is there a diesel water heater that works with electricity and engine coolant ?

[Dave22q]

If your talking fresh hot water most hot water haters have a 12v heating element as well as a heat exchanger with th engine. Under power hot water is automatic. If engine off flip the breaker to heat the water. My experience is that the water stays hot for at least a few hours after engine stopped.

[wrwakefield]

Brann,

ITR make the Hurricane line of boat [and RV] diesel fired water heater units that meet the conditions you specify. They will also heat your entire vessel if that is needed...

e.g., The Hurricane Combi. [They have several models...]

FYI in case this is of interest.

Cheers! Bill

[W3GAC]

Helped my brother install an Espar hydronic system 7yrs ago on his 53’ Gulf Star ketch (which is for sale now) that does what you want diesel hydronic hearer for the boat that also doubles as hot water heater... and has open to also pre-warm engine coolant... or extract heat from the engine coolant to heat heat boat & hotwater while underway. He and wife LOVED it! They were cruiser/ live-aboards up here in NE for 4 yrs and were toasty warm.

[Frugal]

FWIW. I have obtained a small car radiator and electric fan from the local wreckers and plumbed it into the fresh water cooling circuit on my Perkins main diesel.
Two modifications were needed. The fan pulled air through the radiator but reversing the 12 volt supply reversed the motor and a 25 watt light bulb supplied a high wattage resistor to slow the fan down when needed. The second problem required a flow restrictor ( a ten cent coin with a small hole drilled in it ) to force the water through the external plumbing. It has worked through a few snow events for a winter and consumes under a litre of diesel per hour. Battery charging and propulsion are extras.
Cheers
Presently in Hobart Tasmania.

[Brann-]

Originally Posted by MartinR

Combine a Webasto heater with a heat exchanger.
[URL="https://www.butlertechnik.com/installation-accessories-c63/water-heater-matrices-c116/webasto-motor-home-plate-heat-exchanger-with-mixer-valve-4111209a-p1516"/URL]

Install in reverse, so that the primary circuit coolant flow goes through Webasto heat exchanger first, and then through the calorifier. instant (almost) hot water.

If I understand correctly your idea, instead of warming up some dedicated coolant with the Webasto and circulate it in the heater tank in a separate coil, you warm up the engine coolant in case it was not already hot and circulate it through the water tank as per the actual setup, is that right ?

[Brann-]

Originally Posted by Dean Sutherland

We have an Espar diesel hydronic furnace that heats glycol from engine, diesel furnace and/or electricity. It will also use diesel and/electric to pre-heat the engine. It also has a “hot water” only function that heats only the potable water “on-demand.” It’s an “all-in-one” box that you run hoses and wires to/from. It works fantastic. We’ve cruised thousands of miles using engine heat to heat the boat, used diesel to heat and used shore and generator to heat electrical (takes a lot of electricity—we have two 2,000 watt 120volt elements ; we can use neither, one or both). I installed it. I recommend you investigate Espar systems as well as Webasto and others.

That sounds like exactly what I want. I looked at Espar's Hydronic coolant heaters, and I didn't see a model which could use shore power. Can you please share the exact model you're using ?
thanks a lot !

[Brann-]

Originally Posted by wrwakefield

Brann,

ITR make the Hurricane line of boat [and RV] diesel fired water heater units that meet the conditions you specify. They will also heat your entire vessel if that is needed...

e.g., The Hurricane Combi. [They have several models...]

FYI in case this is of interest.

Cheers! Bill

Just look at the Hurricane Combi, this is exactly what I want, but a bit on the expensive side though! The ability to warm up the engine in very cold climates is definitely a plus as well; thanks you!

[Paul L]

The ITR Zephyer Hurricane is an on-demand hot water heater. Works really well if you want unlimited hot water plus cabin heating.

[Nightcrawler]

Brann - we have a unit from Marine Heating Systems – Itrheat installed on Shangri-La. After getting through 11 degree nights here in NC this winter, we found we never needed it. This will run in or out of the water (on the hard) and I'm guessing you could bake a cake on the helm if it was actually running full blast. It will do engine and hot water heating. IRT Heat has a couple to choose from. Seems good quality.