Water Heaters

G

Grumpy

Active member
Doing some head scratching over water heaters and would appreciate any input, help or advice (assuming it's physically possible and legal!!)

Since we have outboards there is no ready source of coolant water to act as a heat source, so:-

Electric seems to be either storage and/or intstant, point of use heaters.
The storage type are well documented, lots of choices and no real problems there except choice and $$$.
Point of use require high power input which is possible with shore power, generator or for short time with the 2K inverter.

My real question lies around the use of gas (propane) or diesel since we have both available in reasonable quantity.

Gas heaters only seem to exist in "houshold" varieties which I suspect would not endure very long in a marine environment. Anyone know of any "marine " gas heaters ? I can heat many gallons of water using my propane stove so, logically a gas heater should be very efficient.

Diesel seems a logical choice since our Wallas forced air heater seems to be able to produce large amounts of heat for very little fuel usage.

I found the following marine diesel heater and was wondering if anyone has any experience with it since it appears to be readily available locally
http://www.itrheat.com/waterheater.html

Thanks in advance

Merv
 
There is a propane instant water heater out there, just can't remember the name. Stop by a marine store and leaf through a Sail magazine and you will see their ads.
 
Paloma. There are probably others as well. But Paloma have been around a long time. I would think because of space they would be about the best option.
 
We have been happy with our Ariston Water Heater - 2.5 gal electric. You can see the installation at our C-Dory album - not a major effort on the CD-22. Obviously you can use this only when plugged to shore power or generator - 120 volt. It heats the water rapidly - maybe 10 minutes and is plenty for dish washing, shaving, sponge bath, etc. And it made the boss lady happy. These are available at Lowes or Home Depot now.
 
We used a Zodi propane water heater on our trimaran. Besides a propane canister, it used D batteries (as in: flashlight) to run the pump. It was called "instant", but it took a few minutes and helped to recirculate the water to heat it faster. A bit more work than a solar shower, but you could have hot water when the sun wasn't shining.

Here's a link:

http://www.zodi.com/web-content/

We bought ours a Cabela's on sale several years ago. Once when the water heater went out in our house, we used it for a day or two in the house (with the vent fan on). Good for camping, boating... plenty portable.

Best wishes,
Jim B.
 
Depending on the purpose of your hot water need, you might consider solar. We have had a one gallon 'back-packing' solar shower aboard for eight years and it supplies more than enough hot water for our needs -- just be careful, if you get one -- leaving it in the sun too long and it gets scalding hot.
 
And don't get the plastic, inexpensive ones. There are some that are made out of a hypalon type fabric that are only a few dollars more and are extremely tough and function very well.
 
Most European boats (and many apartments) use flow thru LPG water heaters. These were imported into the US about 30 years ago--and there were several deaths from CO poisoning--due to improper venting. We used these on the 38 foot sailboats we built, and they were very effecient--but too large and not at all practical for the C Dory line of boats due to size.

The diesel heater mentioned above, does offer several very nice options, including space heating. I have not seen one in person, but hyrdonics diesel heat is a very good option--but again, space may be an issue in the C Dory line.

I agree that a 750 watt heater is a good option (110 V shore power or generator), but any resistive heater is not a good match for inverters. The battery draw is way too much to be practical--not enough charging capacity available with outboards.
 
I tried the solar water heater and the one I had was I guess a cheaper model and really didn't work that well very little pressure. Jim B I think posted about using a garden sprayer painted black and I tried it. It works really well. I've got a plastic one gallon size painted black and last weekend my two daughters, son in law and granddaughter went out boating an swimming in the salt water. Before leaving we all rinsed the salt off with warm water from that one gallon sprayer and it worked really well. A couple weeks ago I showered with it by heating water on the stove and putting in it. It works pretty good for washing down the deck or anchor also.
 
Thanks Brats, I knew you would give it a reality check.

We have a big Solar shower from REI that will certainly work this week.

The Diesel unit I mentioned looks great but is $$$ and is probably overkill for just 2 of us.

Gas seems to be a PITA. I am familiar with the EU units and while it is efficient it's more pipes and potential leaks. Our propane system is currently very simple and I like it that way.

Since we have lots of Amp/Hrs, 100A of available alternatorcurrent, a 2K Generator and a 2K Inverter it seems to make common sense to fit a resonably sized electric unit for the number of times that we will need it.

Will let you know what we end up with.

Thanks again,

Merv
 
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