Use a heat blocking paste.
It looks like toothpaste.
Block-Heat is one brand, Hot Dam is another.
Wet rags are secondary.
Since water boils at 212, your wet rag will be just a damp rag pretty quickly.
Keep more than one rag handy, in a pail of water.
Put hoses on the access fittings, to keep the water out.
Pay attention to where the other end of the hoses are, so that you don't get them dirty.