anyone use engine water for heat

[bfloyd4445]

ive seen boats that use hot engine coolant water for heating hot water and cabin heat. anyone useing such a system? if so whats a good brand?
thanks

 

[Marin]

Our boat uses coolant from the starboard engine to heat the water in our 10 gallon hot water heater. The hot water heater is also electric (AC) so it can heat water if we're plugged into ground power or AC is being provided by the generator.

The hot water heater we have is stainless and very high quality. However the company that made it got out of the business some years ago. If or when we need to replace it we will most likely go with a Torrid which is made here in Seattle.

Our boat spent its whole life in California until we liberated it so it never had cabin heat put on it. The cabin heater most commonly used to convert hot engine coolant into cabin heat is a truck heater, aka Red Dot. These can be very effective but of course they only provide heat when the engine that supplies it with coolant is running.

When the day comes we decide to put proper heat on the boat we will install a diesel heater that provides either forced air to registers or piped water to heat exchanger/fan units in the cabins we want to heat.

 

[HopCar]

Can't help you with cabin heat but I really like Raritan water heaters. They use glass lined tanks like household water heaters.
Raritan Engineering | Water Heaters | 1700 Series

 

[bfloyd4445]

them ca boats do lack things like this huh? i like the hot water cabin heat because it saves energy. if i lived aboard i would get a westabke, is that right?.. may get one of those as well. First thing will be a chest type freezer. gotta have plenty of ice for toonies and dead fish.

 

[VikingBay]

I have a HeaterCraft hydronic heater in my boat and love it. It extends our cruising into and sometimes through the winters here in the PacNW.

 

[psneeld]

them ca boats do lack things like this huh? i like the hot water cabin heat because it saves energy. if i lived aboard i would get a westabke, is that right?.. may get one of those as well. First thing will be a chest type freezer. gotta have plenty of ice for toonies and dead fish.

I have a circuit that heats the hot water from my Lehman...I'm about to install a small "hydronic blower" in the same circuit to put heat in the cabin while running so I can shut off the Wallas diesel heater.

Ice for dead fish.????..you must catch a lot of bleeders from what you said over in the "fish" thread....

 

[Anode]

Try the Red Dot heaters. Best bang for the buck imo.
Red Dot Heaters from Harold Electric

 

[Peter B]

We never need cabin heat where we boat, but the engine heats the hot water for washing, showers etc via heat from coolant circulated through an Isotemp cylinder, which we can also heat via .240v AC. If I boated in cooler climate I would install something like the nifty diesel heater that we had in the narrow boat on the UK canals. That was really efficient, ran on the smell of a diesel rag, and heated the cabin and the hot water cylinder, which also took heat from the engine when running. Marin might know what brand of heater They are, as he has canal boated there several times...?

 

[Daddyo]

Hamilton Marine. We've used them for years

BUS HEATERS

 

[psneeld]

Hamilton Marine. We've used them for years

BUS HEATERS

Seem to be around the same price range as the red dots....just not as many options

 

[Rusty]

Our boat has two Red Dot heaters connected to the starboard engine. One is under the settee and produces significant heat. The other is smaller and in the aft stateroom. Both heat quite well. The challenge is controlling the temperature. There is no thermostat. There is just an off/lo/hi switch on each.

 

[RCook]

Cruising buddies had a Red Dot, we have a Heatercraft. Both heated well, but the Red Dot made way more noise than the Heatercraft. Ours is 15 years old, still works like a charm, and we can barely hear it.

 

[VikingBay]

We sell the HeaterCraft brand, and I've been very happy with it. Since I'm not a diesel trawler yet, just a little 5.7(350) Chevy, I also installed an auxiliary pump to keep the hot water going to the heater box behind the mid cabin bulkhead.

I removed this panel and installed the HeaterCraft 4 vent in there. I also added a 120VAC and 12VDC outlet on this panel along with one of the 4 vents.

A three speed switch was mounted on the helm to regulate the fan speed and another by it for the pump.

 

[Chuck Gould]

Our boat uses a Webasto hydronic heater when we're not underway, or during the first 20-30 minutes after startup. Once we get up to operating temp, I throw a switch that changes from "system heat" to "engine heat". The engine coolant circulates through the same radiators as the diesel fired heat, so there aren't any "extra" outlets to work around and the amount of heat from each register is (somewhat) regulated by switching the fan to either low, high, or off.

 

[bfloyd4445]

I have a circuit that heats the hot water from my Lehman...I'm about to install a small "hydronic blower" in the same circuit to put heat in the cabin while running so I can shut off the Wallas diesel heater.

Ice for dead fish.????..you must catch a lot of bleeders from what you said over in the "fish" thread....

very funny Mr. Psneeld.....when i fish for rockfish or kokannee I clean them instantly and put them under ice...I'll bet you thought the ice was for beer?..Beer is in a diferent location cause of the complaints about fishy tasting beer bottles/cans.

If I understand you correctly you will have the hot water heat when the engine is running but will have the option of diesel fuel heating. That would be nice if they were in the same unit. Wonder if thats possible?

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

Our boat uses a Webasto hydronic heater when we're not underway, or during the first 20-30 minutes after startup. Once we get up to operating temp, I throw a switch that changes from "system heat" to "engine heat". The engine coolant circulates through the same radiators as the diesel fired heat, so there aren't any "extra" outlets to work around and the amount of heat from each register is (somewhat) regulated by switching the fan to either low, high, or off.

Now this is cool. Please provide additional info please.

 

[Anode]

Now this is cool. Please provide additional info please.

+1 I didn't know they made a combo system. That has to be a great cool climate system.

 

[Delta_JimS]

Todd,

Thanks for the great HeaterCraft visuals.

I will endeavor to keep this short.

Soon after acquiring Satori, one of my first thoughtfully naive projects was to add some cabin heat for winter running in N. California.
I too decided on an engine coolant hydronic HeaterCraft system; a two-port box. This seemed like a fairly simple, inexpensive, efficient way to add a bit of heat to the boat.

I was soon to find this project led me down another of many more rat-holes in this boat as yet to come. Now, after two years, I have only accomplished mounting the unit to the ER bulkhead, and this project is looking more like a 5-year plan.

Once Spring arrived, the priority for heat fell way down the list. By the next fall, it was time to tackle the mounting. Did not want the noise in the cabin, and mounting it under the Settee meant having engine coolant plumbed to the cabin - not a good idea; decided to mount it down below. But, soon realized there was only support for porting the air Out, not for the air flow In. Could not have it mounted in the ER with all those fumes, so now it is under the sink in the Head?!? Plan is to box off the intake and bring through the door vents. At least it is just behind the wall from the hot water heater.

When considering the Settee, noticed the "fine" print in the manual that said the unit should be mounted Below the Highest level of engine coolant. Even on the Head bulkhead, this is an "iffy" situation. So, decided it was probably a good idea to raise the coolant Level by adding an "overflow" coolant tank above the main one. Probably not a bad idea for this old engine, but was never in any original plans - you can see where this is headed by now.

Got the overflow tank in only to have the Potable water heater tank start to leak a stream.(it had always dripped, for years) So, now the water heater tank had to come out to replace the rusted element. This is a great all-stainless tank. Better to replace a $12 element than a $1200 tank.

Once the tank was out, it was apparent that there had been a lot of water damage to the platform under it that should be re-glassed. Oh, so that meant that old, noisy wash-down pump they had in there along with the rotted-out pressure tank needed to come out too in order to fix the platform. These were in such poor shape that I decided to replace them with a proper (quiet) pump and tank system - no end to these rat-holes....

Now, the hot water tank is out and the water pump is "temporary" and the coolant lines are capped off at the engine until the platform can be repaired and the tanks returned and properly mounted. Well, try for the heater next season.

Oh, BTW, could not route the cabin heater ducts without pulling off the side panels on the fuel tanks and one was totally blocked by the new starter battery installation, so a couple of weeks ago I had to pull the battery back out and cut up the Aft panel to get it out, as it had been built in before the soundproofing was installed 28 years ago. Now, I can finally run the heating duct to the rear of the saloon.
Piece by piece all this will need re-assembled. Hopefully in the end I will have a nice cabin heater....

 

[psneeld]

Look at the ITR Hurricane site...they explain it pretty well...look at the animations...

System Info | International Thermal Research

 

[psneeld]

I know what the manufacturer says about mounting below the header/recovery tank...but reality is as long as the system is burped and kept full...I'm not sure as it matters as I have seen more than a few mounted higher.

 

[Delta_JimS]

I know what the manufacturer says about mounting below the header/recovery tank...but reality is as long as the system is burped and kept full...I'm not sure as it matters as I have seen more than a few mounted higher.

psneeld,

Glad to have that input. I was more concerned about a rocking boat in a seaway that might take in air bubbles. I am pretty confident that this arrangement that I have will prevent air ever getting into the line once it has been purged. One less worry in heavy water.

 

[bfloyd4445]

Our boat has two Red Dot heaters connected to the starboard engine. One is under the settee and produces significant heat. The other is smaller and in the aft stateroom. Both heat quite well. The challenge is controlling the temperature. There is no thermostat. There is just an off/lo/hi switch on each.

i was wondering about that. I suppose one could install an electronic solenoid valve which is then controlled by a thermostate?

 

[bfloyd4445]

Our boat uses a Webasto hydronic heater when we're not underway, or during the first 20-30 minutes after startup. Once we get up to operating temp, I throw a switch that changes from "system heat" to "engine heat". The engine coolant circulates through the same radiators as the diesel fired heat, so there aren't any "extra" outlets to work around and the amount of heat from each register is (somewhat) regulated by switching the fan to either low, high, or off.

That sounds like what I am looking for. What model do you have?

 

[Nomad Willy]

We have hot water from the engine to the hot water tank and to the bus heater. We rarely use the bus heater as the fan is noisy. While underway we usually have the forced air Wabasto on. Most of the time we're not aware that it's on underway until we step out on the afterdeck.

Our hot water smells terrible now because we used RV anti freeze in it last winter. I read about Marin getting over that problem w lots of flushing. Will try that and perhaps soaking w baking soda in the water when it warms up.

I thought most trawlers had domestic hot water from the engine coolant. I think our hot water tank is so old we probably should replace it. Worked fine until the RV stuff. The engine coolant makes the water too hot though.

 

[bfloyd4445]

We have hot water from the engine to the hot water tank and to the bus heater. We rarely use the bus heater as the fan is noisy. While underway we usually have the forced air Wabasto on. Most of the time we're not aware that it's on underway until we step out on the afterdeck.

Our hot water smells terrible now because we used RV anti freeze in it last winter. I read about Marin getting over that problem w lots of flushing. Will try that and perhaps soaking w baking soda in the water when it warms up.

I thought most trawlers had domestic hot water from the engine coolant. I think our hot water tank is so old we probably should replace it. Worked fine until the RV stuff. The engine coolant makes the water too hot though.

Why would you put antifreeze in your water heater instead of just draining it? I would think the sea water would keep the boat warm enough to be above freezing. In 1990 when i lost an engine do to a big freeze because i had my boat hauled to do the bottom. The insurance company told me the only claims they had were from boats hauled or on trailers that if they were in the water there was no damage. That was a bad year thousands of boats on the hard filed claims.

 

[koliver]

Eric:
You have moved from Alaska. It doesn't get cold where you are now. I have had a hot water tank on my boat since I bought my second sailboat in 1988. I have never winterized it, or anything else on any of my boats. I keep my boat in downtown Vancouver. I have seen ice on the water maybe three times in 25 years and then only for a day or two. I leave my boat plugged in all the time, I leave the hot water tank turned on all the time. The engine room is kept nice and warm, with the HW tank and the charger providing the heat. The salon above is cold, but with a 1500 watt heater in the aft cabin, set to its lowest setting, no condensation ever develops, I get no mold, and the hydro bill isn't excessive. Sometimes I add another small heater in the forepeak, also set to its lowest possible setting, but that one is plugged into a different shelter circuit so as not to overload my 30 amp shore cord.
I have never tasted RV anti freeze and I don't want to, ever!

 

[Marin]

Our hot water smells terrible now because we used RV anti freeze in it last winter. I read about Marin getting over that problem w lots of flushing. Will try that and perhaps soaking w baking soda in the water when it warms up.

Eric-- We never put antifreeze in our hot water tank. We put it in our fresh water tanks the first few years we had the boat. But we never ran the hot water side of the water system after it had been treated, so we kept the antifreeze out of the heater itself. We were told early on never to put antifreeze in the hot water heater itself because it can be very difficult to impossible to get the odor and taste out.

We would flush the fresh water tanks and cold water side of the system several times in the spring but even then the taste was not gone until nearly the end of the summer.

Finally after a few years we stopped winterizing the boat's fresh water system and have had great tasting water year round ever since. We keep a low level of heat in the boat during the winter but even without it it would take a long stretch of really cold weather to present even a risk of damage to the water system.

 

[Nomad Willy]

koliver,
Marin,
Well I never knew about the RV being bad in the tank.
Electrons are $.23 KWH in Thorne Bay ,, was kill'in me. Never did it before. Just that last winter. Only reason I did it this winter is because we're hauled.

Perhaps I should'a looked for a new HW tank at the boat show.

I may not be hauled over the winter in the future. I get cheaper moorage though.

Floyd,
It's not drainable. An inch or so of water remains.

 

[psneeld]

The inch of water left or so is OK...the tank is built to withstand a bit of pressure anyhow...or at least they are engineered to withstand the water freezing there.

Lots of boats back East where we get hard freezes just dain them...also a lot of the vacation homes, RVs.

If you must....a shop vac can get all but a fraction out.

 

[VikingBay]

........Our hot water smells terrible now because we used RV anti freeze in it last winter. I read about Marin getting over that problem w lots of flushing. Will try that and perhaps soaking w baking soda in the water when it warms up..........

Fill your tank with 1/4 cup bleach. Then flush it really good with several (10+) tankfuls. Then refill and add 1 oz of peppermint oil.