Diesel Water Heater questions

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MacMan

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My elderly Prout 33 used to have LPG power hot water heater in the heads - it was ideal. No electrical draw, located right where I needed the Hotwater - the shower in the heads and I could have a showere dried out without running the engines. My home berth drys...

But I needed some work on the Gas connectors AND the heater had stopped working and the Corgi bloke at the yard condemned the installation ! (Thanks) And said to replace it would to keep up with "modern" regulations would need a seperate flue which would make taking the Genoa impossible !!!

So yard are getting me to consider Diesel water heaters

I only really want to run a low powered Marine shower but aren't sure what flow power heater I need.

They are suggesting a Webasto either

DBW 2010 11.6KW heat output - 185W/15.4 Amps - £3k
DBW 2016 16Kw heat output - 215W/17.9 Amps - £2.9K

Full Specs here - http://www.webasto-marine.co.uk/fil...oad/brochures/2009_EN_MARINE_Waterstation.pdf

I will only cruise UK/France in Spring/summer conditions and can't find a guide/way of working out what power I need to heat the water for a simple shower.

So can anyone recommend one out two above ? I would go for the lower electrical draw one if I thought the water would be hot enought
 
That's a lot of money plus some fuel costs which could be spent on running the engine to heat the water and would recharge batteries too. I'm not sure how many maintenance-free years you would need to get from the water heater before you would break even.
 
If you have an inboard engine, you are better off fitting a calorifier. For just a shower consider one of those black plastic water bags that hang in the rigging. You will be surprised how hot they can get.
 
Tranona said:
If you have an inboard engine, you are better off fitting a calorifier. For just a shower consider one of those black plastic water bags that hang in the rigging. You will be surprised how hot they can get.
Click to expand...

Totally agree. It takes much more power to heat water than to heat air and, waste engine heat is ideal.
 
If you want to keep the same type of system can you not get a removeable chimney? You are not likely to be using the shower whilst tacking. A complete new system shouldn't cost more than about £250 + fitting.
 
Even 11.6 Kw seems a lot of heat to deliver shower-hot water to a mixer.
My 5Kw diesel heater produces enough hot water for a 22 litre calorifier and a heat exchanger for cabin heating (blown-air).
The calorifier provides hot water for the galley as well as the heads/shower.
 
If all you want is to run a shower then both are massively over spec’ed, in fact they are too big even for a complete domestic hot water and heating on a 33 footer in my experience and will coke up quite quickly, neither will produce instant hot water like some gas heaters and will need a calorifier to circulate the coolant and provide water but even then it will be on far too light a loading. I quite like the idea of a removable chimney with a gas instant unit. If all you want is a shower then your yard clearly not sufficiently versed and are offering an inappropriate solution (unless it's combined with some kind of highly efficient plate heat exchanger), you may do better co contact a local marine heating specialist, preferably one that is not tied to just one brand so are able to give a less biased view.
 
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