[C320-list] Hot Water Heater/Commissioning

[Paul Rickman]

Tony
 
When you disconnect the hoses in the back, be prepared to catch
engine coolant. You can put it back into the engine after you are
all done or put it into the the overflow container. It's an easy job.
 
 
Paul
Affinity 657
Bay Bridge Marina
Chesapeake Bay, Maryland
 

________________________________
 From: "Tony Murphy, MS DABR" <tony at midwestphysics.com>
To: c320-list at lists.catalina320.com 
Sent: Thursday, May 10, 2012 3:25 PM
Subject: Re: [C320-list] Hot Water Heater/Commissioning
  
Upon my commissioning approximately a week ago, I was noticing a leak under
the HWH also.  The leak appeared to be pink, so I assumed it was RV
antifreeze from the winterizing.  I  checked all the exterior connections,
including pulling the base mounting screws and sliding the HWH out a bit to
reach the Heat Exchanger lines. I couldn¹t find a leak, and the fluid
appeared to be coming from inside the housing surrounding the actual tank
itself.  To make a long story even longer,  it was difficult to determine
inside the cabin and underneath the galley, but finally wondered if the
fluid was orange (Engine Coolant) and not pink (remember, not much light
under the galley even with my headlamp).  Rechecked the lines, dried up the
fluid surrounding the tank and re-pressurized the tank and leak appeared to
be gone.  But after turning breaker back on and heating up the water, the
leak reappeared.  It was about this time (after a few hours of dinking with
this) that I noticed that the water coming through the hot water faucet tap
also appeared orange and had a coolant smell.

At this point, I was trying to figure out how the heat exchanger could
possibly leak into the tank itself, but finally decided against taking the
HWH apart and continuing further.  With a 10 y/o boat, I decided to cut my
losses and ordered a new tank from Defender.  Should arrive tomorrow and
will hopefully have success replacing everything this weekend.  Am concerned
a bit to make sure I don¹t get air in the coolant lines as others have
mentioned... but otherwise should be fairly straightforward.



Tony Murphy
Hull #886
Walker, MN


On 5/10/12 2:00 PM, "c320-list-request at lists.catalina320.com"
<c320-list-request at lists.catalina320.com> wrote:

> Date: Wed, 9 May 2012 16:35:24 -0400
> From: Chris Burti <clburti at gmail.com>
> To: C320-List at catalina320.com
> Subject: Re: [C320-list] Hot Water Heater/Commissioning
> Message-ID:
>  <CAAAgXkxoFzOhO78Zbb3oS0UixOkZFH+h8qXxORQ-p-brQoHi4A at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
> 
> the most common cause of a 'leak' in the HWH is the pressure relief
> valve or one of the supply lines...a leak in the heater itself is
> fairly rare.
> 
> that said, replacement is pretty easy...the whole cabinet face is
> easily removable providing excellent access.