Gazza
Member
We have a Moody Eclipse with a Volvo raw-water cooled engine fitted with a calorifier (and immersion heater for shore power); we get reasonably hot water after the engine has been running, but, inevitably, after a few hours the water isn't hot. Given that we have the luxury of a good size shower facility in the heads, I'd like to have a method of generating hot water on demand.
Our previous boat (Vancouver 32) had a gas heater in the heads, but these seem to have fallen out of favour, presumably for safety reasons; fitting one would probably be slightly awkward given the layout in the heads. I know that some people advocate using an inverter connected to the immersion heater, but I'm wondering about the drain on the batteries ( 2x 110ah for domestic use).
The thought occurred to me that using a small petrol generator wired into the immersion heater might be an answer, but I'm not sure what output would be needed or indeed how long it might need to run - I'm sure I'm not alone in being very irritated by boats running generators for hours in quite anchorages.
Any thoughts/experiences would be useful - thanks.
Our previous boat (Vancouver 32) had a gas heater in the heads, but these seem to have fallen out of favour, presumably for safety reasons; fitting one would probably be slightly awkward given the layout in the heads. I know that some people advocate using an inverter connected to the immersion heater, but I'm wondering about the drain on the batteries ( 2x 110ah for domestic use).
The thought occurred to me that using a small petrol generator wired into the immersion heater might be an answer, but I'm not sure what output would be needed or indeed how long it might need to run - I'm sure I'm not alone in being very irritated by boats running generators for hours in quite anchorages.
Any thoughts/experiences would be useful - thanks.