Lee, which side of the thermostat is the hot water heater plumbed to? If you can plumb it to the interior side, not the heat exchanger side, the water will heat faster. That should be the fresh water pump side.
-----Original Message----- From: Lee Haefele <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [email protected] Sent: Wed, 21 Nov 2007 11:48 am Subject: [Liveaboard] Hot water project I would like hot water for showers and dish washing without running the engine.? Would also like to improve time the engine takes to heat water. I have an Attwood 11 gallon heater, it seems to have ~1/2" of fiberglass insulation, at least on the front where I can see.? I have new Westerbeke 44B motors, the antifreeze circulates from below the thermostat, to the water heater and back to the water pump.? The previous Westerbeke 42B engine tapped water with a restricting double "T" that was inline to the heat exchanger.? Neither arrangement would heat water at idle, both took 1-2hrs at cruise speed.? There is an expansion tank plumbed in the antifreeze output line of the heater, it is such that all water flows through, it holds about a gallon and takes about 5 minutes to heat after the hoses are very hot.?So I think flow is less than 1 quart/minute.?I am going to replumb this so that the hot water flows directly back to the engine and the tank is on a "T".? Doubt this will make much difference.? The exit water is colder than the entry water, possibly by 30 degrees, but it is hard to get a good reading on a rubber hose.?! Other boaters heat water in less than 1/2 hour, why is mine slower and what can I do to improve it?? Is there a better?place to tap hot antifreeze? I have 4 120W solar panels and usually have some excess energy, however, I have?a Blue Sky MPPT controller that does not switch excess power to a load. Possibilities: Foam insulate existing heater (What to use? Great Stuff brand?) and use either a 12V heating element or a 240V element run on 120V from the inverter (This will give 1/4 wattage), combined with a wind up timer switch.?? Automatic operation would be much better, is there any way I could use a Blue Seas adjustable battery combiner for this?? Any other ideas? Big $$ idea:? Replace heater with Isotherm model 40DS, ~$800?, this has foam insulation, a double loop in the exchanger tube and this model has 2 exchanger loops.? Could I plumb a solar water collector in to the second loop?? This could be as simple as a coil of black pipe, but would need a pump and controls.?I have heard of some mini solar pumps, what I find is expensive.?I could plumb a coil of hose in line with the shower, but I normally shower not at times of hot sun.? It seems silly to have tropical sun and no hot water. Lee Haefele Leopard 38 cat Alesto 2 _______________________________________________ Liveaboard mailing list [email protected] To adjust your membership settings over the web http://www.liveaboardnow.org/mailman/listinfo/liveaboard To subscribe send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] The archives are at http://www.liveaboardnow.org/pipermail/liveaboard/ To search the archives http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] The Mailman Users Guide can be found here http://www.gnu.org/software/mailman/mailman-member/index.html ________________________________________________________________________ Email and AIM finally together. You've gotta check out free AOL Mail! - http://mail.aol.com
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