Water temp vs. engine room temp...

Cliff,

Here's the issue to worry about – the water discharge temperature. In the summer, your water discharge temperature is warmer than the surrounding water, because the CruiseAir system is removing heat from the cabin and transferring it to the water. In the winter, the unit runs in reverse and the heat in the water is transferred to the cabin – thus the discharge temperature of the water is colder than the surrounding water. So there are two problems with sea water temperatures of 40 and below: 1) There is not a lot of heat that can be transferred from water that cold, and 2) When you do take heat out of water that is 40 or less, you are cooling that water down and that may be what froze it at the discharge port in the example above. I ran my CruisAir on my former 340 for 5 winters in Georgia and it did fine. Last year, my units ran fine in Chattanooga, but all three of my dockmate’s units FROZE and damaged the units due to the cold water temps during an unusual cold spell (we had an inch of ice in the marina). So this year, for Dec and Jan, I am using a couple of small ceramic heaters for my cabin, instead of running the CruiseAir units to protect them from freezing. I have a BoatSafe heater in my bilge (with covers on my vents), but I also have Wolverine Pan Heaters under each engine’s oil pan, and they keep the oil temps at 95, so I don’t think my bilge heater ever runs (14 gallons of oil). When water temps go back above 45, I'll turn my CruiseAir units back on....



So, after my dockmate’s experience, I don’t use my CruiseAir units below a water temp of about 45 or so…
 
I bought one of the ceramic cabin heaters from West Marine and put it in the cabin on the counter.....I have the HVAC set at 55* so I set the space heater to come on slightly lower than that.... I propped open the head/shower door.... I also opened the shower sink cabinet, the galley sink cabinet, and the large storage cabinet under the V berth bed....after shutting off the fresh water pump I opened the faucets at the galley sink and the shower sink and the transom sprayer....I will look at hard wiring the bilge heater to the AC inlet soon....I don't like pinching the power cord under the engine hatch so it can be plugged into a cockpit outlet....the marina just called and the mechanic said the bilge heater is working properly....that is a relief.....

I know I sound like I am paranoid about this and I guess I am to an extent. This is a large investment for us and I don't want to ruin it due to ignorance or neglect

thanks again for the replies....I feel a little better now....I think a tall glass (or two) of 'jack and ginger' are in order tonight...:smt001....

cliff
 
I think you have it covered - basically the same things I did with my 290 and I never had an issue. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one that worries about their boat all the time - I even went and spent a few cold nights on my boat, heck the heat it in seemed to work better than the heat pumps in my house! I don't know maybe I was going to hug the thing to keep it warm! I worry about my little bowrider now - I was sick that day I found the heater off and the water in the bock frozen, but it made me up my game in terms of protecting the thing in the winter. I've seen motors and manifolds split wide open from freezing or worse the damage you don't see until you check your oil and it's a quart high and looks like a latte! Just for kicks I always kept a thermometer in the engine room that recorded the high/low temperature (it's in the bowrider right now), just another piece of mind thing to know exactly how cold it has gotten.
 
Thanks Bill.....I think I will be OK....I thought long and hard about spending the next night or two on the boat and set the alarm to wake me every couple hours to check on things....I did put an indoor/outdoor thermometer in the cockpit with the outdoor sensor located in the engine bay....it records record high and low temps so I can check it this WE to see the actual temps reached in the engine room.....I have no problems winterizing the boat if needed, but would like to keep it ready to use in the winter if possible.....

cliff
 
CliffA said:
I bought one of the ceramic cabin heaters from West Marine and put it in the cabin on the counter.....I have the HVAC set at 55* so I set the space heater to come on slightly lower than that.... I propped open the head/shower door.... I also opened the shower sink cabinet, the galley sink cabinet, and the large storage cabinet under the V berth bed....after shutting off the fresh water pump I opened the faucets at the galley sink and the shower sink and the transom sprayer....I will look at hard wiring the bilge heater to the AC inlet soon....I don't like pinching the power cord under the engine hatch so it can be plugged into a cockpit outlet....the marina just called and the mechanic said the bilge heater is working properly....that is a relief.....

I know I sound like I am paranoid about this and I guess I am to an extent. This is a large investment for us and I don't want to ruin it due to ignorance or neglect

thanks again for the replies....I feel a little better now....I think a tall glass (or two) of 'jack and ginger' are in order tonight...:smt001....

cliff
Click to expand...
You're opening the faucets because you have a concern of freezing, you can't count on that preventing freeze damage somewhere in your system. I'd recommend at least blow out the water system. Get an adapter like this to hook air to the shore water inlet. http://www.campingworld.com/shopping/item/blow-out-plug/4410
 
Woody said:
You're opening the faucets because you have a concern of freezing, you can't count on that preventing freeze damage somewhere in your system. I'd recommend at least blow out the water system. Get an adapter like this to hook air to the shore water inlet. http://www.campingworld.com/shopping/item/blow-out-plug/4410
Click to expand...

Thanks Woody.....I agree that blowing out the water lines is better protection than just opening the faucets....I was hoping that opening the faucets would at least drain the water lines above deck since the temp would be warmest closer to the waterline...I don't have a compressor at the boat so not sure I could use a fitting like the one you suggested....I was wondering if I could use the exhaust from the small wet/dry vac I keep on the boat to blow out the water lines....if I could connect the vac exhaust to the shore water connection and open the faucets would this adequately blow out the lines?....I have used the vac exhaust to blow out the water lines on the 215EC when we had it.....it works well because the vac exhaust is high volume - low pressure air so there is no chance of damaging the lines with high air pressure....

Cliff
 
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Temp went down to 8 last night but water temp remained above 45. Sitting on the boat now with sun shining through the camper glass on my back and a small heater going. No jacket needed. One more cold night then back to normal.
 
I'm working thru the same issues with my Chris Craft this winter. My worry is that the power is not very dependable at Midway Marina....and the Dock Master will tell you that. So, my worry is the power going off! Can't really do anything about that. I moved my slip to a more sun accessible area. My slip is covered, so not much sun heating.
I have an extreme heater in the bilge, and a small ceramic heater in the cabin. My water system, is winterized. I'm going to check on the boat this morning.
 
JimT said:
Temp went down to 8 last night but water temp remained above 45. Sitting on the boat now with sun shining through the camper glass on my back and a small heater going. No jacket needed. One more cold night then back to normal.
Click to expand...

thats good to know Jim....have not been back to the boat yet to check the thermometer i installed in the engine room to see how cold it got....what are you monitoring the water temp with, your depth gauge on the boat?

cliff
 
Cliff, I didn't think about this before, but I drive close by your marina on the way to mine. If you ever need someone to check on something for you I could do that. I live maybe 10 mins away. Just give me a call and I'll give a visit.
 
islandhopper00 said:
Cliff, I didn't think about this before, but I drive close by your marina on the way to mine. If you ever need someone to check on something for you I could do that. I live maybe 10 mins away. Just give me a call and I'll give a visit.
Click to expand...

thanks for the offer Mike....that gives me a little more 'peace of mind' knowing someone can get to the boat quickly if/when needed....

cliff
 
I visited my boat today. Looks like the low temp in the bilge/engineroom was 45 degrees, low cabin temp was 50 degrees. Nice to know the temps can go so low but my heaters can keep up. I took my boat out for a spin around the lake also. The sun was out so the temps weren't bad at all.

Now, I hope my marina can keep the power on thru the winter and I'll be set.
 
i found this wireless indoor/outdoor thermometer on Amazon...it monitors temps in 3 zones and saves and displays the max high/low temps in each zone...i am going to install it in the cabin with the remote sensors in the cockpit and the engine room....then i can monitor the temps in each zone by looking at just one display.....additional remote sensors can be added if needed....alarms can be set in each zone when either a set min or max temp is reached...

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EYM34VM/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

61DcT0PXmaL._SL1026_.jpg
 
Cliff,

I bought a similar unit at Lowes that has one remote sensor. I have the remote sensor in the engine room. The downside is that it only stores the temp data for 24 hours then resets at the time the batteries were installed. If the unit you found stores the data for a longer period I would upgrade.
 
JimT said:
Cliff,

I bought a similar unit at Lowes that has one remote sensor. I have the remote sensor in the engine room. The downside is that it only stores the temp data for 24 hours then resets at the time the batteries were installed. If the unit you found stores the data for a longer period I would upgrade.
Click to expand...

i did the same as you Jim...bought an Accurite thermometer from Lowes and put the outdoor sensor in the engine room....according to the info on the Accurite web site this model was not supposed to reset itself every 24 hrs regarding the max high/low temps but it does....that is why i continued the search...this unit is supposed to keep the min/max displayed until you reset it....the Admiral likes to know the outside ambient temp before she leaves the cabin so the second sensor will achieve that....

cliff
 
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CliffA said:
i found this wireless indoor/outdoor thermometer on Amazon...it monitors temps in 3 zones and saves and displays the max high/low temps in each zone...i am going to install it in the cabin with the remote sensors in the cockpit and the engine room....then i can monitor the temps in each zone by looking at just one display.....additional remote sensors can be added if needed....alarms can be set in each zone when either a set min or max temp is reached...

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EYM34VM/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

61DcT0PXmaL._SL1026_.jpg
Click to expand...


as a follow-up to this post i installed this thermometer and 2 remote sensors and they are working great.....very easy to have up to 8 sensors and one of them can be a floating sensor to keep track of the water temp if wanted....the 'min - max' temps for each zone stay on the display until you reset them....each zone has an alarm that can also be set....very satisfied with this product so far....

cliff
 
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