly winterized and un-winterized engines. Not unless it's subject to sudden, violent changes in temperature or physical damage. A lump of cast iron or aluminum left in the deep, deep cold will not be harmed. It’s important to clarify that your engine doesn't actually freeze. Protecting Freshwater Cooling with Coolant. ![]() This is not a guarantee, however, and you can not count on it. But a long cold period - a day or two with daytime temperatures below freezing and deeper at night - could harm your unprotected engine. If you haven't gotten to winterize everything yet and you see a temperature dropping to 30☏ or 25☏ overnight, you probably won't see immediate freezing on your boat. With proper coolant and antifreeze, you can eliminate the risk of freezing except in sub-arctic conditions. The good news is you can prevent freeze damage fairly easily. Freshwater cooled engines without proper coolant can freeze below 32☏ (0☌). Did you use enough anti-freeze? Or worse, how about that early freeze before you get your winterizing done?Īt what temperature will a boat engine freeze? Unwinterized boat engines can freeze any time the air temperature is below 28☏ (-2☌) - for an extended period. Deep in the heart of winter, when the ice and snow settles in and you're in the middle of a deep cold snap, worrying about your boat is natural.
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