Hot water heater clog 2003 280 DA

[DMarcel]

I was about to drain my HW heater when I noticed the lines that come off my port engine clogged and disconnected at the heater. Is this a common problem?

 

[Lazy Daze]

I was about to drain my HW heater when I noticed the lines that come off my port engine clogged and disconnected at the heater. Is this a common problem?

Are you saying that the lines were NOT connected to the heater? Are they "clogged" or "plugged"?

Clogged and not connected is a "holy crap" thing.

Plugged and not connected was likely done (I assume this boat is "new to you") because the interior coil/loop is rusted out. It will still function under electric power, but do not hook the lines back up to it without first verifying that what I am assuming is correct/incorrect.

Assuming what I'm saying is correct... It's best to remove the hoses all together, remove the pipe-to-barb fittings from the engine and screw-in plugs into the holes. IIRC, standard garboard drain plugs (1/2" NPT) should work.

 

[DMarcel]

This does appear to be a "holy crap" thing. They look like they're caked with salt and rotted off at the heater. The heater looks caked at the connection also. Could the heater be aluminum and electrolysis caused the corrosion? I was winterizing the boat, it's my first season with it. The previous owner, for 5 yrs said he only had hot water when dockside with AC connected. I was thinking of hooking up a bypass, but your idea of plugs would also work. Are there zinks that could have prevented this?

 

[Lazy Daze]

Well, you should think of playing the lottery.:smt001 You are lucky that those lines are so caked with salt that they kept huge amounts of water from pouring into your bilge and also causing possible overheating problems with your port engine.

There's really no way to avoid this from happening. It's the nature of the beast with a raw water cooled engine. Unfortunately, this would also send red flags up to me about the current condition of the engines, in regards to how well they were taken care of. If he didn't have hot water for the last 5 years before this one, that means they clogged up after only 2 years and that IS NOT normal for it to happen so fast. I don't want to completely scare you, though, as corrosion will happen faster to the hot water coil than the engines.

When you drain the engines through the water drain plugs, does relatively clear water come out, or not? How much extra black, scaling comes out and how many times do you have to poke the hole (if it clogs up)? You might want to flush the engines a few times - run them, drain them, run them, drain them, etc. Or even run the engine with the plugs out, but pay attention to your temp gauge.

 

[DMarcel]

Has anyone swapped out a hot water heater in a 2003 280DA?

 

[Jetmart]

What goes wrong with them that they need to be changed? I have a 2004 that I hardly use and hate to think that I will be needing to change it soon. It looks like a huge job.

 

[DMarcel]

The seawater lines from the engine appear to have corroded the connections at the hot-water heater and are clogged with salt

 

[masilobes]

i did mine because the nipples that normally come out of the heater were rotted right off and the water hose to the motor was looped back to itself to bypass it. not a fun job!!! the biggest thing was that the rear screw which is right at the transom was rusted and stripped. doesnt sound bad till you realize you need mirrors to see it and you have to be triple jointed to bend your body to get down in there.

 

[kkalsch]

Its not a fun job!! I took off the manifold - which did make the job easier......but the heater was rotten out and according to Marine -Max it is pretty common -I did what Dennis suggested and put plugs back in the circulating pump and use the ac power if I need HW

 

[Nehalennia]

Its not a fun job!! I took off the manifold - which did make the job easier......but the heater was rotten out and according to Marine -Max it is pretty common -I did what Dennis suggested and put plugs back in the circulating pump and use the ac power if I need HW

Do you not have closed cooling on your boat? If so, the coolant mix should protect the HW heater from corrosion.