Buck Turgidson
Well-Known Member
Best I have room for is a kettle 
Water Heater Options
- Thread starter stylo
- Start date
Sea Change
Well-Known Member
We're on our 4th yacht and still haven't had a proper hot water system. One of them had a gas heater which we removed, the others, including the current one, it's been kettle all the way.Best I have room for is a kettle
We've tried various designs of camping shower, and now use a garden sprayer with one of the old shower heads on it. It works ok.
Definitely something we'd like to upgrade!
The combined air/water heaters sound interesting. I'm going to install a Chinaspacher anyway, so I should investigate this.
Stemar
Well-Known Member
If the engine has indirect cooling, hot water from the engine would seem logical, but if it's raw water cooled, AIUI, results are likely to be disappointing.
Dockhead
Well-Known Member
I used to think that, but people who heat water successfully from raw water cooled engines have persuaded me that this is not true.
I think Vyv Cox of this parish also has some qualified experience.
Discussed here: Water heater for yacht with direct cooled engine
Authoritative technical writeup: Calorifier installation
Vyv writes: "Temperatures out of the [raw water cooled] engine should be around 60 – 65 C, a little cooler than with an indirect cooled engine but plenty for a calorifier."
KompetentKrew
Well-Known Member
My 40' boat has a Nanni 4150 engine, which is raw water cooled, and the hot water used to come out steaming (dangerously scalding, I'm sure!) until I fitted a thermostatic valve.
Can't say how long it takes to get the water hot. If I run it for an hour it'll definitely be hot enough.
Can't say how long it takes to get the water hot. If I run it for an hour it'll definitely be hot enough.
vyv_cox
Well-Known Member
Dockhead has kindly linked to my page on the subject.
Our raw water cooled Bukh 20 would heat the calorifier such that I could not hold my hands in the hot water after 20 minutes.
Where many people go wrong is that they use the hose between engine and elbow as the heat source. This includes bypass water, so is usually less than 40C.
