[C320-list] Hot water tank woes

[Robert E. Sloat]

I had a similar problem with the pressure relief valve the first time this
season I used the AC mode to fire up the hot water heater.  It turned out 
the
pressure relief valve was leaking a few ounces/hour of water into the bottle
that I stick the pressure relief valve hose into to monitor it. The pressure
relief valve does not leak when the engine is used to heat water.

My fix was to leave the water pump on and release and reseat the pressure
relief valve about 10 times.  This apparently helped  seal the relief valve 
surfaces to
mate better.  After this, there
has been no leaking from the pressure relief valve with 5 straight days of
AC water heating.

I also rotated the lever that releases the relief valve when releasing the 
relief valve thinking that this may also rotate the seal connected to the 
valve stem.  I don't know if this is the case after checking the pressure 
relief valve on my hot water heater at home.

To get to the pressure relief valve and rotate it I had to lay down on the
cabin floor and work my arm up to the pressure relief valve.

I have a 2002 C320 Hull 894 with the Seaward hot water heater.

Bob Sloat
Savannah

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Chris Holt" <oldman1030 at hotmail.com>
To: "c320" <C320-List at catalina320.com>
Sent: Thursday, July 05, 2007 3:31 PM
Subject: [C320-list] Hot water tank woes


I just came back from a 4 day vacation on the boat and we had a bit of
trouble with the hot water tank.  With 4 girls (wife and three kids) hot
water is a must.
There were a couple of strange things that happened but to save on typing
and you reading I'll talk about the main one.  On the third day we were on a
dock in Kennebunkport, ME and we turned on the AC water heater.  After
taking showers we forgot to shut it off and went for a walk in town.  When I
got back I could hear the water pump running and figured we must have run
out of water and I didn't hear it before leaving.  When I flipped the tank
over the system pressurized and then the pump would kick on about every 30
seconds for a short burst.  After thinking about this I remembered we didn't
shut off the water heater.  When I checked under the sink it was very hot
under there and sure enough there was water in there.

First question:  Isn't there a thermostat in there that should not allow the
water to get that hot?

In any case, I'm assuming the water was too hot and the pressure relief
valve keep shooting out water to let off steam.
So I ran the hot water for awhile to cool the water down in the tank and
sure enough the water pump stopped kicking on.
Now, when we left Kennebunkport and got to our destination I heard the water
pump doing the same thing.  The engine now caused the water to get too hot.

2nd question: If the answer to the first question is yes does the thermostat
work for engine heating and AC heating?
3rd question: Because of this incident do you think my pressure release
valve is no longer good?  It seemed I had to cool the water down quite a lot
in the tank before it stopped causing the pump to turn on.

Thanks,

Chris
#447