Running 1kw Immersion Heater Irom Inverter

[Chewbacka]

7 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

No one forced them to live that close to the canal ? besides how grim is your engine

My engine is fine -no visible smoke- but I would never sit and idle close to someone’s house, I consider it rude.  I would certainly object if an old diesel taxi parked next to my house with it’s engine idling for any length of time.

[mrsmelly]

2 minutes ago, Chewbacka said:

My engine is fine -no visible smoke- but I would never sit and idle close to someone’s house, I consider it rude.  I would certainly object if an old diesel taxi parked next to my house with it’s engine idling for any length of time.

Fair point but as boaters we already comply ( always ) with the 8 till 8 rule re running engine for battery charging and if my batteries need charging then I am going to run my engine. People in houses have a built in umbilicle and have leccy whenever they wish. You wont even hear my hospital silencer engine in any house but even old noisey boat engines are in need of use to supply electricity.  We are getting too many " quiet area " signs on the canal now due to people buying houses next to it which was entirely their choice and having to ignore them for some people is awkward. Funnily enough I am parked in Bradford on avon at present and they have the latest " Quiet area " signs here saying not to run engines/gennies between 8 and 8 rather than the signs imposed on us about twenty years ago just asking not to run engines/gennies. I used to love the ones on the vm moorings in Lower Heyford saying not to run engines/gennies and the houses directly opposite are all out every weekend with big noisey smelly petrol lawnmowers!! 

[Dr Bob]

1 hour ago, Chewbacka said:

I meant just once or twice a year if there is no real alternative, for example moored next to someone’s house which could mean blowing fumes into their open windows.  

Agreed.

[smileypete]

There's some DC immersions around, if chosen carefully they could be run directly from the solar panels themselves.

 

For instance a 48V 1000W immersion would draw about 400W if connected to some domestic panels wired in parallel to give about a 30V output.

 

OK not as efficient as MPPT but fairly simple...

 

ETA: Fairly cheap one here:

 

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/DC-48V-900W-Low-Voltage-Solar-Water-Heater-Element-Immersion-Water-Heater-with-1-1-4/32529976515.html

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Heating-Element-Water-Heater-Immersion-Screw-Plug-48V-900W-With-BSP/323186206383

 

Would probably want it about halfway up a 50L calorifier to get a meaningful amount of hot water with 4 hrs of full sun, I'd guess you'd want about 500w of panels at a less-than-perfect but reasonably good angle to the sun, wired in parallel to give about 30V.

Edited June 9, 2018 by smileypete

[Boater Sam]

There are fish tank heaters to consider too.

[roland elsdon]

We have a 300w at 12v or 1kw at mains 10 litre rv water heater. It is fine ( or was) on our2 battery set up, but only with  the engine running.

It stopped working on 12 v this week and by default its the element. For the first time i tried it through inverter on mains for 10 mins.

the volts dropped to 12.5 the alternator became red hot and the inverter started to sweat. If you seriously want to shorten component life heating 1 kw this way is possible but not for long..

midland swindlers have just started stocking a range of small 12 v heaters,they will be slow. Ill just bring a relacement back from australia where they are cheap