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ukrizla

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Hi my wife and I are living on our boat now and loving every minute of it, but as we are still new to this and finding our feet we need as much help as possible. What we would like to know is how do we manage to get hot water without running our engine, all we have is a Webasto do we need a Calorifier as well as we have been told thats what we need.

 

Regards shaun

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Hi my wife and I are living on our boat now and loving every minute of it, but as we are still new to this and finding our feet we need as much help as possible. What we would like to know is how do we manage to get hot water without running our engine, all we have is a Webasto do we need a Calorifier as well as we have been told thats what we need.

 

Regards shaun

 

If you're getting hot water from engine running they you should have a calorifier somewhere. This should keep your water hottish for around 12 hours. The calorifier might be in the engine room possibly undar a bed ir in a closet somewhere, it's basically a cylindrical tank with several outlets. Your Webasto might be heating only. Thereare other options to obtain hot water though even solar collectors.

 

 

 

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Hi we have a blue tank similar to one of those things in a house but does this work without the engine running and how would we turn it on? This may sound like stupid questions but we are new to all this

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Hi we have a blue tank similar to one of those things in a house but does this work without the engine running and how would we turn it on? This may sound like stupid questions but we are new to all this

Sounds like the blue tank you refer to is the calorifier & works like a household hot water tank. There is a coil within it through which engine cooling water runs heating the surrounding water which is then supplied to shower/taps etc.

 

What you need is a calorifier with a second heating coil that can be coupled into your Webasto heater as you would another radiator.

 

Have a close look at your present one & see if it appears to have two unused connections indicating this extra coil.

 

Again just like your household hot water tank, the calorifier may have a boss to take an immersion heater. If it has the boss will be blanked off or have an immersion heater element fitted already allowing you to heat the water for shore AC mains supply.

 

If you find to achieve your aims, a new calorifier is required make sure it has two heating coils & an immersion heater fitment to allow maximum versatility.

Edited by richardhula
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Sounds like the blue tank you refer to is the calorifier & works like a household hot water tank. There is a coil within it through which engine cooling water runs heating the surrounding water which is then supplied to shower/taps etc.

 

What you need is a calorifier with a second heating coil that can be coupled into your Webasto heater as you would another radiator.

 

Have a close look at your present one & see if it appears to have two unused connections indicating this extra coil. Failing that you may need to install a twin coil calorifier to achieve your aim.

Or it may already be connected but isolated from the Webasto heater.

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Hi my wife and I are living on our boat now and loving every minute of it, but as we are still new to this and finding our feet we need as much help as possible. What we would like to know is how do we manage to get hot water without running our engine, all we have is a Webasto do we need a Calorifier as well as we have been told thats what we need.

 

Regards shaun

In my opinion an instantaneous gas hot water heater is by far the most convenient and,economical method.No running engines,and none of the WeboEber anguish. bizzard.

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Hi we have a blue tank similar to one of those things in a house but does this work without the engine running and how would we turn it on? This may sound like stupid questions but we are new to all this

 

Hi there

 

Your engine generates hot water which runs through the calorifier in a sealed off 22mm copper pipe. This then heats up fresh water already in the calorifier supplied by your water tank which is then drawn from through your taps. You could look at it as a flask, it should keep water hot for around 9 to 12 hours, different calorifiers have different lengths of time they stay hot for and there's other factors as well.

 

Your calorifier is just a hot water tank it won't produce hot water on it's own. It can also be heated in the tank through electricity usually from a shore line connection. You can also heat water via a solar collector on the roof of the boat. There's also a mini gas boiler that produces hot water on demand.

 

 

 

 

 

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Thanks a lot everyone. If we try to heat it through our shoreline connection, how should we go about that?

Have a look at the calorifier. If there is an electric heating element fitted, it will probably look like a round plastic cover in the centre at the same end as the pipe connections. If there is an electrical cable attached, it is likely that it is wired in. If so, there is probably a switch somewhere to switch it on whilst connected to shore power.

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If you're getting hot water from engine running they you should have a calorifier somewhere. This should keep your water hottish for around 12 hours. The calorifier might be in the engine room possibly undar a bed ir in a closet somewhere, it's basically a cylindrical tank with several outlets. Your Webasto might be heating only. Thereare other options to obtain hot water though even solar collectors.

Has anyone details of heating a calorifier via solar power? It would have to be fed into the fire feed.

Sue

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I need to buy one off the shelf and/ or get someone to fit it. Thanks

Sue

 

I doubt this is something you can buy off the shelf, but its not rocket science to make one.

 

We had a very efficient solar heater for a swimming pool. Black hose was coiled behind glass panels set at an angle to a wall. The hose was plumbed into the pool filtration pump circuit.

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I doubt this is something you can buy off the shelf, but its not rocket science to make one.

 

We had a very efficient solar heater for a swimming pool. Black hose was coiled behind glass panels set at an angle to a wall. The hose was plumbed into the pool filtration pump circuit.

 

You can buy solar collectors from the shelf, they to tend to be quite large though as their mainly designed for houses, this model is 8f/t X 3.3 f/t and would be ample for a boat.

The one I'm making is 1500 mm by 900 mm, giving just under 13500 mm2 collector area. Or 5 f/t by 3f/t = 15 Sq f/t in English And this size is sufficient for a boat also. To make them is quite easy.

You can buy solar water fitting kits you can fit your self or get a pro in, thing is you end up buying roof fitting stuff designed for houses that you won't need. So best to buy the individual elements required depending on what solar water system you prefer.

 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Yes you can buy them off the shelf I personally bought mine online. They are pretty big but you can get smaller ones that are only 15 tubes but they do go up to 30 tubes or more it depends on your requirements. Mine cost about 600 quid and I got it next day.

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I put an 'item' on here some weeks back about the solar water heating system I had built.(some photos in the gallery)

You need a seperate coil in a calorifier. You cannot simply run your cold water feed into the it...as it is the highest point of the boat and you will get all sorts of problems when the water naturally flows back out of it. If you have a seperate coil..you can fill this system with antifreeze...otherwise the first frost...and its finished..

My system looked fairly complex...as my existing calorifier coils were all in use...engine....and Eberspacher...and 240 immersion. I set up a seperate mini caloroifier tank.

It needed an electronic control system....with temperature sensors on the roof collector and tanks. If you do not do this...you can end up with situations where the roof collector is cold...but you start pumping your hot water from the tank up to the roof....and instead of heating it...you cool it !!. My mini-tank has a temperature sensor...and when its hotter than the main tank by a preset figure..it runs a seperate pump that 'stors' the water between the 2 tanks. Complex..but once built..you forget it as it runs itself.

 

I see others here are building their own units...so very interested to know how its going.

My home-made roof collector..using copper pie...an aluminium plate...and left over wood....cost about £100...and works amazingly. I tried to bleed some air out of it on a semi-overcast day...and scalded my fingers !!

 

Good luck.

 

bob

Edited by Bobbybass
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Hi my wife and I are living on our boat now and loving every minute of it, but as we are still new to this and finding our feet we need as much help as possible. What we would like to know is how do we manage to get hot water without running our engine, all we have is a Webasto do we need a Calorifier as well as we have been told thats what we need.

 

Regards shaun

 

Shaun,

 

Now you've found your calorifier, the big question is "Does it have an immersion heater fitted?"

 

You are looking for something like the red cap shown on the end here;

 

4070037m.jpg

 

It may be in the end of on the side of the tank.

 

if the answer is "yes", question 2 is "Are there any wires going to it?"

 

If the answer is "yes" again, this could be easy. follow the wires back until you find a switch, and turn it on.

 

If none of this is helping, do you want me to pop round one evening this week, and take a look? I'm free early evening tomorrow. PM me (mobile is broken at the moment)

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