How Do I Plumb a Water Heater to a Westerbeke 40 / Perkins 4.108 ?

[svaletheia]

Hello,

I have a Westerbeke 40 (very similar to a 4.108 Perkins) - to which I wish to add a hot water heater. The manual says to take the hot water from the thermostat output but the size of the hose here is something huge like 1-1/4" ID and I have no idea how to ensure the right amount of cooling water flow for the engine while connecting this huge hose to the hot water connections on a typical heater (I'm considering isoTemp).

If anyone has any experience, insight, or suggestions I would sincerely appreciate it.

[Sailabel]

We went through the same thing in hooking up coolant lines from our Yanmar. The first thing I did was to call the Yanmar dealer to find out how much 3/4" hose we could use (how far the water heater could be from the engine). Armed with that info, we ran a new 1.25" hose from the thermostat housing down to a valve and tee (so we could create a restriction sending coolant to the water heater, with some coolant bypassing the water heater), a tee below the valve for the coolant returning from the water heater) and then a section of 1.25" hose heading back to the engine. Works fine for us.

All this was necessary because our engine does not have a provision for connecting a water heater... unlike many of the newer engines.

Steve

[donradcliffe]

see the discussion on http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...bing-9594.html

[S Y Tuppenny]

Hi,

We have an Allied Wright ketch with a Westerbeke 40 (4108). We have had endless problems with our hot water system and wondered if you managed to get yours set up?

Thanks,
Ruth Cawston
Gillie Davies