Hyrodronic heat?

[dcolman]

Love love love Nordic Tugs. I've been waiting for a 42 or 44 to mature into my price range for some time. Too late now. I want to retire in a couple years. My Mainship is an acceptable, and mostly paid-for alternative. The market is insane. Boats similar to mine selling for 25% over what I paid in 2013.

 

[dcolman]

That's a beautiful boat. Never heard of Cherubini, had to look it up. It said something about Mr. Cherubini being a Soprano associate.

 

[OldDan1943]

The guy who invented the heat pump? I don't know what he got but he shoulda got LIFE. Hate those things. Guaranteed discomfort... at least in my house.

BUT of course the reverse cycle A/C we have on our boats are basically heat pumps.

 

[rslifkin]

Poorly implemented heat pumps can make life unpleasant, but that's true of any heating system. There's no technical reason you can't make a heat pump just heat water and use a hydronic system to distribute the heat. With modern stuff, you can also vary the output of an inverter driven heat pump to maintain a constant temperature with a low flow of warm air instead of cycling on and off, making it alternate between hot and cold.

 

[Hippocampus]

My bad . Assumed hot water meant having hot water. We use ours frequently so are often heating cold water to make it hot. To my mind makes more sense using heat from a existing source then expending more energy in order to have energy dedicated to just that purpose. More efficient even if just for a preheat. If I had a dry stack I’d use that waste heat to heat a hydronic loop to keep the boat warm as well.
Fail to see any significant risk of a heat changer (one side domestic hot water-other coolant) or a loop of coolant inside the hot water tank. Lot more risk with one side being salt. Over 3+ decades haven’t had or heard of a single problem putting engine(s) at risk.
At home we preheat our domestic hot water with geothermal. Then final heating is electric off our solar so the geo heat pump doesn’t need to work hard. Could have heated domestic hot water directly with solar but don’t like those systems. Don’t see either using geothermal or solar to heat water as a significant risk either.

 

[Greggnvt]

dcolman,
I was across the water from you, Pier 32 Marina - Live aboard for about 2 years and yea, it does get chilly in the winter. I recall the docks having a thin layer of ice on them a few times.

It's been mentioned several times already, but I'd look at the oil filled electric heaters, no noise, no blowing and easy/inexpensive.

We've used them in the past in the horse tack room - don't have to worry about something clogging the fan intake etc..

No longer in San Diego, back home with the boat in Vermont...

From 1/22/22 - get's a little cooler up here.

 

[Greggnvt]

dcolman,
I was across the water from you, Pier 32 Marina - Live aboard for about 2 years and yea, it does get chilly in the winter. I recall the docks having a thin layer of ice on them a few times.

It's been mentioned several times already, but I'd look at the oil filled electric heaters, no noise, no blowing and easy/inexpensive.

We've used them in the past in the horse tack room - don't have to worry about something clogging the fan intake etc..

No longer in San Diego, back home with the boat in Vermont...

From 1/22/22 - get's a little cooler up here.

Yes - that is -25F

 

[Raybo]

That’s not cooler. That nuckin futz!

 

[Hook and a screw]

I have always been taught domestic water heaters were called “calorifiers”. Nautical terms are important!

 

[twistedtree]

I have always been taught domestic water heaters were called “calorifiers”. Nautical terms are important!

That's a Brit term, not necessarily nautical.

 

[Hook and a screw]

Well the Canadian Navy called it a calorifier and Vetus calls it a calorifier…..

 

[Hippocampus]

They also call a boom vang a kicking strap. Have had English and Canadian crew. They use weird language. Took me awhile to figure what the hell they were talking about on a boat.

Underway or at anchor use the espar hydronic to heat domestic hot water. No need to use the electric heating element in the hot water tank. Then alternator and solar production goes into the house bank. Can go a real long time without turning on the generator. Only use reverse AC when plugged in and only because it’s cheaper.

 

[Hook and a screw]

Nautical nomenclature is not the same as boating lingo and it’s hard, I can agree with that.

 

[twistedtree]

Well the Canadian Navy called it a calorifier and Vetus calls it a calorifier…..

And both trace back to British English, Vetus more so, but there is still a lot of British English in Canadian English. In American English it's a hot water heater, and most people would have no idea what a calorifier is.

 

[Hook and a screw]

In American English it’s a hot water heater. I can agree with that.

 

[Lepke]

Another way for hot water is a diesel water heater similar to Chinese heaters and uses many of the same components. Truckers use them to provide heat when the engines is off and to preheat the engine. About $3-400.

 

[phillippeterson]

Think you missed his point. You don't need to heat hot water as it's already hot. It's like when people say a hot water heater, it's a water heater.

Ted

Thank you. It's a trivial comment I made, but it's kind of like the thread on why we have nautical lingo - to be precise and meaningful and not sloppy about what we're talking about.

re: it's a water heater, or technically, a cold water heater.

In American English it’s a hot water heater. I can agree with that.

In American ghetto English it's a hot water heater. On the other side of the tracks it's a water heater.

 

[OldDan1943]

In American ghetto English it's a hot water heater. On the other side of the tracks it's a water heater.

Hence when utilizing the installed water heater coils to heat the water for heating the boat one just has to learn to balance the sources. Of course when the main engine is not running, we have to figure out a way to heat the water to heat the boat. SMILE.
And then how to balance they system ……
Okay, we can now discuss the “sources”
the main engine
The generator
A dedicated solar panel to heat the water, then a direct conversion of water from the solar panel to a hot water storage tank. I know a man who bought a house with 2 dedicated solar panels who had so much hot water, he had to isolate one of the panels and balance the system. Once he had it balanced, no worries. He does live in north FL

 

[twistedtree]

In American ghetto English it's a hot water heater. On the other side of the tracks it's a water heater.

Or it's the heater for a hot water system, aka a hot water heater. Or it's a heater that produces hot water, hence a hot water heater. The thing you put in you coffee or tea mug to keep it warm is also a "water heater". Same with a hydronic heating "boiler", even though it doesn't boil. Calling ti a hot water heater distinguishes from these other items, and is especially useful when talking about plumbing and heating system to disambiguate between the thing that heats drinking water and the thing that heats water/glyco mix for space heating.


So I wouldn't characterize it as ghetto English. If it's about a concise name, I think British English wins the prize with calorifier.

 

[slowgoesit]

Think you missed his point. You don't need to heat hot water as it's already hot. It's like when people say a hot water heater, it's a water heater.
Ted

Kinda like people saying "Tuna Fish" sandwich . . .

 

[Jeff F]

Heh. I had distant relatives that used to talk about the Pont Bridge. There is ghetto English, but I don't think we're there yet...

They also preferred Old Fort cheese!

 

[backinblue]

Kinda like people saying "Tuna Fish" sandwich . . .

Maybe, but not exactly. You can have many kinds of fish sandwiches, only one type is made from tuna! Of that I am absolutely certain (as oppposed to just certain) lol.

 

[OldDan1943]

Maybe, but not exactly. You can have many kinds of fish sandwiches, only one type is made from tuna! Of that I am absolutely certain (as oppposed to just certain) lol.

Sort of like the usage of the word “floundering” when you mean “foundering”
After awhile the 2 are used interchangeable even there is a real difference.

 

[kehoff]

I was looking at something similar myself , there are a couple systems out there , some 12v and deisel and some elec 120v etc , I like this set up https://seabits.com/hurricane-chinook-hydronic-heating-system/

 

[Jeff F]

I've got one of them. What do you want to know?

 

[Jeff F]

I was looking at something similar myself , there are a couple systems out there , some 12v and deisel and some elec 120v etc , I like this set up https://seabits.com/hurricane-chinook-hydronic-heating-system/

Nice writeup. I installed mine myself, and agree with everything in the article. I'm now at ~1800 hrs and 2 years and the system is doing pretty much what I expected it to do.

 

[kehoff]

Nice writeup. I installed mine myself, and agree with everything in the article. I'm now at ~1800 hrs and 2 years and the system is doing pretty much what I expected it to do.

You answered my question really , I was curious if anyone had installed a setup like that and how did it work out , did the windows sweat , etc . Thanks kevin

 

[Jeff F]

You answered my question really , I was curious if anyone had installed a setup like that and how did it work out , did the windows sweat , etc . Thanks kevin

I'd put the same system in again. I've had occasional moisture issues, but not related to heat. None in the winter, but I keep the boat a little (air) leaky and use more BTUs.

The hot water is great. On demand, no limit, doesn't require AC power.

Feel free to pm if you go ahead with it.
Jeff

ETA: if I were doing it again I might look at a smaller unit. I talked myself up to the Chinook because it was a newer model and incorporated the engine coolant heat exchanger + had 3kw electric. I could be content with 35k BTU, I think.