Water Heater - No Circulation From Engine?

[Aerobaticflyer]

I'm not getting hot water from my water heater after running my engines on my 300 DA....the water just runs at ambient temp at the galley faucet. When I switch on the electric heater I do get hot water. It's like I have no water circulating from the engine through the heater. I tried to pull the hose fitting from the heater but was unable to and didn't want to damage the hose connection on the heater (boat was in the water at the time). The circulating "loop" has a hose from the engine intake manifold going to the heater and a return from the heater to the water pump on the engine.

Has anyone else experienced this? :huh:

Thanks!

 

[Lazy Daze]

How's the operating temp's of your engine?

Does your fresh water (out of the faucet) taste like salt water?

A hair dryer or heat gun (carefully on low setting w/ the gun) should help get the hose off, if you want to.

 

[Aerobaticflyer]

How's the operating temp's of your engine? Runs about 165 degrees regularily on both engines.

Does your fresh water (out of the faucet) taste like salt water? No....tastes fine.

A hair dryer or heat gun (carefully on low setting w/ the gun) should help get the hose off, if you want to.

May have to try that......unless my extended warranty covers it...then it becomes a mechanic's to deal with.

 

[MAKC]

i'll bet the hoses from the engines through the HW heater are clogged preventing engine water form warming the HW tank. I had this problem on my 240DA. If you remove the lines that feed the HW heater from the engine, i'm guessing you'll find them clogged. I cleaned mine out with a wire coat hanger and then flushed them completely until the water flow was restored. Make sure you run water through the HW heater too to get the gunk in there out too. Takes a little elbow-grease to get the hoses disconnected so dont be discouraged. Good luck

 

[Chris R]

I had the same concern, then realized, unless we are motoring a "long time" the 165 degree water circulating through the tank just won't make the water that hot. 165 is just not hot enough for an hour here and there (or less). Now, if I turn on the water heater while plugged in at the dock for a brief while, it gives the water heater a head start. The entire rest of the day we have nice hot water.

 

[Aerobaticflyer]

So my marina / dealer checks out the heater and determines the fittings are corroded up so he bypasses the heater with the engine water hoses. In other words the units gets so corroded after 220 hours engine time that the heater has to be bypassed and I can only use the electric element to heat water.

I told them to kick it to Sea Ray and have them tell me a original heater in their boat only lasts 2 years and 220 hours.

Thinking now it's indicative of poor engine flusing (which by the way is done at that same marina).

 

[Lazy Daze]

So my marina / dealer checks out the heater and determines the fittings are corroded up so he bypasses the heater with the engine water hoses. In other words the units gets so corroded after 220 hours engine time that the heater has to be bypassed and I can only use the electric element to heat water.

I told them to kick it to Sea Ray and have them tell me a original heater in their boat only lasts 2 years and 220 hours.

Thinking now it's indicative of poor engine flusing (which by the way is done at that same marina).

I agree with everything you said.

 

[Dick Whetstone]

I had the same problem with my 270 Sundancer with the 6 gallon Atwood heater after about 2 years. When I removed the hoses going into and out of the water heater, the water heater fittings were full of white gunk like cement. I could never get it out so I just connected the two hoses from the engine together with a bronze hose big and 4 SS clamps. It has been like this since 2004.

 

[jellyfish]

Had the same problem on my 240DA.. The in and out hose in the heater was clogged to the point of no return... Tried to remove the hoses from the heater and ended up breaking the darn thing. So, living in S FLorida, I just bypassed the hoses and problemed solve for now.
Next step a new heater.