Anyone Gone the Tankless Water Heater Route?

jlmanatee

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I currently have a 6 gallon 120v tank-type water heater with a heat exchanger. We rarely use hot water when out of the slip but it's nice to have for weekends in the marina. Has anyone used a tankless system? Any advice?
 
quote:

Originally posted by pdecat

they use a lot of amps.






And then some. I believe it is one of the reasons they have not caught on in the marine world.
 
They are sold as "energy savers" Not.
Used a lot in commercial buildings.
Only one year warranty and as said use a lot of eletricity.
They are also very sensitive to dirt and water flow.
Suggest you look at them very carefully
Abouttime
 
I have the 25 amp online one for marine use. It works great. Not gas operated.
The original owners of our boat took out the water heater and installed a generator
in it's place. No hot water, but plenty of a/c and elect.
So I installed the on demand water heater and it works great. It went out after 3 years
but West Marine has a 10 year warranty on it. It was replaced without issue.
We love it cause the water tank in under the V-berth and the a/c gets the water too cold
to shower in without it.
They have an inlet screen to keep it from getting pluging up the internals, the unit cannot
be taken apart to repair. But there are parts that can be changed out.
They only use a lot of electricity when they are on. They use no electricity when not in use.
So we have no problems turning off the a/c to take a shower. Our boat is rated for 30 amps
and the water heater draws 25 amps.
They also make 20 and 30 amp units. Depending on the volume that flows thru the heater.
They take up less room and weigh a lot less. They are great for small boats.

We all have different opinions, but the opinion of the person who has used one from
experience is best(in my opinion), not what he hears on the street.
 
I'm planning on going with an LP water heater, thanks to Vic's recommendations which can be searched, I suspect. We had a propane instant water heater some fifty years ago in our little travel trailer, and the thing was a wonder. It had a pilot light, so no electricity was needed at all. The seven of us managed to take serial showers, and nobody got a cold one. It didn't seem to use much fuel at all- seems to me two LP tanks got us through a month's vacation, with cooking, hot water, lamp, and refrigerator running off it.
 
I didn't know they made one for boats...
We don't have the room for the LP bottles on our boat...
 
the 25 amp does a 21 degree temp rise.. so from 60 to 81.. Not exactly hot water..
 
The LP ones are great. I had one in my house in Japan and my friend had one in his house in Italy. A shipmates Dad had tow large (100 lb?) LP tanks on his Grand Banks in the PNW running a paloma heater and never had a problem with 2-3 week cruises.
 
My 25 amp heater gets hotter than 80 degrees. It heats the water very well. We don't mix any cold water with it at all. The more water flow, the less heat you get. But we get plenty of water pressure and plenty of heat. We don't regret buying it at all.
We also have no room for a normal water heater, so we don't have any other options.
 
I want to convert my boat to LPG is it worth it due to the fact that its an old boat. I think that theres plenty of space for the conversion. I already have a solar water heater that I made out of PVC pipe that I painted black but it doesn't work all the time.
 
LPG is explosive and is heavier than air. So if you get a leak, the gas will tend to go down, and will not necesarily ventilate and blow away. Then, when you fire up your engines or something sparks below deck - BANG!!!

The tank(s) must be stored in a specially ventilated LPG locker and it must be mounted on the deck or in the cockpit, so it may not be as simple to add, as it would initially seem.

Adding LPG onboard onboard a boat is very DANGEROUS if the installation isn't done properly. Do the necessary homework before having it done!
 
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