hot water heater

D

dritter

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exMember
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Oct 18, 2005
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19332
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Anyone use a hot water tank from lowes or home depot in ther boat? I see marine hot water tanks are expensive. Didn't know if there is anything different between the two.
 
Don't know if the local homedepotlowes water heaters are any different inside than a marine water heater. I do know the local homedepotlowes water heaters are not approved for marine use. Don't know if it's a USCG, ABYC or NMMA rule, but if your boat goes BOOM one day your insurance is not going to pay even if the BOOM was not the fault of the water heater. Insurance companies are funny like that.
 
Hi ,i was just looking at the attwood marine hot water heater in my boat, there is a sticker that says IGNITION protected. DONT use anything but a marine hot water heater. The difference in price may be the difference between life and death.
 
Small water heaters (12 and 20 gallon) are pretty commonly available at Home Depot or Lowe's, in 120 volt - but DON'T USE THEM on a gasoline powered boat. They aren't ignition-protected and can ignite any gasoline fumes that may be floating around the boat. If you have a diesel powered boat, it shouldn't be a problem, but never use a water heater that is not rated for marine use on a gasoline fueled boat.
 
Don't use them in the ENGINE room. Anywhere else is probably safe.
 
The other difference is that most marine water heaters have an additional set of connections to allow engine cooling water to heat the water. This gives you "free" hot water every time you run your engines.

Mike
 
quote:
Originally posted by Vic Willman

Small water heaters (12 and 20 gallon) are pretty commonly available at Home Depot or Lowe's, in 120 volt - but DON'T USE THEM on a gasoline powered boat. They aren't ignition-protected and can ignite any gasoline fumes that may be floating around the boat. If you have a diesel powered boat, it shouldn't be a problem, but never use a water heater that is not rated for marine use on a gasoline fueled boat.

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Tru Dat!!

Homedepotlowes sells the elements that do work, however, the heater as a whole is not marine certified.
 
quote:
Originally posted by meide

The other difference is that most marine water heaters have an additional set of connections to allow engine cooling water to heat the water. This gives you "free" hot water every time you run your engines.

Mike

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Yes, and that can be important.
 
I run my hot water heater of the closed cooling off my generator. It gives us great hot water when on the hook with the genset running. This way I don't have to start the main engines for recharging because the genset powers my battery chargers and as a bonus I get hot water and I don't need to rob the power it takes from the generator to heat the element in the hot water heater. I use an 11 gallon Atwood hot water heater with a Kohler 7.3 Low CO unit.
Bill
 
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