First post here, so be gentle people. I am replacing a old rusted out
water heater on my passport 40. I have chosen a Sigmar
marine 5.3 gallon compact
water heater as the replacement. Choice is due to space limitations and the fact that the Sigmar unit has a 800W
heating unit rather then the 1500W found in many other water heaters. (Yes, I know this means longer heat times, but I prefer the lower draw).My
boat is already plumbed for the
engine driven
heat exchanger so the physical connection should be (hopefully) straight forward. My question is this; when using the
engine driven
heat exchanger (i.e.
heating the water by running the engine), does the water heater draw any electricity? If I did not connect water heater to the boat's
electrical system, would it still heat water when I run the engine?
To answer all the "Why would you want to do that questions", I intend to wire the unit to a GFCI fuse protected
plug, and
power it with a
Honda EU2000 generator when I am on the hook. I don't need the water heater while I am at the
dock, and would like to avoid running the engine to heat water while at
anchor. I intend to use the water heater on a limited basis (showers), so running the
generator for a short time to heat water for a
shower seems to make the most sense.
Anyway, if anyone out there is a water heater guru, hear my prayers and send me some
advice. Thanks.