R29 How water heater newbie question

[BOSCBIJI]

I think I just realized that the hot water heater on the lithium R29S does not work off the battery/inverter.

Shore power and passive diesel for hot water tank only.

Right?

 

[Eagle 2]

You may want to let us know what inverter, and how big your LI bank is, but off the cuff, that's a big load for a stock install.

 

[BOSCBIJI]

1200 AHours is the spec for the current boat. Panel is split and I think the left side, including water heater and cabin AC, don’t run off the inverter (right side is labeled inverter and has all the 120 outlets, cabin AC, microwave).

So, I think only half the right has inverter functionality thereby excluding the stuff in the left.

 

[Mike and Sarah]

In our 2026 Solara 310 sb the hot water heater was not connected to the inverter. We switched the hot water heater to a free breaker on the inverter section (which gets power from the inverter when not connected to shore power and when plugged into shore power the inverter passes the power straight through) We now have hot water when not on shore power. I think Fluid motion does not connect it to the inverter to not drain the battery if someone forgets to turn the water heater off when not on shore power. We turn on the water heater for about one hour and then we can get two showers out of it. That’s about 60 amp hours consumed. The water heater draws about 750 watts. So pretty much any inverter on our boats can handle it. On the 29 with two panels, you would have to move the hot water heater wiring over to the breaker with the inverter connected.
Our procedure is to turn water heater on an hour before showers and turn off when done with the first shower and then take second shower. You only have to wipe out the head once this way too. Also wash any dishes with the left over hot water.
There is no need to keep heating water as it will just cool down and you are using more battery than needed.

I should also add we have 900 amp hours of LiFePo batteries. We have the heat pump. But we are also looking into adding a Webasto diesel heater which will make our away from shore power much longer before battery charges.

 

[cominonslow]

In our 2026 Solara 310 sb the hot water heater was not connected to the inverter. We switched the hot water heater to a free breaker on the inverter section (which gets power from the inverter when not connected to shore power and when plugged into shore power the inverter passes the power straight through) We now have hot water when not on shore power. I think Fluid motion does not connect it to the inverter to not drain the battery if someone forgets to turn the water heater off when not on shore power. We turn on the water heater for about one hour and then we can get two showers out of it. That’s about 60 amp hours consumed. The water heater draws about 750 watts. So pretty much any inverter on our boats can handle it. On the 29 with two panels, you would have to move the hot water heater wiring over to the breaker with the inverter connected.
Our procedure is to turn water heater on an hour before showers and turn off when done with the first shower and then take second shower. You only have to wipe out the head once this way too. Also wash any dishes with the left over hot water.
There is no need to keep heating water as it will just cool down and you are using more battery than needed.

I should also add we have 900 amp hours of LiFePo batteries. We have the heat pump. But we are also looking into adding a Webasto diesel heater which will make our away from shore power much longer before battery charges.

Good idea. We have the 2026 R31 with 1200ah and the hot water heater is on shore 1 - which is not powered by the inverter. I will definitely consider this option.