Overheat alarm while winterizing

[long_lake]

I winterized my 99 2100V myself for the first time this weekend. I had set up what I thought was a pretty slick set up. I had an elevated 5 gallon bucket with a 1-1/4” hose running to the V-drive and a collection system in the back for the exhausted water. I had a submersible pump set up in the collection water that regenerated the intake water as the engine ran. The plan was to warm up the engine to get the thermostat to open and then run RV coolant through it.

This worked great until the engine alarm sounded while I was warming up the engine. I was very closely watching the temp gauge waiting for the engine to get up to temperature, the alarm first sounded at roughly 150 degrees. The recirculating water temp was getting too hot, I didn’t check it but I would say it was in the 90’s. After some trial and error to get the water temp down running it a few more times (and the alarm going off) I ended up needing my garden hose and my neighbors running at full to keep up with the demand of the water the engine was taking and to keep it cool enough to not have the alarm not sound (not recirculating anymore).

Does anyone know the temp at which the alarm sounds? I am really hoping I didn’t do any damage to the engine but I watched the gauge very close and it never even got to 175 degrees at any point. The engine was getting plenty of water so I don’t think it is a bad impeller. Any feedback would be great and does anyone think I should be worried about engine damage?

[lee]

Mighty have not been enough water pressure causing the alarm to go off.

[Ewok]

What RPM was the engine running at? At idle my garden hose is plenty of water and it takes about 10 min to warm up the engine. Sounds like a complicated setup, when I winterize I just run the engine to warm it up, change the oil and required fluids, and drain all the water out of the cooling system and block. Then I find a steep hill and let the water drain out of the bilge. Lastly, I use a shop vac to get the last little bit of water from the bilge to make sure its dry.

Then I remove the spark plugs, use fogging oil and hand turn the engine. Then I remove the impeller and open up all the seats so I have max airflow through the boat so it dries out and doesn't grow any bad stuff over the winter.

There are many pro's and cons for using anti-freeze or not using ant-freeze. What convinced me to NOT use anti-freeze is the major what-if. What-if the thermostat didn't open up when I added anti-freeze to the water intake? What-if there was a pocket of water that diluted the anti-freeze below what I thought it was and it's not protected from freezing temps as much as I had thought? I open every drain on my block, per the manual, to make sure I have emptied all the water and it will not freeze and crack the block. I also use a shop vac on the knock sensors and riser drains to make sure I've got it all out. This is how I sleep soundly at night in the winter time.

These are just my thoughts on the matter, I know many people use anti-freeze perfectly well and that's great, this is just my opinion on using the Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS) method to winterize.

[long_lake]

I was running at idle the entire time, roughly 800rpm if I remember correctly. There is no way a single garden hose could keep up with the demand it was requiring. I don’t think it was a lack of pressure as it worked fine with the cool water from the tap.

I will just drain the block next year and not use this method. In theory liked this method to run my hot water shower while the coolant was running through it so I didn’t have to mess with draining that out completely too.

Is anyone concerned about overheating?