2007 41DS Water Heater Issue

[dkinzer]

I'm trying to track down an issue that was discovered in the pre-purchase survey. The surveyor had the electric element on for a couple of hours and the water temperature at the galley sink was merely warm. I checked the resistance of the heating element and it read about 10 ohms - almost the calculated resistance for a 1500 watt heating element operated at 120V - so I don't think that that is the problem. The other two possible culprits are the thermostat and the mixing valve. The thermostat is easy to test using a temperature-controlled hot air gun (like that used for surface mount electronics rework) but I haven't done that yet. The mixing valve will be more difficult to test but the first step would be to remove it from the system and see if the cold water valve seems to open at a reasonable temperature.

I've looked at the plumbing briefly and I know that it is Pex but I don't have much experience with Pex and I don't know how to disconnect the fittings that were used. Does anyone have any advice on disconnecting the Pex fittings?

 

[sail sfbay]

Welcome to the forum and congratulations on your new sailboat!!

You are doing an excellent job working through the troubleshooting seriatum. I went through the same exercise on a boat I purchased last year and traced it down to a fouled heating element, which I replaced, and 3-way valve from the auxilliary diesel heater, which I changed the line up. As far as disconnecting the Pex fittings you might these helpful: How to disconnect, connect pex pipe - Bing video AND How To Remove Pex Fittings (Without Tool Or With Tool) - Tools Geeky.

 

[Scott B]

I've looked at the plumbing briefly and I know that it is Pex but I don't have much experience with Pex and I don't know how to disconnect the fittings that were used. Does anyone have any advice on disconnecting the Pex fittings?

I'm assuming they still used the Sea Tech quick connect fittings in 2007, same as in my 2005. They are black 15mm. There is a collar that you need to push into the fitting and hold in while pulling the hose out. You can buy a small Demounting Tool to hold the collar in while you pull the hose.

SeaTech Is Now AquaLock™

SeaTech Is Now AquaLock™

www.watts.com

 

[SEMPERAVANTI41]

I remember removing the mixing valve when I owned a 41without any difficulty, to clean the valve. I have had the same issues on my 50. The valve gets calcified. You can try soaking in CLR, but I have found an ultrasonic jewery cleaner works best.

 

[dkinzer]

Thanks for the tips. I think that the mixing valve has union type connections on it so it likely won't be a problem to remove. I asked the question about the Pex fittings in case I need to disassemble more of the plumbing.

I was planning on draining and flushing the water heater tank. I would like to attach a hose to the drain cock but there isn't much space. I'll probably see if I can rig up a right angle connector for it so I can attach a hose.

 

[dkinzer]

By the way, SeaTech is now known as AquaLock. There is a video on the Watts website (and on YouTube) about connecting and disconnecting the fittings.

 

[Tally Ho]

I had an electric water heater that wouldn’t get the water warm…element tested ok. Turns out it was a high-temp reset that was kaput. Simple replacement in the electric connection box on the water heater.

Sadly, on my next boat, the water would not get hot one spring after commissioning the boat. Ordered a new hi-temp switch, replaced it, and still not hot water….turns out I forgot to undo the “tank by-pass” valves…

But I have a replacement hi-temp switch when the current ones bites the dust.

Greg

 

[Jake N Eggs]

I have a Watts mixing valve and there is a plastic mesh screen at the union fitting where the hot water comes out of the tank. It can get clogged with calcium deposits and reduces the flow of the hot water from the tank. You should be able to unscrew the union to remove and clean the screen without removing the rest of the lines.

 

[dkinzer]

Thanks for the Watts instructions. A clogged screen there seems like a good possibility because I found that the screens in the aerator in the galley sink faucet were clogged, too. The heater tank almost certainly needs flushing badly so I'm still going to do that.