Does anyone use their water heater in the Carolinas?

I'll be in the engine bay again sometime this week and will do that. Another creative option if I want to keep it - running it off of an inverter maybe (?)
 
Our water heater heats off the 454/7.4L also while underway......great for washing hands, dishes, etc. When on the hook we run the engine to charge batteries in the morning and heat hot water. Cheaper than installing a genny and knowing the engine will start! I have only tested the electric hot water heater coils while on shore power....it works but we also shower at the bath house...not on the boat, Mike.
 
GJarrett said:
The Admiral is on the fence like I am. We just tried to splash her Saturday and the starboard side trim ram is stuck. I trailered her home to work on her and got another look in the engine bay. The water heater does not have engine heat so it only works on shore power. And as I keep repeating, we are almost never on shore power. In the four years we had Offroad Dancer I had her hooked up to shore power a total of three nights. So I am having a really hard time seeing the usefulness of something I cannot use. It looks easy to loop off the lines and remove in a way that it could be quckly reinstalled in case our situation changes and we look forward to a lot of marina time.

It is hard to see in its position, but it may have the hookups for engine heat. I don't know how to do that. How is that done? Are there plugs on the heat exchangers on the engine that can be utilized for an easy conversion running hoses to the heater or would it involve buying new ones?
Click to expand...

It is hard to believe that you have anything other than a marine hot water heater in your boat which means that it does does have a heat exchanger to heat the water using the engine cooling water. They do make six gallon 120VAC residential hot water heaters, but, they are usually designed for use in places like under a cabinet. Not practical for use in a boat since there is no spark protection.

As for your idea of using an inverter to heat the water, you better get a whole lot of batteries!!!!
 
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I got a look at it and understand why it is not hooked up to engine heat. It is an Atwood 6 gallon 1400 watt unit (yeah that would really work some batteries with an inverter!). It is obviously the original 1999 unit that has been used in salt water. The base is rusted. The engine heat outlet couplings are completely corroded/rotted off and the holes running into the heater that would be supplying the engine water are blocked with solidified gunk. This boat had a 5.0MPI swapped into her in 2009 and I feel confident that they did not even try to reconnect the heater to the new engine - or if they did, that's when the outlet couplings broke off.

Thanks for everyone's help - you have convinced me to keep a water heater and connect it to my engine. It won't be this one though.
 
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Photos

Photos attached. I'm going to go ahead and remove this thing until I can replace it. Can anyone tell me what kind of plumbing fittings those are? I need to close off the lines until I reinstall a new water heater and need to know where to get some line and fittings to do it. I'm not a plumber.... it could be PEX line (?) but I don't recognize the fittings. They are simple push-in fittings with a plastic circlip holding them in place.
 

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Love mine - the extra space could be useful but not at the expense of the heater. Fish guts just don't seem to wash off as well in cold water!
 
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