[C320-list] Basic hot water heater and charging question

[Chris Nichols]

When off the dock and under engine it is the engine heat that is used to warm the water - it’s cooling system passes through a heat exchanger in the hot water tank. 

The only time your electric immersion heater is used is if you are on  shore power as it is a 110v device. Unless of course you have some kind of massive inverter rigged up giving you 110v AC off the house batteries. In which case I suggest you pop the immersion hot water fuse when you are off the dock so you do not flatten your batteries.  Must say I have never heard of this on a c320 because the engine heating is very effective so it would be redundant to run the engine to charge the batteries to run an inverter to run the electric immersion!

Chris

> On 16 Sep 2018, at 00:52, Gene Helfman <genehelfman at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Very basic: from where does the hot water heater draw electricity?  Is it
> off the battery bank?  The alternator? The battery when the alternator
> isn't charging?
> 
> I ask because we are having alternator problems when motoring.  Or maybe
> voltage regulator problems.  We get full charging for 30-35 minutes
> regardless of battery state, then it shuts off, meaning we are then drawing
> from the house 4Ds. When we shut the engine off (an hour or more later), we
> have lots of hot water. We're concerned that once the alternator shuts off,
> the water heater is still drawing power until the WH thermostat shuts it
> down.
> 
> If so, is there an easy way to turn the hot water heater off.  It isn't an
> obvious toggle on the instrument panel.
> 
> thanks,
> gene
> Satori, #398, 1997
> -- 
> Gene Helfman, Professor Emeritus
> Odum School of Ecology, University of Georgia
> PERMANENT address:
>    498 Shoreland Dr., Lopez Is., WA 98261
>    (360) 468-2136
>    genehelfman at gmail.com
> 
> *Zero tolerance is great for building airplanes but not for running
> countries.*