Hot water for a shower

[mad-runner]

Hello,

I'm currently in a marina and have three options for getting hot water for a shower.

1) Use the marina showers

2) Run the engine for an hour and use my on-board shower

3) Turn the immersion on for 5-6 hours and then I'll have a tank of hot water.

 

I tend to work v long hours so turning the immersion on at 7.00pm for 5-6 hours isn't really an option. Occasionally I run the engine in the evening but more often than not I use the marina showers or have a shower at work. I would like a 4th option....hot water without having to wait 5-6 hours or having to run the engine. Am keen to hear what others do and whether anyone has experience of Morco (?) heaters.

 

Thanks for all responses.

[ditchcrawler]

Hello,

I'm currently in a marina and have three options for getting hot water for a shower.

1) Use the marina showers

2) Run the engine for an hour and use my on-board shower

3) Turn the immersion on for 5-6 hours and then I'll have a tank of hot water.

 

I tend to work v long hours so turning the immersion on at 7.00pm for 5-6 hours isn't really an option. Occasionally I run the engine in the evening but more often than not I use the marina showers or have a shower at work. I would like a 4th option....hot water without having to wait 5-6 hours or having to run the engine. Am keen to hear what others do and whether anyone has experience of Morco (?) heaters.

 

Thanks for all responses.

I am surprised you have to wait that long or have you got a very large calorifier with the immersion heater in the bottom. The hot water is not circulating through your engine is it by any chance.

Why not turn it on before you go to work, it will be fitted with a thermostat or put it on a time switch.

[mrsmelly]

Hello,

I'm currently in a marina and have three options for getting hot water for a shower.

1) Use the marina showers

2) Run the engine for an hour and use my on-board shower

3) Turn the immersion on for 5-6 hours and then I'll have a tank of hot water.

 

I tend to work v long hours so turning the immersion on at 7.00pm for 5-6 hours isn't really an option. Occasionally I run the engine in the evening but more often than not I use the marina showers or have a shower at work. I would like a 4th option....hot water without having to wait 5-6 hours or having to run the engine. Am keen to hear what others do and whether anyone has experience of Morco (?) heaters.

 

Thanks for all responses.

 

Hi

 

We have 4 options

 

1/ Engine calorifier

2/ Webasto

3/ Immersion heater

4/ Morco instant gas

 

All work well as and when needed. I would suggest you have a problem if your immersion takes 5/6 hours unless you have an 8 million gallon tank.

My personal preference over the years has always been some form of instant gas heating.

[slammer]

Hi

I set my immersion heater to a medium setting (a small dial on top of the element) and leave it switched on when I am on shore power that way I have constant hot water , and as a bonus because the tank is under the bed it keeps that warm as well

[mrsmelly]

Hi

I set my immersion heater to a medium setting (a small dial on top of the element) and leave it switched on when I am on shore power that way I have constant hot water , and as a bonus because the tank is under the bed it keeps that warm as well

 

A bit sweaty in the summer then eh................

[blackrose]

Why don't you just fit an immersion heater timer so that you have hot water when you get in from work? That's what I do. They use immersion heater timers in houses and flats, so why not a boat on shore power?

 

The only thing you have to watch out for is if you have a combi/inverter that automatically switches to inverter when you disconnect the shore power. In that case make sure you don't leave the timer on when you disconnect and go for a cruise.

[Grace and Favour]

As slammer says - initially, either turn your immersion on when you go to work, - or put a timer switch on your immersion circuit - and set it to come on early afternoon.

 

After your shower, find out why it's taking 6 hours to warm your water

 

(Is it totally chalked up, or do you have a 50 gallon immersion?)

[matty40s]

I have a couple of ways.

 

1. 30 minute blast on the eberspacher, can set timer 24 hours in advance.

2. run engine - 2 hours on tick over or 30 minutes cruising speed

3. immersion, (when on landline only) 2 hours.

 

number 1 has been the most popular over the last 4 years, even when on landline.

[slammer]

A bit sweaty in the summer then eh................

 

 

 

 

Lol ,, No way , am out on the cut all summer so all the hot water gets used before bed time ,sorted..

[MtB]

Hello,

I'm currently in a marina and have three options for getting hot water for a shower.

1) Use the marina showers

2) Run the engine for an hour and use my on-board shower

3) Turn the immersion on for 5-6 hours and then I'll have a tank of hot water.

 

I tend to work v long hours so turning the immersion on at 7.00pm for 5-6 hours isn't really an option. Occasionally I run the engine in the evening but more often than not I use the marina showers or have a shower at work. I would like a 4th option....hot water without having to wait 5-6 hours or having to run the engine. Am keen to hear what others do and whether anyone has experience of Morco (?) heaters.

 

Thanks for all responses.

 

m-r there is something wrong with your immersion heater in my view. Either it is not drawing enough current or the heated water is circulating through the engine thus wasting a lot of the heat. Neither is especially difficult to fix, so getting it fixed it the best (i.e. cheapest) option in my view.

[JDR]

With the plug for the 240v immersion removed from socket (or shoreline power disconnected if necessary) get an 8mm (might be 10mm)spanner then take the plastic cap off the immersion.You should see a small dial you can adjust using a precision screwdriver, the thermostat- about 60degrees works ok on mine. Sounds like yours may be set a bit low or maybe thermostat is u/s.

Edited March 7, 2012 by JDR

[bottle]

Sorry JDR but a thermostat does not affect the time taken to get enough hot water for a shower, it only effects the temperature reached.

 

If it is taking 5 hours to reach temperature then as said by others, there is something wrong with the system as to what that is will only be found by investigation.

[cereal tiller]

Hi

 

We have 4 options

 

1/ Engine calorifier

2/ Webasto

3/ Immersion heater

4/ Morco instant gas

 

All work well as and when needed. I would suggest you have a problem if your immersion takes 5/6 hours unless you have an 8 million gallon tank.

My personal preference over the years has always been some form of instant gas heating.

mr smelly,i think the 8 million gallon tank would make sense if canal levels were low,you could top up the low pounds with a hose from your hot water tank?

 

seriously, a solution to the OP's problem would be to install a small calorifier with a 1 kilowatt immersion heater,in can be installed in tandem with the existing one.

 

i have used a twin calorifier set up for years,the smaller calorifier(3.5 gallon) will heat up in 10 minutes when the engine is running,or 25 mins with it's immersion heater on.

 

we only use the immersion heater on the bigger calorifier when a bath is required.

Edited March 8, 2012 by cereal tiller

[JDR]

Sorry JDR but a thermostat does not affect the time taken to get enough hot water for a shower, it only effects the temperature reached.

 

If it is taking 5 hours to reach temperature then as said by others, there is something wrong with the system as to what that is will only be found by investigation.

If its not the stat then surely heating element is the main suspect? Possibly element reaching end of life=increased resistance=less heat reaching water.Without a calculator resistance should be 60ish ohms. (1kw).

 

Another option-you can get 2kw immersion heaters but pricewise they are 2 or 3 times more than a 1kw.

Edited March 8, 2012 by JDR

[Keeping Up]

Just putting in a little maths, by my reckoning a 1kW heater will take 3 hours 11 minutes to raise the temperature of a 55 litre calorifier from 10^o C to 60^o C

 

Calculation: 1kW is 0.239 kilocalories/second, meaning that 1 litre of water takes 1/0.239 second to rise in temperature by 1^o C, so 55 litres of water takes 55x50/0.239=11506 seconds to rise by 50 degrees, which is 191 minutes.

 

If you substitute a 2kW or 3kW heater the times reduce to 1 hour 35 minutes or 1 hour 4 minutes respectively.

 

If you assume the water starts at freezing point (ouch for a shower) and is being raised to boiling point (also ouch for a shower), a 1kW heater would take 6 hours 22 minutes.

 

This assumes no other heat loss such as thermocycling through the engine cooling-circuit coil.

Edited March 9, 2012 by Keeping Up

[mad-runner]

Thanks for all the responses. The immersion is a 1kw. Last year when I bought Hulla I noticed that even 3 hours after turning the immersion on, the water was barely heated. So, I did have the element changed. Now the water does get piping hot but takes a long time to get to that stage. However, the actual size of the calorifier is fairly big so I just assumed that that was the reason it took so long to heat all the water. I'll get someone to take a look at it. Thanks again.

[Grace and Favour]

Thanks for all the responses. The immersion is a 1kw. Last year when I bought Hulla I noticed that even 3 hours after turning the immersion on, the water was barely heated. So, I did have the element changed. Now the water does get piping hot but takes a long time to get to that stage. However, the actual size of the calorifier is fairly big so I just assumed that that was the reason it took so long to heat all the water. I'll get someone to take a look at it. Thanks again.

 

Mad-runner - -

 

If you look at Allans (superb_!) post above - - - it may well be that your Immersion is working just fine - - - --

 

Copy his calculation with your size of calorifier - - - - -- Please!

[JDR]

I always found the chandlers in Ely very helpful and well stocked.I'm sure they could give you prices on all the different options and let you see them firsthand.Midland Chandlers do a 2kw immersion for £31 but only a long version (ie:no good if you have a horizontal calorifier with a short element that fits in the top rather than the side).Another greenie for Keeping Up.