Finally Hot Water!

[vkmaynard]

Finally adding shore power and a long planned 2.5 gal hot water heater to our pressurized water system. Only draws 1440W so it will run off the Honda EU2000 generator.

Bought a mixing valve to mix down to 105 deg to extend the hot water and simplify the installation. Connected to both the transom and head showers. Head has a sump pump drain setup with a float valve in a Tupperware container hooked to the sink drain (see previous mods).

Heater is a Rheem 2.5 point of use from Home Depot @ $205. Valve is from Amazon @ $37 (LightInTheBox 0912 -PHW-02) . Uses standard sink and plumbing fittings from Home Depot to end up with 3/8 hose barbs in and out. Water heater was reset to 135 deg.

Fits under forward dinning seat at 16.5" tall (top of blow offvalve). Only 9.5" diameter. Much smaller than it appears in the picture.

Test worked perfect.

Will post under mods.

Victor

[Russ]

Dropbox link no worky.

Sounds like a great solution for plug in hot water.

[vkmaynard]

Installed. Sitting on a 1/2" closed cell foam sheet. Triple ducttape rub areas.

Plenty of storage left. Fits under seat with no mods.

[dlandersson]

Isn't that a lot of effort for your monthly shower bath?

[kevinnem]

I don't know why but the traditional way of installing them (with 1 pump for both cold and hot) always seemed really scary to me, . heating water under pressure just seems , wrong.....I know it is normal, . I just feel like it is complicated...

I was thinking of using 5 gallon containers, . heating up the water in them and then running 2 pumps, 1 for cold water feed, one for hot water feed, an them mixing them at the taps.

Would there be an issue to putting hot water through a pump?

Kev.

[Russ]

I don't know why but the traditional way of installing them (with 1 pump for both cold and hot) always seemed really scary to me, . heating water under pressure just seems , wrong.....I know it is normal, . I just feel like it is complicated...

I was thinking of using 5 gallon containers, . heating up the water in them and then running 2 pumps, 1 for cold water feed, one for hot water feed, an them mixing them at the taps.

Would there be an issue to putting hot water through a pump?

Kev.

Hot water runs through your house plumbing all the time without concern.
I don't know how Vic did it, but typically you would NOT be pumping hot water through a pump. It works just like your house. Low pressure source to high pressure side where it splits to cold and heated sources then coming back to be mixed at the tap.

I wouldn't advise putting hot water through a pump. And how would you heat the 5 gal container and keep it both hot and safely insulated?
We have a solar shower....simple and works. I've seen these things that heat water to 100 or so degrees, not super hot like a household heater, and used for showers. Again, not mixing cold and hot but heating to shower temp.

[DaveB]

Victor, this may work well for long distance cruisers. I just use a 1 gal. bug spray with a pint of hot water and a small $5 facet spray.
I do have a small instant heater that uses 1 lb propane and a $20 elect. pump for my outdoor shower on Toy Cargo hauler.(cost with pump $180)
These units only heat water when you need it, no water storage and heat on demand.
This could easy work on the Mac.
http://www.campingworld.com/shopping/it ... ater/37786
Dave

[vkmaynard]

The system on our boat is the same as a normal house. Cold water is pumped into the water heater on demand at 40 psi pushing hot water to the mixing valve. Only the short 12" hose has 135 deg water leading into the mixing valve. No safety issues. The tank has a blow off valve.

We've owned one of those propane demand heaters for a long time. Super hassle to haul around. Now crank the generator and flip the AC switch. Hot water in two showers heads. 135 deg mixed hot water is a lot of 105 deg water.

Victor

[Russ]

Now crank the generator and flip the AC switch. Hot water in two showers heads. 135 deg mixed hot water is a lot of 105 deg water.

Victor

Looks like an excellent install. Reinforced pressurized lines, etc.

How long does it take to heat up? The tank on my Hunter was heated with electric and the engine heat. Took a while to heat up via electric.

[vkmaynard]

Less than 10 minutes starting with 70 deg inlet water.

Victor

[Russ]

Less than 10 minutes starting with 70 deg inlet water.

Victor

Wow, that's great. Seems like the mounted location is way out of the way also. Unfortunately, I'm not sure the M has enough room there for it.

[vkmaynard]

Finished the shore power install 4 am this morning to power water heater for weekend trip.

Victor

Moved DC panel location to left. Used Blue Sea panel. Air conditioning outlet shown to the left.


Used shallow gang box to hold outlet in-place without cutting a larger hole.
Sandwich the fiberglass between the outlet and the the box with the two #6 outlet screws. Solid

[vkmaynard]

[cptron]

Looks good, I'll be over this weekend to try it out.

[u12fly]

We installed pressurized water & hot water durring the second season of owning our 26M. The admiral likes a HOT shower in the morning and hot water at the sink to do dishes. I put 30+ gallons under the aft bed and added a convenient external fill port on the port side of the hull:


For heating the water, we went with the Eco Tankless System. It has been flawless entering its 4th sailing season. We only shower at the Transom, thought about an indoor shower but that just brings in steam and possibly mold... plus all the water proofing and collection issues. It just was not worth the weight and complexity for us. The tankless heater was super easy to mount using the stern rail seats as support. Here are a few pictures: