Flow
Chris, I read the responses. I think these are good issues for consideration. We have a '98 376. The hot water system is excellent. It stays hot for a good, long time. It does take longer, it seems, in colder weather, when you want it right away or when you are waiting or watching! I think that water flow and water temperature determine the rate of the temperature rise. With that said, did your water heat up better than it does now? What is the age of your boat? How often do you change and flush the fresh water system? Putting the boat under load would give you improved water flow and higher temperature cooling fluid. This could be due to restriction in the lines to and through the water heater. It could also be the origianl design of the system. We have some small petcocks on our lines. These have a very small water passage opening when they are new. Needless to say they are probably the first point of suspicion. I would try to remove the return line back from the water heater. mabe insert a small length of clear tubing. You may be able to monitor the flow and the temperature. If you judge either inadequate, I would try to temporarily eliminate the petcocks, look for kinks or even replace the lines to and fro the water heater. If it has been an age old problem, you may want to try to increase one or both of the line diameters. You'll want to monitor this though. Remember the flow through this circuit is in balance with the flow through your engine block. If you (over) imrove the flow to the water heater, you could theoretically deprive the engine cooling circuit of critical cooling flow! On our boat, anyway, rep[lacing these lines looks like a couple of hour job. (blank out a day!) I would like to know how you make out. good luck, Mike D
