Shower Hot Water Options

[JPA Cate]

RC, for years, we had only a shower bag, no shower below decks at all. When it is cold, I'd heat water in the kettle and transfer it to the bag for the shower. Cumbersome, but it gets you clean and rinsed off!

Ann

[GILow]

We had an instantaneous gas water heater on our boat. Gave me the heeby jeebies. Too many ways for it to fail and dump gas into the bilge. I have removed it.

Have a look at Eberspacher or equivalent diesel heaters for a safer option. The thermotop series heats water instead of air. Also, secondhand units can be bought on the UK eBay for a song, they are sourced from wrecking vehicles fitted with a preheater. 5 kW rating heats things reasonably quickly.

Most of the engine driven hot water systems I have used have needed the engine to run for much longer than I'd use it in a sailboat, and when the engine is raw water cooled you just don't have hot enough coolant being pumped through the heat exchanger to get good results.

Matt


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[GILow]

A 12 volt water heater is going to nuke your batteries in moments.


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[GILow]

Hey RC, look for a thread started by typhoon on hydronic cabin heating. Typhoon's ideas were really very clever and turned some of my thinking on its head. What typhoon describes includes a very good way to produce hot water. So good that both dad and I are going the same path on our boats. Dads boat is an ex charter motor boat with charter level hot water systems, but he too found it inadequate.

Typhoon is using a much more powerful boiler than I think is needed for the Aussie climate, I reckon the 5 kW basic models should be plenty down here, even in the somewhat cooler Tassie climate.

Matt


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[lowey49er]

Hi, Rustic Charm, I have a lpg instant hot water heater, I use a 12v submersible bilge pump into 20 litre drum of cold water,I have a small motorcycle battery to run the pump, Lpg is supplied from a 3 kilogram cyclinder with a,1500mmm long hose, the unit is about 500mm tall, 300 wide, and 125 deep and I hang it off the back stay under the bimini when its shower time
the unit has two "D" size rechargable torch batteries to ignite the gas.
I turn on the gas and the pump at the same time, the pump preasure causes the gas solenoid to open and the piezo igniter to light the gas water is pumped from the drum through the unit ,It comes out at the temperature desired (adjustable knob) I,ve had this unit for four years, never had a problem.
These units are very popular with outdoors people, Most horse people have one hung in their horsebox, when attending gymkanas and Rodeos, pony clubs and need to change or shower., Made in Australia, excellent value for money, totally portable.
Ps; I have a screen around my cockpit, when showering. 3kgs of gas last approx 60 showers, I got from Ebay.
Lowey49er
Lidgard 25
ex Tassie.

[Dougtiff]

The 12 volt 110 volt heater will work well on the AC side, but 12 volts to heat a heating coil will really suck your battery's down big time, a heating coil will pull more amps than anything else for sure, better to go with a propane unit, BUT it must be vented if inside a small space [head] or the CO2 build up will kill you, so install outside if not vented, the engine / heater set up should heat the water plenty hot, if it's not, something is wrong, a 30 min. engine running time should provide lots of hot water.

[nwdiver]

Had a lpg instant system mounted in the head beside the shower, the head had a port and a small hatch which were opened when I showered used it 1000s of time and I'm still here, now I have a hydronic space heating system that heats the water tank on demand, if I didn't go to hydronic heating I would still be using a gas demand system.....

[HopCar]

I've always used my engine coolant to heat water but I'm a power boater so my engine runs more than most of you guys. I've just started stocking the Isotemp Spa line of water heaters. I'm very impressed with them. Stainless steel tank, not aluminum and a mixing valve to prevent scalding. From what I've heard it's well insulated and will hold hot water for hours.
Isotherm SPA Water Heaters

[Lepke]

What works well on a smaller boat is a marine hot water heater that runs on 120v or has a built in heat exchanger the heats the tank with engine coolant. SO in port you have shore power for the heater and any time your engine is running you also have hot water.

[AussieCat]

We have an older Paloma lpg instant system which is mounted inside the saloon area in a vented cupboard and flued to the outside. Works terrific. We have it wound down as far as possible that way we just use the hot water tap so we don't waste water trying to adjust the temp. Being water scrooges we then try to catch most of the water in one of those long mop buckets and then use it to on the floors etc. Note that you will require gas certification certificate for your insurance or they will not cover you if something goes pear shaped. I have just had ours recertified at a cost of over $900. ouch!!!
I also have an inbuilt gas detector system with a sensor mounted under the bottom stair in the galley. You would need one of these to get the certificate and the regs actually stipulate it needs to have a cut off solenoid mounted at the tank. (about $500-600) Runs off the same tanks as the stove and BBQ which are mounted in the front starboard pod. I think I have a copy of the regs somewhere on the computer if you need them. Cheers, Roy

[Rustic Charm]

Originally Posted by AussieCat

We have an older Paloma lpg instant system which is mounted inside the saloon area in a vented cupboard and flued to the outside. Works terrific. We have it wound down as far as possible that way we just use the hot water tap so we don't waste water trying to adjust the temp. Being water scrooges we then try to catch most of the water in one of those long mop buckets and then use it to on the floors etc. Note that you will require gas certification certificate for your insurance or they will not cover you if something goes pear shaped. I have just had ours recertified at a cost of over $900. ouch!!!
I also have an inbuilt gas detector system with a sensor mounted under the bottom stair in the galley. You would need one of these to get the certificate and the regs actually stipulate it needs to have a cut off solenoid mounted at the tank. (about $500-600) Runs off the same tanks as the stove and BBQ which are mounted in the front starboard pod. I think I have a copy of the regs somewhere on the computer if you need them. Cheers, Roy

Sounds interesting. Not sure why it cost so much to certify your gas unless they had a lot of work to do. I've got the auto shut off valve but it's not fitted yet. It cost me around $200 on ebay with the panel from memory. And I also have a gas detector alarm system. This can be set up to turn the gas off too.

|I like your idea of just running it on the hot water turned down. I was worried too about using too much.

[Rustic Charm]

Originally Posted by Dougtiff

The 12 volt 110 volt heater will work well on the AC side, but 12 volts to heat a heating coil will really suck your battery's down big time, a heating coil will pull more amps than anything else for sure, better to go with a propane unit, BUT it must be vented if inside a small space [head] or the CO2 build up will kill you, so install outside if not vented, the engine / heater set up should heat the water plenty hot, if it's not, something is wrong, a 30 min. engine running time should provide lots of hot water.

My engine coolant does not get hot enough to heat water running through the Glind system. And as others have commented with modern engine coolant this is not an uncommon problem.

[Rustic Charm]

Originally Posted by GILow

Hey RC, look for a thread started by typhoon on hydronic cabin heating. Typhoon's ideas were really very clever and turned some of my thinking on its head. What typhoon describes includes a very good way to produce hot water. So good that both dad and I are going the same path on our boats. Dads boat is an ex charter motor boat with charter level hot water systems, but he too found it inadequate.

Typhoon is using a much more powerful boiler than I think is needed for the Aussie climate, I reckon the 5 kW basic models should be plenty down here, even in the somewhat cooler Tassie climate.

Matt


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Ta \I just read through that thread and very interesting. But I don't want to go to that sort of trouble at this time. Initially I thought he used a webasto air heater like I have but then I realised he's talking about a HW system. I just don't have the time to go doing all of that. But it was certainly interesting.

[Rustic Charm]

Originally Posted by GILow

We had an instantaneous gas water heater on our boat. Gave me the heeby jeebies. Too many ways for it to fail and dump gas into the bilge. I have removed it.

Have a look at Eberspacher or equivalent diesel heaters for a safer option. The thermotop series heats water instead of air. Also, secondhand units can be bought on the UK eBay for a song, they are sourced from wrecking vehicles fitted with a preheater. 5 kW rating heats things reasonably quickly.

Most of the engine driven hot water systems I have used have needed the engine to run for much longer than I'd use it in a sailboat, and when the engine is raw water cooled you just don't have hot enough coolant being pumped through the heat exchanger to get good results.

Matt


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|I already have a diesel webasco heater installed, so I don't want to stuff around changing that to something else now.

[Rustic Charm]

Originally Posted by GILow

A 12 volt water heater is going to nuke your batteries in moments.


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The following review suggests 9 - 10 amps over 20 - 25 minutes on 12volts?

Duoetto Facts | Jamie's Touring Solutions

Now, I'm not too good when it comes to electricity.. All I know is it bites when it get's upset. So, Is 10amps a lot for two people to have a quick shower? Will it help if I ran the engine whilst charging the water on 12V's ?