Question for the crowd: Tankless water heaters

[tugfan]

A sailing friend of mine recently told my that they installed a propane tankless water heater on their boat. They love it, hot water anywhere anytime. If in a slip, no running out of hot water either!
Any opinions or comments?

Bill

www.eclecticwonders.com - uncommon art

 

[j&lgray]

Could be a great product if (1)the propane system is properly installed and this means no short cuts in materials or not following all the standards and (2) if the product is engineered for the marine environment. Too many times a well intentioned owner uses a product designed for the RV and home world and puts it on their boat. At best, it will cause some maintenance headaches; at worst, the unthinkable would happen.

I would be cautiously curious about the product.

 

[tugfan]

This one appears to be a marine spec heater: http://www.tanklesswaterheatersdirect.c ... temain.asp

It's a bit pricey at $1,450.00, but if you're at anchor, you get hot water w/o running the engine.

 

[SlackwaterJack]

I had a small Eemax tankless marine water heater on a previous boat that worked well. The boat only had a cold water system. The heater was installed on the shower water line and would give very hot water at low flow in the shower. if the water was too hot you just turned up the shower. while that was a pretty spartan setup, it did the job.
On a more complete boat like the Ranger, the installation would be the same but there would of course be a dedicated hot water faucet. These units are small and inexpensive enough ($125 - $250-ish) to get one for each faucet or use the larger one as a "whole boat" water heater. While it may be not what you're looking for, one would still provide an endless shower at the slip without using up your propane.

http://www.eemaxinc.com/RVMarine

 

[tugfan]

Thanks for the input, the Eemax seems to be 110 vt ac powered, how did you run it? Can the house batteries do the job or did you use in with shore power?

 

[SlackwaterJack]

Oops ! ... sorry, I forgot to mention that the boat that came with the Eemax, had a Honda 3000 gen. I just assumed that most of the "big" Rangers had diesel gennies or big inverters.
My R-21 comes fully equiped with the 3 B's.....lunch Bucket, water Bucket and a potti Bucket

 

[thataway]

LPG fired tankless waterheaters have been popular in European boats for some time. There was a time about 35 or 40 years ago, it was popular in the US. Unfortunately there were some deaths from these water heaters. These involved carbon monoxide. Many of these waterheaters were improperly installed, and not properly vented to the outside.

It is difficult to comply with ABYC and put in a full time tankless water heater. The gas stack has to be vented to the exterior, where no exhaust gas will come back into the cabin. You want "bilge sniffer in the deepest part of the bilge (since LPG is heavier than air) and in the compartment where the waterheater is installed. It should not be installed in the engine room. There should be an auto shut off if the sniffer alarm goes off, and a control valve to shut the LPG off at the tank when you are not using the tank. Then you have to put a sealed, vented overboard, place for the tank (where fumes are not likely to get into the boat--and then route the hoses into the boat. If the boat already has a propane or LPG system for a stove, then this is easier.

I have owned a number of boats with LPG stoves, and the full safety systems, and one boat with the LPG tankless water heater. I would not own another one--but that is a decision based on personal safety concerns. If you add one, you should check with your insurance to see if it and the installation will be accepted!